Description:

Media Ethics

Catalog Description: “Ethical Problems of Mass Communications”: The practice of mass communication as ordered by moral principles.

Course Description: Media ethics represents an opportunity to discover the rights and responsibilities of media professionals by identifying and applying moral principles and values to situations and contexts unique to our professions and the people we serve. Stephen Ward[1] argues that media ethics is a matter of media ecology, meaning we must act in certain ways responsive to the broader, interconnected social and cultural environments we live within. He also implies that media ethics as a part of media ecology is a global concern. The globalized media ecosystem means wrestling with definitions, roles, and frameworks in new and unique ways but acknowledging that ethical systems may vary by culture, political body, and subgroups.

In this course, we will operate within Ward’s three global media ethics imperatives[2]:

1. Act as global agents
2. Serve the citizens of the world
3. Promote non-parochial understandings

How we do this is part of the learning experiences involved with this course, which foundational centers on you, your learning, and your relationships (i.e., with yourself, others, media, and beyond). In this course, we will work to understand foundational approaches to ethical decision-making, explore values and loyalties, apply philosophical thought to practical problems, and reflect critically on personal beliefs to create more opportunities for moral professionalism in your work futures. The hope is that this course helps provide you with a way to navigate your personal and professional lives with a healthy respect for yourself and others.

We will approach this course vis-à-vis a course theme. The theme will allow us to operate on a common understanding of what media ethics is, how to approach problems, and ways to evaluate outcomes and situations. The ultimate goal, however, is not just for students to know ethics within the context of this theme. Still, it is for students to approach a communication problem of their own choosing and apply the skills and knowledge they’ve learned in this course in an independent manner.

Course Theme: Ecomedia Ethics

Recent Pew Research Center in-depth interviews[3] show that some Americans “widely rejected the national news media as a credible source for climate information.” The reluctance “to put full faith in information from national media outlets” comes from an assumption that “media sources each have their own agenda and thus cannot be trusted.” In a second report[4], support for addressing climate change as a primary issue in America also waned. Climate change ranks 17th out of 21 national issues. However, those under 30 on both sides of the political aisle believe this issue is a moral battle that Americans must fight.

In this section of Media Ethics, we will explore the intersection of media, the environment, and ethics by interrogating how media professionals’ values, roles, and responsibilities engage with moral obligations to the environment. Students will have the opportunity to reflect upon their own professional industries in relation to varied issues associated with the environment while also exploring a broader question of moral purpose both as citizens of the world and pre-service professionals in the media industry.

This class will wrestle with a variety of questions of ethics, and we will do so by engaging with different media types and genres. Students will ultimately respond to the course’s essential question in a way best suited to their learning and professional needs while also contending with the problem of living within a healthy environment – whatever that may mean to the student.

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[1] https://ethics.journalism.wisc.edu/resources/digital-media-ethics/

[2] https://ethics.journalism.wisc.edu/resources/global-media-ethics/

[3] https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2023/08/09/why-some-americans-do-not-see-urgency-on-climate-change/

[4] https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/08/09/what-the-data-says-about-americans-views-of-climate-change/

Field:

Communication, Journalism, Media Studies, Social Media, Strategic Communication

Duration:

One semester

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