Following the phone hacking scandal in the UK, the Australian government announced an independent inquiry into the Australian media.

Prior to the public hearings, Matt Smith spoke to some prominent journalists about some of the ethical issues facing journalism in Australia today.

This piece features interviews with the following:

Margaret Simons, media commentator and Director for the Centre for Advanced Journalism at the University of Melbourne.

Robert Manne, Professor of Politics at La Trobe University and author of the Quarterly Essay Bad News.

Andrew Jaspan, former editor of The Age, and current editor of The Conversation.

Richard Ackland, former host of ABC television program Media Watch, and journalist for the Sydney Morning Herald.

Matt Smith is a Masters of Global Communications student at La Trobe University, and the co-editor of upstart. You can follow him on Twitter: @nightlightguy