Abstract

Like many grand ideas of modernity, the notion of public interest is assumed rather than defined. In journalism, it determines what journalism should be, rather than what journalism is. When news stories are scrutinized, the meaning of information unpacked and facts and views examined, scholars analyse journalism practice in the light of the tools used to produce the story as empirical evidence of journalistic intervention in reality and its duty to serve the public interest. This chapter approaches journalism and its public interest claim as a signifier of professional ideology. The validity and applicability of the notion of public interest is explored using a case study of reporting on immigration, a social and political issue that has attracted significant media attention over the last couple of decades. The chapter examines ethical challenges in reporting immigration, questioning the limits of normative ethics and journalism’s potential to serve the universal idea of public good.