Media Ethics: The Spy and the Journalists – the Impossible Relationship

This article aims to put forward some of the most important problems surrounding the very controversial relationship between journalists and secret services. There is very little interest in academically analysing this particular topic although it has been highly debated in the press. It is very difficult to do an empirical research due to the obvious nature of the organization investigated: the secret service. But is nevertheless very important at the moment to have a theoretical debate concerning the ethical challenges this very controversial type of professional relationship is putting forward. I intend to put forward in this article arguments coming from both professional fields that I came to understand during in depth interviews with specialists in national security and important journalists. I believe that before taking a clear stance on this matter it is vital to have a theoretical discussion about what does it mean to do „your patriotic duty”, „to obey ethical standards in journalism” or to „protect your fellow citizens from dangerous information”. In this article I do not intent to ask the „who” question: it is not crucial to find out whether some journalist works for the secret service although it is extremely tempting to find out such things. I am more interested to see whether this practice is usually considered socially acceptable or at least justifiable in some way.