Media Ethics 2004 Abstracts
Media Ethics Division
Sensationalism in America’s Television Newsrooms and the Ethics of Media Supervisors: A Secondary Analysis • Aimee Barros, Northern Illinois University • Television news is often accused of being sensational and using tabloid-style reporting techniques, many of which are ethically questionable. If these accusations have some truth, where does the practice on unethical reporting begin; with the reporters themselves, or with their newsroom supervisors? This study, which is a reanalysis of the data set compiled by Weaver and Wilhoit for their 1996 book The American Journalist in the 1990s, compares the ethical perceptions often different reporting practices between TV newsroom managers and their staff members, between TV newsroom managers and other news managers, and lastly, between TV newsroom supervisors in three different organization sizes.
How Moral and Cognitive Psychology Can Enhance The Teaching and Practice of Public Relations Ethics • Mathew A. Cabot, California State University, Long Beach • Public relations ethics has traditionally been viewed through one lens: moral philosophy. The goal has been, and continues to be, to find a principle or theory to serve as the foundation upon which an ethics code or curriculum could be built. Using the Defining Issues Test, the most commonly used measurement of moral development and moral psychology, this paper explores how moral and cognitive psychology can enhance the teaching and practice of public relations ethics.
Communitarianism and Dr. Phil: The Individualistic Ethos of “Self-Help” Television • Eric Jones, Claflin University • A communitarian critique of Dr. Phil’s self-help talk-show was developed by drawing on the communitarian/liberalism debate. It was expected that Dr. Phil’s counseling sessions would encourage individual responsibility over community responsibility. A textual analysis was used to examine how individualism appeared through his rhetorical devices. The author found seven cases of individualistic rhetoric and two cases of communitarian rhetoric. The author concluded that a communitarian balance was needed between self-help advice and community-help advice.
The Last Line of Defense in Matters of Ethics? Copy editors’ ethics role conceptions • Susan Keith, Rutgers University • Can newspaper copy editors, long known as the last line of defense against errors, be final guardians of journalistic ethics? Data from 470 copy desk workers at 100 newspapers indicate that most think their jobs should have an ethics-watchdog component but often do not — apparently because of constraints in their newsrooms on who can raise what question. This conflict between ideal and real ethics roles was associated with lower job satisfaction.
Do’s And Don’ts For Moonlighting Journalists — An International Comparison • Yehiel Limor, Tel-Aviv University; and Itai Himelboim, University of Minnesota • According to the journalistic norms prevailing in most countries and often stipulated explicitly in codes of ethics, journalists must avoid situations that engender a conflict of interests, whether actual or merely perceived. How, then, do codes of ethics relate to the idea of additional jobs and/or occupations, both paid and volunteer, for journalists? The present study is an international comparative study examining 242 codes of ethics applied by the media in 94 countries. Codes of ethics are perceived as the “conscience” of journalism (Allison, 1986) and therefore constitute a useful means of assessing the dos and don’ts applying to media personnel.
The Media Ethics Necessity • Jean Burleson Mackay, University of Alabama • This study used moral development research to study how journalism students would react to ethical situations in their profession. The overriding question was whether students who had taken a media ethics course would use a higher level of ethical reasoning than students who had not. Students who have studied media ethics did perform better on this study. This paper discusses the need for media ethics courses and how they can teach students reasoning skills.
Plato’s Worst Nightmare: Impact of the ‘New Orality’ on Media Literacy and Ethos • Charles Marsh, University of Kansas • Deduced from the Socratic dialogues, Plato’s worst nightmare would be an uninterruptible, multisensory medium, which, by definition, would entrance audiences. Aristotle believed that such a medium could allow a powerfully persuasive ethos freed from the speaker’s preexisting character. Citing the research of McLuhan and orality/literacy scholars, this paper contends that modem converged mass media could become Plato’s worst nightmare, leading to a redefinition of media literacy and a reemergence of ethos as a media construct.
Reaching Beyond the Academy: Introducing Elementary School Students to Media Literacy and Critical Thinking • Angela Paradise and Andrea Bergstrom, University of Massachusetts • This paper explores the impact of a five-week media literacy curriculum offered to three classes of second grade students (n=51) during March-April 2003. The curriculum included lesson plans pertaining to news, media violence, advertising, gender stereotypes in fairytales, and media production. Analyses of students’ weekly journal entries and videotaped verbal responses to the curriculum are discussed. The findings suggest that individuals as young as seven-years-old, when exposed to media literacy, can take a more critical stance toward media.
What Jayson Blair and Janet Cooke say about the Press and the Erosion of Public Trust • Maggie Jones Patterson, Duquesne University and Steve Urbanski, Duquesne University• The authors of this paper examine key decision-making points in both the 1980-81 Janet Cooke fabrication case at the Washington Post and the deceptions of Jayson Blair at the New York Times that stretch from 1999 to 2003. These decisions are weighed against the commonly understood mission of journalism in general and the specifically stated missions at the Washington Post and New York Times. The paper’s working thesis is that if newspapers do not consistently measure their decisions and actions against their mission as a public trust, their commitment to truth can become shrouded by the less noble motives of ambition and the thrill of a scoop.
Misplaced confidence? The validity of a media ethics course • Lee Anne Peck, University of Northern Colorado • Findings show students in a respected journalism program are beginning the mandatory media ethics course with misplaced confidence about their abilities to identify professional ethical dilemmas. The findings also show that students often have misplaced confidence in their abilities to take a stand when an ethical dilemma involves their own work; however, students who indicated they were receiving or had received professional training outside of the classroom were better able to correctly answer case-study questions.
The exception or the rule? How journalists view the prevalence and acceptability of problematic practices • Scott Reinardy and Stephanie Craft, University of Missouri • A survey (N = 876) of newspaper journalists examined the perceived prevalence of questionable practices among journalists and how acceptable journalists consider those practices to be in news work. The relationships among years of experience in journalism, the use of ethics codes, discussion of ethics, and concern for accuracy also were examined. Findings indicate that journalists perceive their newsroom colleagues to be performing well. There is no general consensus on the acceptability of problematic practices.
Dance With the Devil: Did CNN Trade Truth For Access? • Laura Resnick, Ohio University • CNN’s chief news executive, Eason Jordan, revealed in April 2003 that while maintaining a bureau in Baghdad under Saddam Hussein’s regime, CNN had not reported on a number of atrocities there. Many journalists subsequently accused CNN of having abandoned both its credibility and its integrity, while others said the choices were not that simple. Was CNN ethically protecting its employees and sources, or did it sacrifice ethics in pursuit of prestige and ratings?
“I noticed more violence:” The effects of a media literacy program on knowledge and attitudes about media violence • Erica Scharrer, University of Massachusetts • This study outlines the effects of participation in a media literacy program on the topic of media violence for 93 sixth-grade students. Statistical comparisons between pre- and post-program responses and between those participating and those in a control group show some increases in the comprehension of key concepts used in the study of media violence and critical thinking about the topic. Open-ended responses also demonstrate enhanced sophistication in analyzing media violence after participating in program.
Newsroom Ethics: Peeling the Onion • Dan Shaver, University of Central Florida • This study involves testing a survey methodology to measure (1) congruence between personal values of newsroom employees and their perceptions of the newsroom’s ethical norms and (2) the applicability of an organizational culture model to newsroom ethical value structures. The limited scope of the study means findings must be viewed as tentative, but they support the effectiveness of the methodology and model and raise questions regarding the forces affecting ethical cultures in newsrooms.
Ethics of Newspapers in Prison Communities: Imprisoned by Their Economic Role? • Michael L. Thurwanger, Bradley University; and Walter B. Jaehnig, University of Southern Illinois at Carbondale • The study examines the prison construction boom in a large Midwestern state and the ethical performance of the press in 24 communities selected as new prison sites since 1977. It asks whether the community press provided an independent channel of communication, fostering open discussion. Quantitative and qualitative evidence shows the community press siding with the local growth coalition while marginalizing opposition. Rather than facilitating public examination of penal policies, the press responds to its own economic interests.
Finding Global Values in Journalism Ethics: A Comparative Analysis of Five News Councils’ Rulings • Bastiaan Vanacker, University of Minnesota • This paper tries to find common journalism ethical values across cultures by analyzing the decisions of five news councils in five different countries. News council decisions on conflict of interest, use of anonymous sources, accuracy, distinguishing editorial from hard news, and reporting on the basis of rumors were discussed. The findings were that despite a superficial agreement on the principles governing these issues, there are some considerable differences in the way they are interpreted.
Journalists’ moral development: Thinking through both rights and care in a professional setting • Lee Wilkins, University of Missouri • This paper examines journalists’ reasoning about moral questions through analysis of qualitative responses to the Defining Issues Test, a paper-and-pencil instrument used to measure moral development which focuses on rights and responsibilities. Participant responses indicate an ability to move between the ethics of rights, the psychological /philosophical basis of stage theory, and an ethics of care as outlined by Carol Gillian and feminist philosophy. Emotion and empathy appear to provide some impetus to moral thought.
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