Every profession or avocation is guided by ethics and law. Ethics is a code of conduct guidingthe behavior of professionals in the course of their study. Law, on the other hand, is aregulation which has to be obeyed by the society. Both ethics and law are aimed at achievinga decent society and serve the public interest. Journalism as a profession deals with newsgathering and reporting. In reporting any event including of course public affairs, thejournalist should adhere strictly to the basic ethical standard of reporting accurately, fairly andobjectively, being truthful, maintenance of social responsibility, avoid invasion of privacy andsycophancy. As a matter of fact, a breach of the code of conduct could lead to violation of thelaw. For instance invasion of a citizen's privacy could warrant court action. Poorparliamentary reporting could also lead to contempt of parliament which could send a reporteror editor to jail. It is against this backdrop that this paper examines ethics and legal issues inpublic affairs reporting with particular interest in parliamentary reporting. Public affairs’reporting is reporting government issues and government functions. As an arm of government,the parliament falls within the ambit of public affairs reporting. The purpose of such coverageis to keep the public informed about activities of the parliament and set agenda of discussionon any legislation being debated. Hence agenda setting was used as the theoreticalstandpoint of the study. While acknowledging the role of the press as the watchdog of thosein government, the paper enjoins the press to abide by the laid down ethical standard of theprofession as well as such laws as defamation, privacy, contempt of court, contempt ofparliament, e.t.c. so as not to run their organizations into trouble.