Real-World Media Ethics

CHAPTER 1

Ethical Issues

A Starting Framework

When journalists or media practitioners boast about being ethical, people tend to run in the opposite direction. This is because many individuals who pride themselves on having a strong ethical pedigree don’t, even as they pontificate about being more ethical than thou. Thus, there’s often a mass exodus whenever anyone proclaims too loudly and too vehemently about being ethical. So often are ethics found to be lacking that many observers maintain that talking about ethics in the media doesn’t compute; for them, it’s an oxymoron.

Many insist that media players (and who doesn’t want to be viewed as a player?) pay homage to their egos and their need to succeed, ignoring pesky ethical considerations ...