It is against the law to overthrow the government

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Media Ethics
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Media Ethics

• Ethics is
• not a science
• a weighing option
• a system or code of morals of a particular person
  or profession
• when you rationalize your behavior, therefore at
  times ignoring your known morals.
• Defining acceptable - unacceptable behavior.

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Ethical Challenges

• Too much competition
• 24 hour news cycle
• All news. All the time
• Satellite, Internet and Cable

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Code of Ethics

• The code of ethics developed in 1923 state that
  Reporters should be timely and accurate in their
  reporting.
• Is accuracy affected when reporters rush to air
  stories? It takes time to confirm details how
  does that affect timeliness.

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Ethical Concerns

• Accuracy and Fairness
• Accuracy means getting it right
• Fairness means pursuing the truth and reporting
  the information without bias, prejudice and
  self-interest
• Its asking, what is too much and what is not
  enough?

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Ethical Concerns

• Honesty and Integrity
• If a story is reported and later found out to be
  untrue or fabricated, the reporter and the
  publication is considered to be dishonest and
  without integrity.
• Whether the good that comes from exposing
  wrongdoing outweighs questionable or deceptive
  behavior.

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Conflict in Duty

• Duty to Self
• How far are you willing to go?
• How fair are you willing to be?

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Conflict in Duty

• Duty to Audience
• Programs that reenact violence are popular, but
  are they a disservice because they frighten many
  viewers?
• Do you identify a rape victim?
• Juveniles charged with serious crimes?
• Cite AIDS as a contributor to death in a obituary?

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Conflict in Duty

• Duty to Employer
• Does loyalty affect the ideal of pursuing the
  truth?
• In 1989, a reporter for the television station
  WMAQ in Chicago broke a story about General
  Electric that it had manufactured jet engines
  with untested and sometimes defective bolts.
  WMAQ is owned by NBC, which is owned by General
  Electric. The story aired locally, but when it
  passed the main network the reference to General
  Electric was edited out

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Conflict in Duty

• Duty to Profession
• When do you as a professional blow the whistle on
  misleading claims, or unethical practices?

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Conflict in Duty

• Duty to Society The Watchdog Principle
• How much?
• What is too much?

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Challenges to Ethical Behavior

• Dilemmas When important values clash and every
  possible solution will cause pain.
• Overwork Quality and Accuracy can be
  compromised, therefore values can become clouded.
• Legal/ethical confusion What is legal, isnt
  always ethical.

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Ethics and Violence

• Does violence in the media have an impact on our
  young people?
• Is there is a difference between viewing violence
  and committing violence?
• According to studies, the more television we
  watch, the more likely we will believe the world
  to be like television.

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Ethics and Violence

• Who are some of the people on television that we
  have grown up with? Respected? Made fun of?
  Wanted to be like? Wanted as our own family?
• It is true that violence is a popular commodity,
  however, most of the highly rated programs on
  television are non-violent.
• Violence takes less talent and travels well
• Comedy takes talent and is culture bound

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Ethical Concerns

• The Video Camera How has this changed our news?
• Checkbook Journalism The act of paying news
  sources for stories and photographs
• Accepting Gifts Most media outlets do not allow
  their employees to accept gifts
• Conflict of Interest Advertising vs Editorial

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Ethical Concerns

• Withholding Information Gatekeepers
• Diversity Political Correctness in reporting
  the news
• Covering War Live coverage and government
  censorship
• Photographic Accuracy Altering images

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Ethical Concerns - Photographs
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Ethical Concerns - Photographs
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Ethical Concerns

• Direct Response Sales Program such as the Home
  Shopping Network that encourages impulse
  purchasing at the push of a button.
• Advertorials An editorial that has been paid
  for.
• Chain Ownership Money versus quality journalism

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Ethical Concerns

• Plagiarism Using someones else without
  permission, or credit.
• Exchanging Stories - The Associated Press
• Public Relations Press Releases
• Monitoring the Competition
• Subliminal Memory

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Ethics and Entertainment

• The Cone Effect
• Television programming exaggerates an magnifies
  real life distorts cultural reality
• To be worthy of our attention, programming must
  be made funnier, sexier, more intense and
  violent, than our everyday lives

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Ethics and Violence

• Minority women are 50 more likely to be the
  victim, therefore they grow up more vulnerable,
  look at life as having few chances. They are
  more dependable on authority and therefore are
  more controllable. They tend to accept the
  system as it is.
• If you are born into a home filled with
  television, the more you watch, the more
  dangerous you think the world is, therefore the
  more threatened you feel.

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Legal Controls
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Terms

• Censorship To stop transmission of matter
  considered objectionable.
• Regulation To bring under control. To fix, or
  adjust. To put in good order.

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Legal Controls

• Alien Sedition Acts Written to protect the
  US Government, the President and Congress.
  Those that printed anything that wasnt
  considered favorable, even if it was the truth
  was arrested for treason.
• Espionage Act of 1917 Made it illegal for
  anyone to openly oppose war. Those that did,
  were arrested for treason.

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Legal Controls

• Schenck vs the United States War Time
  Circumstances and that the government can take
  exception when the nation is at war.
• Smith Act of 1940 It is against the law to
  overthrow the government. In 1957, the Supreme
  Court said that the teaching of unpopular ideas
  was protected by the first amendment. Imminent
  danger must be present.

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Legal Controls

• Prior Restraint An attempt by the government to
  prevent something from being published.
• Pentagon Papers The courts said that the
  peoples right to know about defense policy was
  more important than the governments claim that
  it would jeopardize national security.
• TPM Standards The government can control time,
  place and manner, as long as the limits do not
  affect the content.

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Broadcasting Regulations

• Radio Act of 1927 and the Federal Radio
  Commission (FRC) were created to establish a
  system for licensing new radio stations and
  assignment frequencies and power to existing
  stations.

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Broadcasting Regulations

• Communications Act of 1934 An update of the
  Radio Act of 1927 and included the telephone and
  telegraph.
• Federal Communications Commissions (FCC) formed
  to enforce and protect the Act and to serve the
  public interest.

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Broadcasting Regulations

• Telecommunications Act of 1996 An update that
  affects mostly television and the use of the
  Internet.

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Broadcasting Regulations

• Section 315 (the equal time rule)
• This act provides political candidates with the
  opportunity for equal airtime when it comes to
  advertising.
• Does not apply to print media.
• Excluded from those programs that are geared
  toward political issues.

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Broadcasting Regulations

• Fairness Doctrine
• In 1949, all broadcasters had to give equal time
  to opposing viewpoints regardless of content and
  controversy.
• In 1987, this act was abolished.

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Broadcasting Regulations

• Sunshine Laws Requires all government meetings
  and documents to be open to the public out in
  the sun.
• The Freedom of Information Act (1996) Allows
  for public access that are not classified as a
  national security threat, trade secrets, police
  records, medical and personnel files and
  information pertaining to children under the age
  of 18.

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Censorship

• The works must
• be offensive
• depict or describe in detail
• be presented in an offensive way
• lack serious literary, scientific, political and
  artistic value.

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Communication Decency Act

• Any comment, request, suggestion, proposal,
  image, or other communications that depicts, or
  describes, as measured by contemporary community
  standards, sexual activity or organs.
• CONFUSE, or CLARIFY?

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What is Pornography?

• Writings or pictures intended to arouse sexual
  desire.

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Child Pornography Act

• 1996 ruling to combat the use of computer
  technology to produce pornography that conveys
  the impression that children are involved.
• OVERTURNED - images are not real, and therefore
  are considered to be under the freedom of
  expression.

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Court Regulations

• Free Press versus Fair Trial Is it possible to
  have a fair trial, while the press feels that the
  people have a right to know?

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Court Regulations

• Gag Orders Limits what attorneys and court
  officials can say to reporters and the public.

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Court Regulations

• Disclosing Sources The refusal disclose sources
  when asked by a court of law.

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Court Regulations

• Shield Laws Protect the media at a local level
  in some states.

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Court Regulations

• Canon 35 Prohibits cameras in the court room at
  all levels.

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Court Regulations

• Television Trials The argument of the press is
  that what goes on in any court of law is the
  publics business. The other sides says that
  lawyers turn into actors and therefore some cases
  have become a mockery of our system.

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Libel Laws

• Designed to protect the people from uncalled for
  attacks, or careless errors by members of the
  media.
• Libel is the defamation of a persons character.

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Libel Defenses

• Truth A verifiable or undisputed fact.
• Privileged Statements Those comments made in
  court, or in other official arena.
• Fair Comment Comments that are considered
  opinion rather than fact.

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Invasion of Privacy

• Intrusion into a persons physical solitude
  The media has the right to pursue people in
  public places, but not in such places as your
  home, hospitals, or private businesses.
• Public disclosure of embarrassing facts Facts
  that are not public information.

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Invasion of Privacy

• Placing a person in a false light A story that
  puts a person in the position of embarrassment
  and is untrue.
• Commercial exploitation Photographs and names
  can be used in news stories without permission,
  but not in ads or commercial endeavors.

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Defenses

• Consent
• Newsworthiness