Media Ethics: Cases and Moral Reasoning

by Christians, Clifford G.; Fackler, Mark B; Rotzoll, Kim B; McKee, Kathy Brittain

• ISBN13: 9780801333385
• ISBN10: 0801333385
• Edition: 6th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-01-01
• Publisher: Allyn & Bacon

Summary

This market-leading text uses original case studies and commentaries about actual media experiences to get students thinking analytically about ethical situations in mass communication. Aiming to improve students' ethical awareness, the text's Introduction provides a solid foundation in the theoretical principles of ethical philosophies and presents the Potter Box as a framework for uncovering the important steps in moral reasoning and for analyzing the cases that follow. Focusing on a wide spectrum of ethical issues facing media practitioners, the cases in the text cover journalism, broadcasting, advertising, public relations and entertainment. The Sixth Edition features new and updated cases, and includes more cases focusing on corporations, e-mail and the World Wide Web.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
About the Authors	xv
Introduction Ethical Foundations and Perspectives	1	(2)
The Potter Box Model of Reasoning	3	(5)
Using Ethical Principles	8	(4)
Five Ethical Guidelines	12	(9)
To Whom Is Moral Duty Owed?	21	(3)
Who Ought to Decide?	24	(7)
Part 1 NEWS	31	(96)
Business Pressures	35	(24)
The AOL Time Warner Colossus	36	(5)
NBC and GM's Pickup	41	(3)
The Wichita Experiment	44	(3)
Disney World's Birthday Celebrations	47	(3)
New Times in Los Angeles	50	(9)
Truthelling	59	(21)
The Unabomber's Manifesto	60	(3)
Sexism and World Cup Soccer	63	(5)
Abortion Profiteers	68	(3)
Fabrication at The Globe	71	(3)
An Enemy of the People	74	(6)
Reporters and Sources	80	(14)
Watergate and Grand Jury Information	81	(4)
Stolen Voice Mail	85	(2)
Confidentiality in Minnesota	87	(3)
Pesticide Panic	90	(4)
Social Justice	94	(19)
The Electronic Highway	95	(4)
Boston's Bizarre Murder	99	(3)
The Homeless Story	102	(3)
Ten Weeks at Wounded Knee	105	(8)
Invasion of Privacy	113	(14)
Privacy in Cyberspace	115	(2)
A Prostitue on Page 12	117	(3)
Sports Stories on July 4	120	(3)
Dead Body Photo	123	(4)
Part 2 PERSUASION IN ADVERTISING	127	(70)
Special Audiences	135	(16)
The Littlest Consumers	135	(3)
Selling Students to Advertisers?	138	(2)
Some Say ``No'' More Often Than Others	140	(3)
The Big Sell for a ``Purely Regressive Tax''	143	(3)
Sexually Provocative or Socially Responsible?	146	(5)
What To Advertise	151	(16)
A Magazine and Its Cigarettes	152	(3)
Does Alchol Advertising Get a ``Free Ride''?	155	(2)
The 30-Second Candidate	157	(3)
Feminine Hygiene in the Living Room	160	(3)
Empowering or Manipulating the Health-Care Consumer	163	(4)
How To Say It	167	(16)
Philip Morris Tells Young People, ``Think. Don't Smoke''	167	(4)
Yo Quiero Stereotype?	171	(2)
Making the Same Different: Parity Products	173	(3)
Defining Outrageousness Down	176	(2)
Anorexic Chic?	178	(5)
Media Considerations	183	(14)
Gatekeepers I: None of ``Those Ads'' in This Paper	183	(3)
Gatekeepers II: Taking the Heat About Abortion	186	(2)
The Captive Audience	188	(2)
Informercials--``They Need to Make You Rich, Thin, or Beautiful. The Best Do All Three.''	190	(3)
The ``Wild West'' of Marketing?--Advertising on the Internet	193	(4)
Part 3 PERSUASION AND PUBLIC RELATIONS	197	(54)
Public Communication	199	(18)
Mr. Ethics Sells Out	200	(3)
A Lawyer Asks for Help	203	(3)
PACking for Washington	206	(3)
A Public Relations ``Discovery''	209	(2)
A New Kind of War	211	(6)
Telling The Truth In Organizational Settings	217	(11)
Is It Live or Tape?	218	(2)
A Committed Front?	220	(2)
Digital Debates	222	(2)
A Web of Caring	224	(4)
Conflicting Loyalties	228	(12)
A New Client?	229	(1)
Friends?	230	(2)
The Friendly Journalist	232	(1)
Politician Pitching Pills	233	(2)
All Too Human?	235	(2)
The Long-Distance Client	237	(3)
The Demands of Social Responsibility	240	(11)
Pepsi Challenged by Rumors	241	(1)
Smart Giving	242	(3)
The Medical Endorsement	245	(2)
Caught on Tape	247	(4)
Part 4 ENTERTAINMENT	251	(63)
Violence	255	(22)
Hear It, Feel It, Do It	257	(5)
Crunchy Terror in T-Rex Park	262	(3)
TNT's Crazy Horse	265	(2)
``The Storyteller''	267	(3)
Comic Capers	270	(7)
Profits, Wealth, and Public Trust	277	(12)
Crude Script for Tinsel Town	278	(2)
Virtual Whitewash	280	(2)
The Purpose is Profit	282	(1)
Deep Trouble for Harry	283	(2)
Super Strip	285	(4)
Media Scope and Depth	289	(14)
Reel History	290	(3)
Bigotry as Entertainment	293	(2)
Hey, Baby, Life Stinks	295	(3)
The Father Knows Best	298	(5)
Censorship	303	(11)
Ice-T on Ice	304	(4)
Crusing on Instinct	308	(2)
Cybersex and Soul	310	(2)
The I-Man Cometh	312	(2)
Epilogue	314	(3)
Recommended Readings	317	(12)
Index	329