Media Ethics 2014 Abstracts
Carol Burnett Award
Bringing an Ethics of Care to Reporting on Suicide • Gemma Richardson, University of Western Ontario • This paper provides an overview of the policies in Canadian newsrooms on covering suicide and concludes that reporting on suicide guided by an ethics of care may prove more effective than prescriptive guidelines stating what journalists can and cannot report. An ethics of care in suicide reporting emphasizes compassion, requiring sensitivity for story sources and subjects. This approach may offer a way to open up the dialogue on suicide in an empathetic and respectful manner.
Their Eyes are Watching: The Ethics of Facebook’s Graphic Content Policy Regarding Violence and Adolescents • Monique Robinson, University of Kansas • In 2013, a video depicting a woman’s beheading was posted to the social media website Facebook in accordance with its then policy. Concern was expressed about adolescent (ages 13-17) exposure to violent graphic content on the website. The following analysis employs the Western ethical concepts of virtue ethics (Aristotle), utilitarianism (Mill), and duty (Kant) to evaluate Facebook’s graphic content policy regarding violence and contemplate if Facebook has an ethical duty to protect adolescent audiences.
Open Competition
A Model of Sectarian News Commenting and Self-Disclosure • Krystin Anderson, University of Florida • Due to controversies about the negative aspects of news commenting sections, this paper proposes a model connecting the reading of sectarian comments to a reader’s decision to self-disclose an ideologically based identity. Drawing on cultivation theory, it suggests that identity reinforcement mediates this relationship, with moderators including extremity of sectarianism expressed, perception of risk and utility, initial identity strength, social identity of the self-disclosure recipient, and the reader’s sense of being in the minority or majority.
Aristotle, Casuistry, and Global Media Ethics • Sandra L. Borden, Western Michigan University • A number of scholars have been working on the project of developing a global media ethics focused on “transnational publics and global problems” (Ward, 2013, p. 2). A virtue approach to ethical issues raised by globalized media has not gotten much attention, however. Yet virtue theory been diffused throughout the globe in a number of ancient and contemporary traditions, resulting in a robust pluralism founded on the centrality of discernment and discretion (Ess, 2013). Virtues provide a culturally sensitive, but non-relativistic, moral foundation that “transcends borders without being historically detached” (Keenan & Shannon, 1995, p. 228). The main purpose of this paper is to propose casuistry as a method for deliberation that complements a broadly Aristotelian framework for media ethics. Casuistry is contextual and dialectical while proceeding incrementally and modestly to yield probable judgments even when there is no agreement on first principles or on a telos. The principal question addressed in this paper is, what are the advantages of casuistry as a deliberative method for a virtue approach to globalized media? A related secondary question is, what are the implications for building a thick global media ethics from the ground up? Briefly, I will argue that casuistry: 1) zeroes in on particulars and reminds us to be cautious about blowing up the scale of ethical reasoning beyond what the situation demands; 2) conceives of moral agents as situated selves and confirms the value of moral expertise; and 3) presses for closure while resisting codification.
Deception by Omission in News Reporting: The Most Harmful Deception in Journalism as an Organizational Behavior • HYUNJEONG CHOI, University of Texas at Austin • Deception in journalism can be defined as any type of verbal or nonverbal practice in journalism that intentionally causes the public to initiate or hold false beliefs. Journalistic deception can be divided into four groups in accordance with acts of commission and omission in two areas of news gathering and news reporting. Among the four types of deception in journalism, I contend that deceptive news reporting by omission is rooted directly in organizational behavior, and it can result in the most serious harm to the public. While three other types of deception are undertaken for the purpose of more convenient access to news sources and journalists’ obligation or their own personal greed such as scoop and promotion, the benefits of deception in news reporting by omission appear to accrue to the organization that hires the journalists rather than to individual journalists who commit the deception. Media companies seek to maximize profits through catering to their partisan audiences by suppressing certain information that is not palatable to their readers/viewers. Selectively omitted information is particularly harmful to society because it can lead to conditions that motivate readers/viewers to initiate or to strengthen biased perspectives disseminated by the media organization that may run counter to the best interests of the audiences. In addition, audiences may be rational and make sense of bias in the media where all the facts are given, but it is virtually impossible for them to fully recover information that is selectively omitted in order to achieve information aggregation.
To Post or Not to Post: Ethical Considerations in Using Gun Permit Data Online • David Craig, University of Oklahoma; Stan Ketterer, Oklahoma State University; Mohammad Yousuf, University of Oklahoma • This study investigates the ethical dimensions of data journalism by examining journalists’ discussion of a controversy over publication of gun permit data. Three discussion threads in the listerv of the National Institute of Computer-Assisted Reporting were analyzed. Frames were freedom versus responsibility, consequences, privacy and verification, and alternatives. The findings highlight the benefits of pooling the practical wisdom of participants in an evolving practice. They also suggest recommendations for evaluating the ethics of data journalism.
“I dunno about Morals, but I do got rules”: Analyzing the moral evaluations of prisoners, law-enforcement agents and civilians of The Sopranos. • Merel van Ommen; Serena Daalmans, Radboud University Nijmegen; Addy Weijers; Rebecca de Leeuw • The current study is based on qualitative interviews (N = 60), that aimed to provide insight in the grounds of moral evaluations of an existential crime drama with morally ambivalent characters by different moral subcultures (i.e. prisoners, law enforcement agents, and civilians). The results reveal that prisoners and law enforcement agents ground their moral evaluations in their personal and professional opinions, while civilians showcase more nuance and reveal a difference between those who were and were not familiar with the show.
‘His Women Problem’: An analysis of gender on The Newsroom • Chad Painter, Eastern New Mexico University; Patrick Ferrucci, Bradley University • This textual analysis focused on the portrayal of female journalists on Aaron Sorkin’s The Newsroom. The researchers argue that the four main female journalists were depicted as being unprofessional in the workplace, being inadequate at their jobs, and being motherly and weak. The researchers conclude that Sorkin and his creative team failed in their ethical obligation to the audience and society because the portrayals could negatively impact the perceptions of real female journalists.
Search Engines and Online Censorship in China: An Ethics Approach • Tao Fu; William Babcock • This paper examines how two search engines in China – Google.com.hk and Baidu.com – are different and attract different audiences, but still are able to fit John Stewart Mill’s utilitarian model. Great use is made of both search engines, and the Chinese government in particular monitors – and censors – one, while the other is generally free of such intervention.
Gratification in journalism practice: An assessment of Kuwaiti journalists’ perspective • Uche Onyebadi, Southern Illinois University Carbondale; Fawaz Alajmi, Southern Illinois University Carbondale • Media ethics generally recommends journalists avoiding gratification in order to maintain objectivity and professional integrity. This study investigated the application of this ethical injunction in Kuwait. It surveyed and interviewed Kuwaiti journalists on their attitude towards gratification. Results indicate a breach of this ethical recommendation. Reasons for this include lack of media ethics education among journalists and the absence of ethical guidance by media owners. In addition, journalism in Kuwait is largely a part-time job.
Media Exemplars and a Model of the Morally Motivated Self • Patrick Plaisance, Colorado State University • Research on journalists and public relations executives known for their ethical leadership has demonstrated a clear moral psychology “profile” of personality traits, moral reasoning abilities and rejection of relativistic thinking. Drawing from this profile, a model of the “morally motivated self” is proposed here to map moral functioning as a way to advance media ethics theorizing. The proposed model comports well with the neo-Aristotelian virtue ethics focus on human flourishing, in contrast with deontological approaches.
The Relationship between Organizational Leaders and Advertising Ethics: An Organizational Ethnography • Erin Schauster, Bradley University • Understanding the complexity of advertising ethics mandates an organizational approach to empirical research. This ethnography examines the relationship between aspects of organizational leadership and advertising ethics through the lens of structuration theory. Forty-five days of fieldwork at a full-service advertising agency and 45 one-on-one interviews gathered perceptions of organizational leadership and ethical problems in advertising. Findings suggest that characteristics of leadership enable ethical awareness, while amoral intentions for starting the agency simultaneously constrain awareness.
Let’s Agree to Disagree: Advertising Ethics and the Consensus View • Erin Schauster, Bradley University • Organizational culture provides a context-specific look into advertising ethics. Through the lens of organizational culture, as both shared and divided, a full-service advertising agency was observed. Forty-five days of fieldwork and 45 one-on-one interviews were conducted to examine the shared perceptions and divided views of ethical problems in advertising. Findings suggest that members’ ethical perceptions fell along a continuum from moral myopia to acute ethical awareness, which supports a divided view of organizational culture.
Out of Bounds: Professional Norms as Boundary Markers • Jane Singer, City University London / University of Iowa • Journalists use norms not only as identity markers of the professional news worker but also as boundary markers between professionals and non-professionals. The distinctions they draw rest on ethical practices such as verification, principles such as independence, and promises such as accountability. After outlining responses to previous “new” media, two still-evolving journalistic forms – social journalism and entrepreneurial journalism – are explored to illustrate how this boundary marking is being enacted today.
The Traditional “Pickup” or “Death Knock” Story: Its Role, Its Value(s) and What’s at Stake for Communities • romayne smith fullerton, university of western ontario; Margaret Patterson, Duquesne University • The Canadian term, ‘pickup,’ or the British version, called ‘the death knock,’ refers to an assignment that strikes terror into the heart of young reporters or would-be journalists. It refers to the practice of sending a journalist to the home of someone who has died in a newsworthy event to ‘pick up’ a photograph of the deceased person, and to garner an interview with a family member to write a tribute story. Working from insights provided through personal interviews or group discussions with journalists and situating these ideas in the larger field of ethics literature, we argue that this often-maligned practice of the pickup plays a key part in journalism’s community function, pulling against the tide of social division. Done correctly, this narrative serves to bind the community in its common humanity. Done carelessly, it can work to expel wrongdoers and non-conformists in a manner that ill serves the democratic process. Its examination, therefore, should hinge not on whether the pickup should be done but how. Sadly the debate may cease to exist because the practice itself is threatened; newsrooms are under growing financial pressure to do more with less. Technology, specifically social media, is being increasingly relied upon to fill the gap.
Crisis Management and Ethics: Moving Beyond the Public-Relations-Person-as-Corporate-Conscience Construct toward Moral Agency • Burton St. John, Old Dominion University; Yvette Pearson, Old Dominion University • When it comes to ethics, public relations scholars have tended to describe the role of the public relations person as the “corporate conscience” of the organization. This paper, however, maintains that such a construct is problematic. Through an examination of two recent crisis case studies, this work offers observations on how the public relations person can reconceptualize the “corporate conscience” construct and focus on the value of promoting the development of moral reasoning skills alongside the acknowledgment of individuals’ fundamental role as moral agents.
“Just Doing His Job”: The James Rosen Warrant and the Ethical Implications of Journalists Circling the Wagons • Bastiaan Vanacker • When James Rosen in June 2009 published a story on Foxnews.com on North Korea and its nuclear program, he potentially jeopardized a valuable intelligence operation. However, his actions did not cause uproar among his colleagues. The consequent leak investigation by the government, however, did. This paper argues that by refusing to engage in a public debate about the ethics of using leaked information and using these types of cases instead to solidify its professional status, the journalistic profession lacks accountability.
Special Call For Sports Media Ethics
The Usage and Consequence of Twitter as a Communication Medium Among Collegiate Student-Athletes • Jacob Dryer; Rocky Dailey • The purpose of this study was to better understand the challenges associated with the social networking site (SNS) Twitter for collegiate student-athletes. Collegiate athletes at South Dakota State University (SDSU) and Central College were surveyed on their Twitter usage, understanding of student-athlete policies regarding SNSs, and their experience with the consequences of a negative Twitter posting. The vast majority of student athletes in this study did not have a Twitter account, and 45% of those with accounts posted daily updates. Only eight percent of respondents indicated getting into trouble for a post, and of those the majority of student-athletes did not feel the punishment was fair. A slight majority of students were unaware of any SNS policy for student athletes at their institution. The results of this study indicate that while student athletes tend to post less on the SNS Twitter than typical college students, there is a need for institutions to create policies regarding SNS posting for student athletes and make certain that those policies are communicated effectively to the students.
Dehumanizing Injured Athletes: The ethics of framing player injuries in fantasy football reporting • Brett Johnson, University of Minnesota • This paper conducts an empirical, a priori framing analysis of coverage of NFL player injuries in the fantasy football news service Rotowire during the 2013 NFL season. Following a literature review that involves framing theory and theories from sports media studies and Kant’s categorical imperative, frames are constructed a priori based on their ethical nature. Ethical frames treat injured players as ends in themselves. Unethical frames cover injuries in terms of their impact on players’ performance in fantasy football. Dual frames contain elements of both ethical and unethical frames. Neutral frames contain neither element. Statistical tests (Chi-squared, paired-sample t-tests and bivariate regression) test hypotheses regarding potential correlations between the ethical level of frames and key categorical (position, severity of injury, week of injury, whether or not the injury was a concussion) and quantitative (average fantasy points scored per week) independent variables. The paper concludes with a discussion on recommendations for how fantasy sports news services like Rotowire should ethically report on player injuries.
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