Media ethics is the subdivision of applied ethics dealing with the specific ethical principles and standards of 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 journalism to Benetton ad campaigns.

Media ethics promotes and defends values such as a universal respect for life and the rule of law and legality. Media Ethics defines and deals with ethical questions about how media should use texts and pictures provided by the citizens.

Literature regarding the ways in which specifically the Internet impacts media ethics in journalism online is scarce, thereby complicating the idea for a universal code of media ethics.

History of media ethics

Research and publications in the field of information ethics has been produced since the 1980s. Notable figures include Robert Hauptman (who focused his work specifically on censorship, privacy, access to information, balance in collection development, copyright, fair use, and codes of ethics), Rafael Capurro, Barbara J. Kostrewski and Charles Oppenheim (who wrote the article ""Ethics in Information Science", discussing issues as confidentiality of information, bias in information provided to clients or consumers, the quality of data supplied by online vendors, etc.). Media ethics can be defined as the set of moral principles and values as applied to the conduct, roles, and content of the mass media, in particular journalism ethics and standards and marketing ethics; also the field of study concerned with this topic. In relation to news coverage it includes issues such as impartiality, objectivity, balance, bias, privacy, and the public interest. More generally, it also includes stereotyping, taste and decency, obscenity, freedom of speech, advertising practices such as product placement, and legal issues such as defamation. On an institutional level it includes debates over media ownership and control, commercialization, accountability, the relation of the media to the political system, issues arising from regulation (e.g. censorship) and deregulation.

Ethics of journalism

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The ethics of journalism is one of the most well-defined branches of media ethics, primarily because it is frequently taught in

schools of journalism. Journalistic ethics tend to dominate media ethics, sometimes almost to the exclusion of other areas. 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.
  • 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. However, public interest is not a term which is easy to define.
  • 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 sources. 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.

Online journalism

Internationally recognized journalist and scholar Steven J. A. Ward defines journalism ethics as the responsible use of freedom of speech. Ward says that "media ethics can only exist when journalists have agreed to use responsibly their powers of publication." The ethics of online journalism holds great importance to the authenticity and credibility of reported literature although it can be difficult to gauge a set standard because of differences in national and international cultural values. In this current digital climate with multiple new technologies and broad availability of information, Journalists have less ascendancy over what is considered important news. Online journalists must now assist consumers in making sense of it all. The Internet has shaped and redefined various ethical and moral issues for both online journalists and journalists utilizing online resources.

  • 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.
  • Advertising: Attraction and persuasion are currently found in modern journalism. It is found that these methods of advertising may alter an audience's point of view of what is realistic and falsified information.

Media and democracy

In democratic countries, a special relationship exists between media and government. Although the freedom of the media may be 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 of millions by hundreds. For the representatives to be accountable, and for the process of government to be transparent, effective communication paths must exist to their constituents. Today these paths consist 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.
  • Government monitoring of media for intelligence gathering against its own people. See, for example, NSA call database.

See: freedom of information, media transparency Right to Information.

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Media integrity

Media integrity refers to the ability of a media outlet to serve the public interest and democratic process, making it resilient to institutional corruption within the media system, economy of influence, conflicting dependence and political clientelism. Media integrity encompasses following qualities of a media outlet:

  • independence from private or political interests
  • transparency about own financial interests
  • commitment to journalism ethics and standards
  • responsiveness to citizens

The concept was devised particularly for the media systems in the region of South East Europe, within the project South East European Media Observatory, gathering organizations which are part of the South East European Network for Professionalization of Media (SEENPM).

Radio ethics and integrity

Radio broadcasters are held to the same standards as journalists when it comes to adhering to a code of ethics. As a spoken broadcast, however, radio hosts and DJs are held to standards as to how they manipulate their audience. Time compression, also known as Cash, is an effective way for hosts to include more time for commercials within their broadcasts. Recorded and live programs are slightly sped up, not enough for viewers to notice, which leaves time for additional thirty-second commercials in the broadcast. In turn, broadcasts will make more money from promoting more advertisements. It talks about how journalism should interact and use the 'new media' to publish stories including how to use texts and images provided by other people.

Ethics of images

There are new ethical issues due to the new image technology. Citizens now have the availability to take pictures and videos in easier and faster ways like smartphones which allow them to not only collect information but also edit and manipulate it.

This convergence of ease of capture, ease of transmission, and ease of manipulation questions the traditional principles of photojournalism which were developed for non-digital capture and transmission of pictures and video.

One of the core issues in developing a universal code for media ethics is the difficulty of finding a common ground between ethical principles from one culture to another.Algorithms utilized by AI systems often lend themselves to creating engaging and viral-prone content. These lend themselves to the dissemination of misleading, and inaccurate information. These issues raise ethical concerns and an importance of establishing ethical frameworks to address AI in media. When AI-generated content provides the public with misinformation, and bias, there is an unclear idea of who is responsible for the harm or damage caused. These problems are made greater by social media platforms. These platforms provide financial and social benefit for those who receive large amounts of attention, leading media creators to more frequently spread unreviewed and opinionated information.

Further reading

See also

  • Ethics
  • Information ethics
  • Journalism ethics and standards
  • Journalism scandals
  • Marketing ethics

References

Further reading

Books

Journals

  • The Journal of Mass Media Ethics

Cases

  • Louisiana State University, School of Mass Communication
  • Indiana University, School of Journalism
  • The Poynter Institute
  • Poynter Institute bibliography of Media ethics
  • Fourth Estate Code of Ethics
  • U.S. Government reference "Global Issues, Media and Ethics"
  • Media Ethics Resources on World Wide Web
  • Silha Center for the Study of Media Ethics and Law
  • Ethics on the Web from the School of Communications at California State University, Fullerton
  • Key quotes on media ethics & media reform Media impact on democracy
  • Media Ethics: Some Specific Problems – from the Education Resources Information Center Clearinghouse on Reading and Communication Skills, Bloomington, Indiana.