Jour 575-Media Ethics and Social Issues
Theories for Mass Media

Team Projects
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Teams and topics will be posted on 09/09 Each team will present and lead discussion for 30 minutes First team starts on 09/24 PowerPoint or pre-approved alternative for presentation and discussion Each Team Member must also submit
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A five-page paper on the topic A confidential peer review of each other team member

Team Projects
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Topic will usually be a Chapter/Case Study in the book Team is expected to go beyond what is in the book to provide additional information and analysis regarding the case study topic. Analyze case study in terms of major foundational ethical theories and major journalism ethical theories.

Authoritarian theory of the press:
The function of the press is to support the policies and actions of the state, and its authorities. The press should foster social solidarity and national unity. The state has the right to control the press for the overall public good. In many cases, controlling the press means preventing the press from embarrassing the existing government, to repress criticism and protest, and to severely restrict press freedom. The authoritarian view was prevalent in 17th century Europe where publishing came under the prerogative and censorship powers of the monarch and church. The authoritarian theory is embraced today by many leaders of non-democratic states.

Libertarian (or liberal) theory of the press:
The function of the press is to protect the people‟s liberties and rights, and to inform the public so they can participate as citizens in democratic self-government. The liberal theory prefers a privately owned news media that is maximally free to inform citizens and criticize public policy, as well as act as a watchdog on authorities. The right to publish and express oneself freely is not a prerogative of the state or a government. It is a fundamental right of free individuals. The liberal theory argues that a free marketplace of ideas, while it may cause harm over the short term, is the best safeguard in the long run for a free and liberal society.

The social responsibility theory:
The social responsibility theory: Four Theories describes social responsibility theory as a 20th century development and critique of libertarian theory. It attempts to balance the liberal stress on the freedom of the press. It argues that such freedoms of a powerful news media must be balanced by social responsibilities. Journalists have a duty to provide well-contextualized news in a comprehensive manner. They have a duty to provide a diverse forum of views and values. They have a duty to go beyond entertaining news consumers and to provide a core of in-depth analysis on the most serious issues.

Ward‟s Alternate Theory: Stage One
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Stage one: The invention of journalism ethics in the periodic news press of the 17th century, especially in London. The two traditions of factual news reporting and independent opinion-making begin here. Editors claim to adhere to such norms as impartiality, truthtelling, unbiased observation, credible informants, etc.

Ward‟s Alternate Theory: Stage Two
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Stage two: The “public” ethic: The development of the 18th century public sphere stimulated the growth of a more free and diverse press, including the first daily newspapers. The roles of journalist, news reporter and editor emerge. Journalists take on the persona of reporter, reformer, “polite” commentator and revolutionary. By the end of the century, the press is a “fourth estate,” a social force to be feared or praised. All forms of journalism justify their behaviour by appeal to their role as a “tribune” and protector of the public and its liberty.

Ward‟s Alternate Theory: Stage Three
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Stage three: The liberal theory of the press: The liberal theory is, strictly speaking, a 19th century phenomena, although it has long roots in the writings of Milton, Hume and other thinkers of the 17th and 18th centuries. It received its definitive defense in Mill‟s On Liberty.

Ward‟s Alternate Theory: Stage Three
The liberal press was a creature of liberalism as a social movement of an ascendant middle class in England and other countries. Liberalism stressed liberty, a society organized around “merit” and knowledge, and wider political representation. Liberalism stressed a free marketplace in the world of ideas and in the economy. Social progress would come through education, social reform and a press that supported liberal ideas.

Ward‟s Alternate Theory: Stage Three
Note: "Liberal press" is a misnomer. There were at least two types of liberal newspaper across the 19th century: the elite and egalitarian liberal newspapers. The English liberal press of the mid-1800s, such as the Times of London, exemplified the elite liberal newspaper. Its primary mission was that of serving the liberal elites, providing weighty opinion and educating the masses. The egalitarian liberal paper began as the cheap “penny” papers that began in the 1830s in major American cities and grew into a mass commercial press. This popular press depended on wide circulation and advertising. It had a brighter, more accessible style. Its mission was to provide “news for all” and to support a growing, egalitarian democracy.

Ward‟s Alternate Theory: Stage Four
Stage four: Objectivity and the mass commercial press: By the end of the 1800s, the development of a professional “news” press gave birth to the doctrine of objectivity -- the ideal of the reporter as an independent, objective observer of events. This “traditional objectivity” became a strict methodology in newsrooms for eliminating opinion in the writing of news. By the 1930s, mainstream newspapers came to be defined in large part by an objectivity that was summarized by the mantra, “just the facts.”

Ward‟s Alternate Theory: Stage Five
Stage Five: The return of interpretive journalism: Objectivity was challenged from the beginning by other forms of journalism -the muckrakers of the early 1900s, the interpretive journalism of Time magazine and the new tabloid papers. Also, from the 1960s onward, objectivity was challenged by the more personal form of broadcast news and by the popularity of investigative and literary journalism. By late century, the objective tradition was weakened further by the “civic journalism” movement and by on-line journalism. Journalism ethics in the 20th century was characterized not only by the dominance of objectivity, but also by its decline, and the return of a more interpretive journalism.

Ward‟s Alternate Theory: Stage Six
Stage six: Global journalism ethics in the 21st century: The major question of journalism ethics today is what type of ethics should develop in the 21st century. Will interpretive journalism, in the form of blogging or citizen-to-citizen communication, overwhelm the professional ethics of objectivity and verification developed by more traditional forms of journalism?

SAD Method
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Fred Brown, a professor at the University of Denver gives his students a syllabus with the SAD method included. According to Prof. Brown, the SAD method is an acronym for Situation, Analysis, and Decision. By taking a situation and putting it through this formula, a reporter can be ready to face the critics and defend their decision.

TUFF
Professor John Merrill has a four-step approach to ethical journalism. His system is outlined by the acronym „TUFF‟. The T in the acronym says that journalism should be truthful. The U stands for unbiased journalism. The first F stands for „full‟, and the second F stands for fairness.

“Ethics of Care and Community”
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The “Ethics of Care and Community” Journalistic approach to ethics is one of the lesser known ethical theories utilized by journalists today. As compared to other journalistic ethical philosophies, “Ethics of Care and Community” seems to be grounded more so in humanitarianism than teleological or deontological. This code of ethics requires that a journalist prioritize the formation of caring human relationships through their media work. Sticking to this philosophy, in theory, will help promote and foster more and better relationships amongst people, thus enhancing and strengthening the moral and social fabric of society.

Codes of Ethics
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Society of Professional Journalists has a code of ethics which their website states is voluntarily used by thousands of journalists, regardless of place or platform, and is widely used in newsrooms and classrooms as a guide for ethical behavior for journalists. The code is meant as a guide to ethical journalism as it cannot be enforced by the constitution.

Codes of Ethics
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The code states that journalists should be honest, fair and courageous in gathering, reporting and interpreting information. The code goes on to state that journalists should: test the accuracy information from all sources, diligently seek out subjects of stories to give them the opportunity to respond to any allegations, identify sources, the public is entitled to as much information as possible on a sources‟ reliability, always question a sources‟ motives before promising anonymity, make sure headlines and etc don‟t misrepresent, never distort the content, avoid undercover means of gathering news except when traditional methods fail to yield information important to the public, never plagiarize, examine their own cultural values and avoid imposing those values on others, avoid stereotyping, support open exchange of views, give voice to the voiceless, distinguish news from advertising.

Codes of Ethics
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The code continues to give examples of how to minimize harm, how to act independently (avoiding conflict of interests), and how to be accountable for themselves and to their readers and the public.

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A journalist has a duty to the public to give as much news and important facts that are meaningful to the public through fair, objective, and open-minded journalism. A journalist should look at the public as a whole and decide what is best for the whole. I feel that this code of ethics well defines what it takes to be an ethical journalist.

Overby Formula
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Fairness=accuracy+balance+completeness+detachment+ethics Dr. WickhamI would add diversity to the formula, as a specific component. Fundamentals of ethical journalism: * To get it right * To be fair * To tell the whole story

Potter‟s Box - Four Dimensions of Moral Analysis
Definition Loyalties

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Values

↑ →
Principles

Potter‟s Box
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Read pages 1-34 of the text for Wednesday.

Framing
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Framing of stories—frames are sometimes as simple as metaphors. Sometimes as complex as analogies. They serve to make the unfamiliar more familiar—and to make the familiar a bit more exact; understood in different perspective. 1. Frames are what make facts make sense. Not just the issues of accuracy, interviewing, document searching, rather we also have to look at how we frame the facts in order to make sense of the world. (Conflicts/battles) 2. Frames set borders and boundaries. You decide what people, places, perceptions and hard facts to include and which to exclude. In a photo, a story, a headline. (Locations/timeliness) 3. Frames emphasize and de-emphasize. The way you frame a story puts some people or places or perceptions in the foreground and puts others in the background. (Location/proximity) 4. Frames create connections. Either as metaphors or analogies, they capture and convey information. (Human behavior)

Framing
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5. Frames orient—create a mental model of how the world worlds. Some frames are pre-fabricated and resemble stereotypes. (SUV drivers, Ole Miss students) 6. Frames explain—and sometimes pre-ordain and sometimes, like skeletons, hold the pieces together. They create an understanding of the whole through an examination of the parts. (Reflex, not reflection) 7. Frames reflect—worldviews, belief systems, personal definitions of the truth, can be so persuasive and pervasive that everything you see through that frame. That makes it harder to consider other frames of refine existing frames. (Black and white view of the world). 8. Frames are efficient ways to sort information and to create stories. They connect newsrooms to the common understandings of our communities and the larger culture. They make facts meaningful. Frames create reality. Because they re constructed they not only can refract but they can also distort our view of reality to blind us to other areas. (Rote coverage, not examined reporting). 9. Every story has at least one frame, most have more than one frame, and they give stories meaning. But to be an ethical journalist: know your own frames, know how you have simplified the world, recognize when you need to reframe. Reframe well.