Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

The term “media” covers a lot of ground, including newspapers, magazines, film, television, radio, e-mail, and the Internet. In this chapter I shall use “media” in the conventional way to mean the mass media, and, more specifically, I will limit my discussion to that part of the mass media generally described as journalism. This chapter, then, is about the ethics of journalism. I shall not discuss ethical issues that arise for art or popular culture, nor shall I consider pornography. Journalism has been slower than law and medicine to develop a set of principles or guidelines, or even a dialogue, on the ethical issues faced by its practitioners. That may be because, like business, journalism was not among the professions as traditionally conceived. In any case, as the role of the mass media in shaping minds, hearts, and public policy has become more evident over the past quarter of a century-commentators often name Watergate as the defining moment-journalists have found their practices increasingly the object of public scrutiny, and have come to engage in a good deal of ethical self-study. Among the most important and prevalent ethical issues journalists face are problems to do with deception and dishonesty. Such problems present themselves in a variety of ways. The most blatant involve the knowing publication of falsehoods, as well as plagiarism: from Janet Cook's 1980 fabrication ... log in or subscribe to read full text