Ethics: Assessing Content and Behavior of the Media

1
Ethics Assessing Content and Behavior of the
Media

• Chapter 16

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Media-Wide Ethics Watch

• Content of Communication
• Behavior of communicators

3
Distinguishing Ethics and Law

• Many questionable practices and apparent
  deceptions are not necessarily illegal.

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Growing Concern Over Media Ethics

• As a field, ethics encompasses a range of
  attitudes and behaviors.

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Growing Concern Over Media Ethics

• Fundamental to all ethical behavior is the idea
  that people should not lie, cheat, steal, or
  commit other anti-social acts. For media workers
  and organizations, this means straightforward,
  honest, and competent communication practices.
  But who decides whats right?

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Growing Concern Over Media Ethics

• Because the line among the various media
  functions is blurring, ethics is often the
  casualty. These days, it is especially difficult
  to tell entertainment from news.
• Ethical decisions often involve complex human
  relationships and pit media values against other
  social values.

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Special PrivilegesSpecial Responsibilities

• The media are the only business that enjoy a
  measure of constitutional protection, which is
  spelled out in the Bill of Rights. As a result,
  the media have special privileges and
  responsibilities.

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Special PrivilegesSpecial Responsibilities

• The range and scope of the rights of news
  organizations and their employees include the
  following

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Special PrivilegesSpecial Responsibilities

• both are protected by the First Amendment
• some rights, such as shield laws, are contained
  in statute
• some state constitutions have press protection
  written into them
• various court decisions protect certain press
  rights and privileges

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Special PrivilegesSpecial Responsibilities

• Although much has been written and said about
  press rights and privileges, there is far less
  discussion about the duties or responsibilities
  of the media.
• The media derive their legal authority from the
  First Amendment their moral authority depends on
  the publics trust in them.

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Special PrivilegesSpecial Responsibilities

• Late in the 19th century, as professionalism
  began to grow in the press, editors began urging
  a dedication to the public interest.

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The Rise of Mixed Media Culture

• Convergence of media trends involving commercial
  exploitation and sensationalism

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The Rise of Mixed Media Culture

• Five characteristics of the mixed media culture
• Never-ending news cycle
• Sources gaining power over journalists
• No gatekeeper
• Argument is overwhelming reporting
• Blockbuster mentality

14
Media Criticism and Media Ethics

• Media criticism is the constant thread that has
  promoted media ethics since the 19th century.

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Media Criticism and Media Ethics

• Media critics often charged the media with
  obscuring the truth and violating common decency,
  and following the muckraking period at the turn
  of the 20th century, the press came under fire by
  presidents and even from its own membership.

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Media Criticism and Media Ethics

• The outgrowth of all this criticism was a variety
  of voluntary guidelines and codes for ethical
  media conduct.
• In this flurry of criticism and codes, a double
  standard arose regarding business and editorial
  sides of media organizations.

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Media Criticism and Media Ethics

• Media ethics is most often an issue when daily
  decision-making, rather than institutional,
  behavior is involved.

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Dimensions of Ethics for the Media

• Media ethics usually focuses on
• accuracy and fairness
• behavior of reporters (especially in relation to
  their sources), and
• avoidance of conflicts of interest.
• Accuracy is the first rule of journalism, but it
  is not always adhered to in practice.

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Alternative Approaches to Ethics

• Situational ethics is the norm in most media
  because existing codes and guidelines are so
  general that they cannot always be applied to
  specific circumstances.

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Alternative Approaches to Ethics

• Although press councils and codes of conduct have
  not been highly successful, they do indicate a
  continuing concern for ethical media behavior.
• Credibility studies help promote media ethics.

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Alternative Approaches to Ethics

• Market research, another important tool,
  documents the rise and fall of media audiences
  feedback, which often centers on ethical matters.

22
Ethics, Technology, and the Future

• Media technology, with such things as split
  screens used to show President Bush and bodies
  returning from Panama simultaneously, raises
  certain ethical questions.
• Distance sensing cameras make it easier to spy on
  news sources.

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Ethics, Technology, and the Future

• Satellite communication can lead to circus-like
  news coverage on international events.
• Small video cameras transform amateur
  newshounds into sources of news footage that
  are extremely difficult for news organizations to
  verify.

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Ethics, Technology, and the Future

• Voluntary methods for resolving ethical conflicts
  are preferred to settlement through court cases.

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Ethics, Technology, and the Future

• Although most of the stimulus for media ethics
  has come from within the industry, the courts or
  legislatures could provide impetus, especially
  during periods of media unpopularity.
• We can probably look forward to a period of
  maturation and development in the area of media
  ethics.