MEDIA

ETHICS
Ms. Varalakshmi
 WHAT IS THE
DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN ETHICS
AND MORALITY?
 • Ethics are standards of good
conduct and rules in all
situations whether they are
WHAT ARE governed by formal laws or
ETHICS? policies.
• Morality is more personal. It is
the ability to understand the
difference between right or
wrong.
 • Many ethical decisions are
based on people’s underlying
religious, philosophical, and
ETHICAL cultural ideals.
PRINCIPLE
• Thousands of people who
S
work in the media are faced
with the challenges of making
an ethical decision daily.
Question…
You are a journalist working in a small town. You come across
news that a child has been raped and murdered. However, the
parents of the child refuse to seek help from the authorities,
fearing that doing so would bring shame to their family, as
they have five daughters. As a member of the media, would
you shed light on the situation, given that there is a child
rapist on the loose in the town, or would you respect the
parents' wishes and keep the matter quiet?
 Subjectivism
“There ain't no sin and there ain't no virtue.
There's just stuff people do”
- John Steinbeck, Grapes of Wrath
Subjectivism
• Subjectivism teaches that there are no objective
moral truths out there.
• The idea that right and wrong exist factually,
without any importance of opinion.
• Therefore 'murder is wrong' can't
be objectively true.
• In the bigger scale of things, does it mean when a
lion kills its prey, it has sinned?
Subjectivism
• Many forms of subjectivism go a bit further
and teach that moral statements describe
how the speaker feels about a particular
ethical issue.
• So if I say "Lying is wrong", all I'm doing is
telling you that I disapprove of telling lies.
Subjectivism
• If I approve of something, does that mean it
must be good?
• We are all bound by a social contract of good
and bad.
• What do you find acceptable that society
generally does not?
SOCIAL CONTRACT

• People who work in the media are expected to be

bound by a social contract.
• This is essentially the unwritten agreement that
individuals in a particular society have with one
another.
• There are SIX principles to consider when making
ethical decisions in the media.
 The Golden Mean represents the
desirable middle ground between two
extremes; one of excess and the other
of deficiency.
ARISTOTL
E’S For Aristotle, the virtuous life is one of
balance, not going to either extreme.
GOLDEN
MEAN
(Principle 1) This means that stories should have
balanced points of views or include
various points of view to provide
balance.
 THE JAMES
HOLMES
CASE
In 2012, James Holmes went
on a shooting spree in a movie
theater in Aurora, Colorado,
and was in the news
repeatedly for his various trials
and appeals.
The people saw his photos
read stories that questions his
sanity.
What’s wrong with this news
clip from ABC News?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKB0Oene5Ys
THE
• “Do unto others as you
GOLDEN would have them do unto
RULE you.”
(Principle 2) • It comes from the Bible but
can be found in many other
cultural traditions as well.
• Doing no harm to the
subjects of your stories and
treating them respectfully.
Vijay Anthony’s Daughter’s Passing
USING THE “VEIL OF IGNORANCE”
(Principle 3)
• Rawls, 1999, introduced the “veil of ignorance.”
• It means treating all members of the society
equally.
• Why would it be an ethical issue?
VEIL OF IGNORANCE
• Treating all members of society equally, as if you didn’t know
who had a stake in an issue.
• Example:
• Without Veil of Ignorance: The journalist might simply
report the facts and statements from policymakers, possibly
perpetuating the social inequality the policy promotes.
• With Veil of Ignorance: The journalist imagines that they
could be any member of the society—be it a privileged
student who benefits from the policy or a disadvantaged
student who suffers because of it.
THE REPORTING OF AIDS IN THE 1980’s
Princess Diana Shaking Hands with Aids Patient

In April 1987, Princess Diana made

headlines by inaugurating the UK's
inaugural HIV/AIDS center at London
Middlesex Hospital. Significantly, she
shook hands with an HIV-positive
patient without wearing gloves. This
public act debunked myths about the
disease's transmission and called for
empathy and education rather than
stigma and misinformation.
What do you
think of this
old saying?
Even if it is God,
there is no good
deed without
selfishness.
IMMANUEL
KANT’S • “Act on that maxim which
you will (wish) to become a
CATEGORICAL universal law”
IMPERATIVE • Many journalists seek to
(Principle 4) break stories first, as doing
so establishes a benchmark
for how well or poorly the
story will be reported by
others. In essence, they set a
kind of universal standard
for the story.
SETTING THE
UNIVERSAL LAW

57,000 petitioners to Teen Vogue and

86,000 petitioners to Seventeen
Magazine to stop using models who
appear to have eating disorders and to
stop airbrushing and changing the faces
and body sizes of the females in their
photographs.
 • Posits that actions are ethical to the
JOHN extent that they promote the
greatest happiness for the greatest
STUART number of people.
MILL’S • In other words, the moral worth of
an action is determined by its
PRINCIPL overall utility in maximizing
pleasure or minimizing pain,
E OF summed across all individuals.
UTILITY • Mill's utilitarianism is a
consequentialist theory, meaning it
(Principle 5) focuses on the outcomes of actions
rather than intentions or inherent
moral rules.
IS THE
OUTCOM
E OF
GRAND
THEFT
AUTO
2.5 million GTA Online players every month.
GOOD OR
BAD?
 Experiential Learning:
JOHN • Ethics isn't just a theoretical
DEWEY’S endeavor, but something
PRAGMAT learned through lived
experience and reflection.
IC ETHICS • People become more ethical
(Principle by engaging with moral
6) problems and learning from
their successes and failures.
 WHAT WAS YOUR
EXPERIENCE WITH COVID-
19 NEWS REPORTING?
HOW DO WE DEAL WITH
AN ETHICAL
CONUNDRUM?
THINKING
THROUGH
ETHICAL
PROBLEMS:
POTTER’S BOX
DEFINE SITUATION IDENTIFY VALUES

•Potter’s Box is a process

approach to deciding on
ethical actions, developed
by Harvard divinity
CLARIFY LOYALTIES LOOK FOR PRINCIPLES
professor Ralph Potter.

•It is a four-stage model in

which each stage helps
clarify one aspect of the
ethical problem.
 • Identify and provide an overview of
the situation by listing all confirmed
facts.
• Exclude any unconfirmed rumors or
Quadrant 1 suspicions; stick to verified
(DEFINITIO information.
N) • Example: Consider featuring a young
woman who was disfigured in an
accident caused by a drunk driver.
She is willing to have her image used
and signs a release form.
 • Identify the ethical values that apply
to you in your role as a media
professional, as well as those that
pertain to other parties involved in
Quadrant 2 the situation.
(Identify • Example: Question if the shock value
of those images would deter
Values) potential drunk drivers? Despite
being warned of possible outcomes,
could the publicity harm the woman
and affect her willingness to
participate?
 • Use the ethical principles to evaluate the
dilemma you are facing.
• Example:
Mill’s utility principle: One could argue that the
greater good of public safety outweighs the lesser
Quadrant 3 evil of bad taste.
(Seek for
Aristotle’s Golden Mean: It would be extremely
principles) gruesome to use the image, it might make
viewers and the lady involved uncomfortable.

Golden Rule: If this happened to us, would we

want our disfigured face to be all over the media?
 • Determine to whom your primary
loyalty belongs in this situation.
• Begin by listing out all your
Quadrant 4 loyalties and then prioritize them.
(Clarify • Example: Are we more concerned
loyalties) about the effectiveness of the
campaign? Are we more excited
about being connected to
something edgy or new?
 In your group, I would like
LET’S TEST
you to use the "Potter's Box"
YOUR
method to find an ethical
ETHICAL
solution for the dilemma
COMPASS
assigned to you.