Media Ethics 2018 Abstracts
Carol Burnett Award
Fake News and the Fourth Estate: The Role of Editorial Messaging in Repairing the Journalistic Paradigm • Deborah Dwyer, Student • The White House has weaponized the term “fake news” to brand mainstream media as unethical. Ironically, this presents an opportunity for the Fourth Estate to reestablish credibility at a time when trust in media is frighteningly low. This content analysis explores traditional media’s editorial discourse about fake news to determine if it has sparked efforts to repair the journalistic paradigm—the unwritten and fundamental behaviors and standards media assert to be intrinsic to the profession.
Carol Burnett Award
“This Corporation Cares”: Considering Ethics in Communicating Nonprofit CSR Relationships Online • Virginia Harrison • A qualitative content analysis of corporate social responsibility (CSR) webpages of top-ranked corporations was conducted to determine the ethical nature of online communications surrounding nonprofit partnerships. Evidence shows that website communications often engage in self-promotion rather than genuine support for nonprofit partners. Through corporate branding of CSR activities, advertising through philanthropy stories, and using employee volunteerism and donations as unpaid labor, the balance of CSR relationships tilts heavily in the corporation’s favor.
Open Competition
An Ethic of Advocacy: Metajournalistic discourse on the practice of leaks and whistleblowing 2004-2017 • Brett Johnson; Elizabeth Bent, University of Missouri; Caroline Dade, University of Missouri • Leaks are vital to journalism, especially since the early 2000s. This study analyzes the discourse surrounding leaks crafted by online journalism trade publications since 2004 to understand how journalism has shaped itself as an institution vis-à-vis the role of leaks in reporting and the meta-ethical norms surrounding the use of leaks. Findings suggest that journalism has embraced an advocacy role with leaks despite (or perhaps because of) ethical contradictions surrounding their use of leaks.
Facebook and the Virtue of Friendship • Jeffrey Maciejewski, Creighton University • Although social media are used by billions worldwide, they have not received commensurate attention by ethicists. This paper is an attempt to fill this vacancy in the literature by examining Facebook friendship using Aristotelian virtues as a normative lens. Given that Aristotle envisions the highest form of friendship––perfect friendship––as arising from quid pro quo friendships of utility and pleasure, and since self-love, addiction and compulsion are entwined with Facebook use, this paper examines the virtue of friendship as it relates to the nuanced nature of Facebook relationships. Requirements of virtue friendship are analyzed and applied to Facebook friendships, and the complicating influences of asynchronous “frictionless” interactions, sometimes fueled by narcissism, are discussed.
How “activist” ethics at the New York Times overcame the “chilling effects” of libel • Ali Mohamed, UAE University • The civil rights movement of the 1960s serves as context in exploring deployment of ethical principles associated with activist democracy by the New York Times. A content analysis shows that the Times maintained a vigorous challenge to the social order in Alabama even after a series of libel suits were brought by state officials. This suggests that when media cover a story in an activist spirit, the intimidating “chilling effects” of libel can lose effect.
“Ethically Listening” to Different Perspectives : News Fixers’ Thoughts on the Dangers They Face in the Field • Lindsay Palmer, UW-Madison • This paper attempts to answer Stephen J.A. Ward and Herman Wasserman’s call for more “ethical listening” in communications scholarship, most especially where cross-cultural dialogue is concerned (2015). Drawing upon qualitative interviews with 75 news “fixers” in 36 different countries, the paper argues that these locally-based media employees are vital in protecting correspondents in the field. Because news fixers guide correspondents through unfamiliar locations and give them advice on how to navigate dangerous cultural differences, international news organizations depend heavily on fixers to keep their journalists safe on assignment. Yet, these news organizations do not return the favor by protecting news fixers in any systematic way. Because of this, the paper ultimately argues that journalism practitioners and scholars need to engage in more “ethical listening,” actively considering and respecting news fixers’ perspectives on the risks they face in their work. Without news fixers, the work of international reporting simply would not be possible; therefore, international news outlets and the scholars who study them need to take news fixers’ perspectives seriously, relying on these particular perspectives as a guide for how to improve fixers’ safety.
Electoral Reckonings: Press Criticism of Presidential Campaign Coverage, 2000-2016 • Elizabeth Bent, University of Missouri; Kimberly Kelling; Ryan Thomas, University of Missouri • Elections offer the press a relatively predictable cycle to enact its democratic role. The cyclical nature of presidential elections allow a level of self-reflexivity as the press reflect on election coverage. Through a textual analysis of press criticism after presidential elections from 2000-2016, this study explores how themes around routines, norms and values remained relatively steady until the 2016 election creates a hyperactive response and discursive shift as the press moves from public-advocate to self-advocate.
Fair balance or false balance: Accuracy or impartiality in climate change reporting • Kristin Timm, George Mason University; Richard Craig, George Mason University • Despite the scientific consensus that human-caused climate change is occurring, it continues to be presented as a two-sided debate-creating a ‘false balance’ that can distort the audience’s perceptions of the issue. With 52 interviews and a survey of nearly 2000 news media professionals from the U.S., we reveal how frequently an opposing viewpoint is included in climate change stories, why it is included, and how journalists understand and practice objectivity in climate change reporting.
The Discursive (Re)Construction of the Objectivity Norm • Tim Vos, University of Missouri; Ryan Thomas, University of Missouri; Amanda Hinnant; Yong Volz, University of Missouri • While objectivity has long been an ethical anchor for the institution of journalism, it has seemingly been contested in the last two decades. This study examines two decades of journalists’ discourse – what has come to be called metajournalistic discourse – to examine the meaning, state, and legitimacy of objectivity. While we find that the meaning of objectivity has shifted and faces a steady stream of discursive contestation, the objectivity norm or ethic still finds purchase.
Ethics of Authenticity: Travel Influencers and the Production of Sponsored Content • Mariah Wellman, University of Iowa; Ryan Stoldt; Melissa Tully, University of Iowa; Brian Ekdale • This paper argues travel influencers rely on an ethics of authenticity to build credibility when deciding which commercial brands to work with, what content to produce, how to disclose brand relationships to audiences, and whether to omit experiences that might otherwise damage their personal brands. An ethics of authenticity puts the influencers’ brand identity and relationship with their audience at the forefront while also allowing them to profit from content designed to benefit brands and destinations.
Special Call for Advertising and Public Relations Ethics • Still no End to Gender Stereotypes in Advertising: A Content Analytical Comparison of Different Channels. • Kathrin Karsay, University of Vienna; Jörg Matthes, U of Vienna; Valerie Fröhlich • Scholars repeatedly voiced ethical criticism with regards to stereotypical gender role portrayals in television advertisements. The present study analyzed gender stereotypes in a total of N = 1022 advertisements from four Austrian television channels: a public service channel, a commercial channel, and one commercial special interest channel for men and for women respectively. The results showed that well-known stereotypical gender portrayals are prevalent in all four channels. However, significant differences between channels exist.
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