ETHICS AND YOUR LIFE
Do you trust journalists to behave in ethical ways? What about public relations practitioners or advertisers? Elected officials and public administrators? If you had a discussion with your friends, what would they say?Do you think credibility is an important issue for information gatherers? Why is adherence to ethical behavior an important consideration for media workers? How is ethical behavior influenced by economic issues? What is the relationship of ethical behavior to the marketplace of ideas?
As you read chapter 13 of The Media in Your Life, think about the various people who try to control the flow of information. How much of that information can you count on? How much of it is consistent with the ethical values held by you and others you know? How does the credibility of public information sources affect your life?
Then, you can register your views on:
Until the end of World War I, according to press historian Theodore Peterson, most people’s views on ethics and credibility in the news was guided by "the optimistic notion that virtually absolute freedom and the nature of [humans] carried built in correctives for the press." In other words, citizens were assumed to be well-informed people whose free access to information could discount the lies and distortions that were common everywhere in the press.
But the massive social upheaval and bloodshed of two world wars changed the public’s optimistic views of how much freedom of information could be available to average citizens, and with those changes came greater demands for ethical responsibility and credibility in news coverage. (For more information, see pages 388-389 in The Media in Your Life.)
The Press and Ethical behavior
During the twentieth century a demand for social responsibility has become the dominant standard for media. Press historian Theodore Peterson explains that is because press "freedom carries concomitant obligations; and the press, which enjoys a privileged position under our government, is obliged to be responsible to society for carrying out certain essential functions of mass communications in contemporary society." For example, the press is free from government so that it can watch over government. (For more information, see page 389 in The Media in Your Life.)
Media Ethics and Economic Issues
When the public believes journalists act without thinking ethically, then media credibility is at stake. If people question the credibility of one news source-- as they did when NBC unethically staged the explosion of a GM truck in 1993--then attention and advertising dollars may turn to more credible sources of news.
News stories do not just affect the audience--a company’s profits or an entire industry’s credibility can also be affected. For example, as government attention and regulation are focused on an industry, this too can affect profits. Increasingly, company officials and their public relations practitioners are challenging media reports about products and services if they believe the reporting is not accurate or complete. (For more information, see pages 391-392 in The Media in Your Life.)