Media ethics
1800648
214011549
2008-05-21T19:26:24Z
Caltas
4131122
Reverted edits by [[Special:Contributions/35.8.191.76|35.8.191.76]] to last version by 165.21.155.116
{{Ethics}}
'''Media ethics''' is the subdivision of [[applied ethics]] dealing with the specific ethical principles and standards of [[mass media|media]], including [[broadcast media]], [[film]], [[theatre]], the [[arts]], [[print media]] and the internet. The field covers many varied and highly controversial topics, ranging from [[War correspondent|war journalism]] to [[Benetton]] advertising.
== Areas of media ethics ==
=== Ethics of journalism ===
{{main|Journalism ethics and standards}}
The ethics of journalism is one of the most well-defined branches of media ethics, primarily because it is frequently taught in [[journalism schools|schools of journalism]]. Journalistic ethics tends to dominate media ethics, sometimes almost to the exclusion of other areas. [http://smi.curtin.edu.au/netstudies/docs/allen/AllenNCW2001.doc] Topics covered by journalism ethics include:
* News manipulation. News can manipulate and be manipulated. Governments and corporations may attempt to manipulate news media; governments, for example, by [[censorship]], and corporations by share ownership. The methods of manipulation are subtle and many. Manipulation may be voluntary or involuntary. Those being manipulated may not be aware of this. See: [[news propaganda]].
[[Image:Starlette.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Photographers crowd around a starlet at the [[Cannes Film Festival]].]]
* [[Truth]]. Truth may conflict with many other values.
** Public interest. Revelation of military secrets and other sensitive government information may be contrary to the [[public interest]], even if it is true. The definition of [[public interest]] is hard.
** Privacy. Salacious details of the lives of public figures is a central content element in many media. Publication is not necessarily justified simply because the information is true. [[Privacy]] is also a [[right]], and one which conflicts with [[free speech]]. See: [[paparazzi]].
** Fantasy. Fantasy is an element of entertainment, which is a legitimate goal of media content. Journalism may mix fantasy and truth, with resulting ethical dilemmas. See: [[National Enquirer]], [[Jayson Blair]] scandal, [[Adnan Hajj photographs controversy]].
** Taste. Photo journalists who cover war and disasters confront situations which may shock the sensitivities of their audiences. For example, human remains are rarely screened. The ethical issue is how far should one risk shocking an audience's sensitivities in order to correctly and fully report the truth. See [[photojournalism]].
* Conflict with the law. Journalistic ethics may conflict with the law over issues such as the protection of confidential [[news source]]s. There is also the question of the extent to which it is ethically acceptable to break the law in order to obtain news. For example, undercover reporters may be engaging in [[deception]], [[trespass]] and similar [[torts]] and crimes. See [[undercover journalism]],
[[investigative journalism]].
=== Ethics of persuasion, advertising and public relations ===
{{main|marketing ethics}}
The ethics of [[persuasion]], [[advertising]] and [[public relations]] is closely related to [[marketing ethics]]. In media ethics, interest extends beyond commercial protagonists to public figures, such as politicians and movie stars, and non-profit organizations. When public figures and non-commercial organizations engage in media-conveyed persuasion tactics, the methods are usually derived from the business field.
=== Ethics of entertainment media ===
Issues in the ethics of entertainment media include:
* The depiction of violence and sex, and the presence of [[strong language]]. Ethical guidelines and legislation in this area are common and many media (e.g. film, computer games) are subject to ratings systems and supervision by agencies. An extensive guide to international systems of enforcement can be found under [[motion picture rating system]].
* [[Product placement]]. An increasingly common [[marketing]] tactic is the placement of products in entertainment media. The producers of such media may be paid high sums to display branded products. The practice is controversial and largely unregulated. Detailed article: [[product placement]].
* [[Stereotypes]]. Both advertising and entertainment media make heavy use of [[stereotypes]]. Stereotypes may negatively affect people's perceptions of themselves or promote socially undesirable behaviour. The stereotypical portrayals of [[men]], [[affluence]] and [[ethnic groups]] are examples of major areas of debate.
* Taste and [[taboos]]. [[Art]] is about the questioning of our [[values]]. [[Normative]] ethics is often about the enforcement and protection of our values. In media ethics, these two sides come into conflict. In the name of art, media may deliberately attempt to break with existing norms and shock the audience. The extent to which this is acceptable is always a hotbed of ethical controversy. See: [[Turner Prize]], [[obscenity]], [[freedom of speech]], [[aesthetics]].
=== Media and democracy ===
In democratic countries, a special relationship exists between media and government. Although the freedom of the media may be [[constitution|constitutionally]] enshrined and have precise legal definition and enforcement, the exercise of that freedom by individual journalists is a matter of personal choice and ethics.
Modern democratic government subsists in [[Representation (politics)|representation]] of millions by hundreds. For the representatives to be [[accountability|accountable]], and for the process of government to be [[transparency (humanities)|transparent]], effective communication paths must exist to their [[constituents]]. Today these paths consists primarily of the mass media, to the extent that if [[press freedom]] disappeared, so would most political [[accountability]].
In this area, media ethics merges with issues of [[civil rights]] and [[politics]]. Issues include:
* Subversion of media independence by financial interests. [http://www.thenation.com/doc/20031215/moyers]
* Government monitoring of media for intelligence gathering against its own people. See, for example, [[NSA call database]].
See: [[freedom of information]], [[media transparency]].
== Contexts of media ethics ==
=== Media ethics and the law ===
Like ethics the law seeks to balance competing aims. In most countries there are laws preventing the media from doing or saying certain things when this would unduly breach another person's rights. For instance, slander and libel are forms of defamation, a tort. Slander occurs when a person's good name is unfairly slurred. Libel is concerned with attacks on reputatio through writing. A major area of conflicit is between the public's "right to know", or freedom of the press, and individual's right to privacy. This clash often occurs regarding reporting into the private lives of public figures. There are restrictions in most countries on the publicaiton of obscence material, particularly where it depcits nudity, desecration of religious objects or symbols (blasphemy), human remains or violent or sexual crime.
See also: [[slander and libel]], [[invasion of privacy]], [[obscenity]], [[freedom of speech]].
=== Media ethics and media economics ===
Media ethics also deals with the relationship of media and [[media economics]] where things such as -- [[deregulation]] of media, concentration of media [[ownership]], [[Federal Communications Commission|FCC]] regulations in the U.S, media [[trade unions]] and labor issues, and other such worldwide regulating bodies, [[Citizen journalism|citizen media]] ([[Low-power broadcasting|low power FM]], [[community radio]]) -- have ethical implications.
=== Intercultural dimensions of media ethics ===
If values differ interculturally, the issue arises of the extent to which behaviour should be modified in the light
of the values of specific cultures. Two examples of controversy from the field of media ethics:
* [[Google China|Google's self-censorhip in China]].
* The [[Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy]] in Denmark, and subsequently worldwide.
== Meta-issues in media ethics ==
One theoretical question for media ethics is the extent to which media ethics is just another
topical subdivision of [[applied ethics]], differing only in terms of case applications and raising
no theoretical issues peculiar to itself. The oldest subdivisions of applied ethics are
[[medical ethics]] and [[business ethics]]. Does media ethics have anything new to add other than
interesting cases?
===Similarities between media ethics and other fields of applied ethics===
[[Privacy]] and [[honesty]] are issues extensively covered in medical ethical literature, as is
the principle of harm-avoidance. The trade-offs between economic goals and social values has been
covered extensively in [[business ethics]] (as well as medical and [[environmental ethics]]).
===Differences between media ethics and other fields of applied ethics===
The issues of [[freedom of speech]] and aesthetic values (taste) are primarily at home in media ethics.
However a number of further issues distinguish media ethica as a field in its own right.
A theoretical issue peculiar to media ethics is the identity of ''observer'' and ''observed''.
The press is one of the primary guardians in a democratic society of many of the freedoms, rights
and duties discussed by other fields of applied ethics. In media ethics the ethical obligations
of the guardians themselves comes more strongly into the foreground. Who guards the guardians?
This question also arises in the field of [[legal ethics]].
A further self-referentiality or circular characteristic in media ethics is the questioning
of its own values. Meta-issues can become identical with the subject matter of media ethics.
This is most strongly seen when artistic elements are considered. [[Benetton]] advertisements and [[Turner prize]] candidates are both examples of ethically questionable media uses which question their own
questioner.
Another characteristic of media ethics is the disparate nature of its goals. Ethical dilemmas
emerge when goals conflict. The goals of media usage diverge sharply. Expressed in a consequentialist
manner, media usage may be subject to pressures to maximize: economic profits, entertainment value,
information provision, the upholding of democratic freedoms, the development of art and culture,
fame and vanity.
==References==
===Books===
*{{cite book
| last = Christians
| first = Clifford G.
| authorlink =
| coauthors = et al.
| title = Media Ethics: Cases and Moral Reasoning, 7th edition
| publisher = Allyn & Bacon
| date = 2004
| location =
| pages =
| url =
| doi =
| id = ISBN 0-205-41845-7 }}
*{{cite book
| last = Patterson
| first = Philip
| authorlink =
| coauthors = Lee C Wilkins
| title = Media Ethics: Issues and Cases, 5th edition
| publisher = McGraw-Hill
| date = 2004
| location =
| pages =
| url =
| doi =
| id = ISBN 0-07-302192-X }}
===Journals===
* [http://www.jmme.org. The Journal of Mass Media Ethics]
===Cases===
* [http://appl003.lsu.edu/MassComm/mcweb.nsf/$Content/Media+Leaders+Forum?OpenDocument Louisiana State University, School of Mass Communication]
* [http://www.journalism.indiana.edu/gallery/Ethics/ University of Indiana, School of Journalism]
* [http://www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=31889&sid=32#Studies The Poynter Institute]
==See also==
* [[Ethics]]
* [[Applied ethics]]
* [[Journalism ethics and standards]]
* [[Journalism scandals]]
* [[Marketing ethics]]
==External links==
* [http://www.poynter.org/content/content_view.asp?id=1208 Poynter Institute bibliography of Media ethics]
* [http://usinfo.state.gov/journals/itgic/0401/ijge/ijge0401.htm U.S. Government reference "Global Issues, Media and Ethics"]
* [http://www.ethicsweb.ca/resources/media/ Media Ethics Resources on World Wide Web]
* [http://www.silha.umn.edu/ Silha Center for the Study of Media Ethics and Law]
* [http://yahoo.com/news_and_media/industry_information/media_ethics_and_accountability/ A Yahoo Directory, Media Ethics and Accountability]
* [http://commfaculty.fullerton.edu/lester/ethics/media.html Ethics on the Web] from the [http://communications.fullerton.edu/ School of Communications at California State University, Fullerton]
* [http://www.dropbearito.com/media_reform_quotes_latestnews Key quotes on media ethics & media reform] Media impact on democracy
*[http://www.ericdigests.org/pre-9213/media.htm Media Ethics: Some Specific Problems] - from the [[Education Resources Information Center]] Clearinghouse on Reading and Communication Skills, [[Bloomington, Indiana]].
[[Category:Professional ethics]]
[[Category:Journalism ethics]]
[[Category:Mass media]]
[[de:Medienethik]]
[[ja:情報倫理]]