Is it Unethical/Illegal for a Journalist to Record a Call?

Audrey Matura

The question most people are asking is whether it was unethical or illegal for the journalist to record former S.S.B. Chair Doug Singh? Was it a breach of privacy? It is known from the recording that Aaron Humes had indicated to Singh that he is trying to clarify information about the COVID-19 Unemployment Relief Fund, for which the Social Security Board is charged with disbursing. Attorney Audrey Matura, a former journalist herself, says that Journalism 101 is that anything said to a reporter is on record, unless the interviewee says otherwise. She notes that Singh never once said that the conversation was off the record, but in fact offered to write the article.

Audrey Matura, Attorney-at-law

“To me, 101 Journalism is that once you as an officer, an official, in your official capacity is talking to a reporter, everything you say is on record. So they can record it either audio, visual or handwritten. In the days when I started as a journalist, we had these big recorders that we would press and if one wasn’t available, we had to hurry write verbatim what was said.  So yes, he had the right to record it. It is not a situation where Mister Singh said you know what I am going to talk to you; I am going to be very casual and very candid, but it is off the record.  If Mister Singh was talking about his personal love life, house life or something personal to him, then he is entitled to privacy. But if he is talking about something that is public, then he as a public official then waives that privacy right. So I think that’s the distinction that needs to be made clearly. It is not a privacy issue. From my reading and listening of the recording, it was clear that Mister Singh knew he was talking to a reporter, he knew the reporter was getting something on the record; he went and said several times make sure you do balance reporting—he even offered to write the script. So my take is that yes, he was entitled to take and record that. The profession of a journalist, sadly in Belize, many attempts were made to create a journalism association of some sort. Always the politics get into it, it bruk up and it has never gone off so the truth is it is not like the legal profession where we have certain standards and ethics – there is nothing on the books. What the journalists in Belize try and comply with is international standards, which then brings me to fact that when you are a journalist; you are allowed to do secret recordings. So if I am doing an in depth report, I go undercover or I see something happening and I just pull out my camera, it is the same way you can just grab and turn on this camera in public to capture something, it is the same principle that applies when you are dealing with a public persona that you can capture what they are saying in a public capacity. Had Mister Singh said I am speaking to you in a personal capacity and I don’t want you to quote me or this is just me Doug Singh and not the chairman, then it is different.”