Pub Date : 2021-02-02DOI: 10.1080/23736992.2021.1880045
K. Berg
{"title":"Considering the Ethics of Political Communication and Doing the Right Thing","authors":"K. Berg","doi":"10.1080/23736992.2021.1880045","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23736992.2021.1880045","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":45979,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Media Ethics","volume":"309 1","pages":"68 - 71"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2021-02-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79926832","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-02-02DOI: 10.1080/23736992.2020.1857254
S. Ofori-Parku
ABSTRACT This article attends to the debate of what motivations – instrumental or altruistic – should drive corporate social responsibility (CSR) decisions and practice; I offer an integrated instrumental and duty-based framework. While the win-win instrumentalism that underlies much of CSR practice is problematic and needs addressing, the notion of altruism is also flawed. Such an application of deontological principles, while well-intentioned, is a) based on a misreading of Kant’s humanity formula, b) does not lend itself to the inherent duality of the CSR concept, and c) constrains the quest and need to mainstream ethical CSR. Instead, I propose that a more pertinent question is how to address firms’ tendency to choose those societal issues that yield private benefits. In this regard, drawing on W.D. Ross’ moral philosophy, I provide a three-level decision criterion for addressing situations where firms’ private interests and social aspirations collide.
{"title":"When Public and Business Interests Collide: An Integrated Approach to the Altruism-Instrumentalism Tension and Corporate Social Responsibility Theory","authors":"S. Ofori-Parku","doi":"10.1080/23736992.2020.1857254","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23736992.2020.1857254","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This article attends to the debate of what motivations – instrumental or altruistic – should drive corporate social responsibility (CSR) decisions and practice; I offer an integrated instrumental and duty-based framework. While the win-win instrumentalism that underlies much of CSR practice is problematic and needs addressing, the notion of altruism is also flawed. Such an application of deontological principles, while well-intentioned, is a) based on a misreading of Kant’s humanity formula, b) does not lend itself to the inherent duality of the CSR concept, and c) constrains the quest and need to mainstream ethical CSR. Instead, I propose that a more pertinent question is how to address firms’ tendency to choose those societal issues that yield private benefits. In this regard, drawing on W.D. Ross’ moral philosophy, I provide a three-level decision criterion for addressing situations where firms’ private interests and social aspirations collide.","PeriodicalId":45979,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Media Ethics","volume":"72 1","pages":"2 - 19"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2021-02-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73292445","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-12-10DOI: 10.1080/23736992.2020.1856666
Dominic Ayegba Okoliko, M. de Wit
ABSTRACT This study interrogates the conventional understanding of and practice within mediated climate change communication (CCC) as a forum where transformative ideas on sustainability practices are shaped. Besides the dominance of non-African contexts and epistemologies in literature analyzing the media-climate change and public nexus, there is little attention given to problematizing public engagement. Common assumption pitches “the public” on the one side and “the communicator” on the other side. This bifurcated model of “communicating” climate change has import for the forms of subjectivity in climate (in)action, including a weakened citizenship representation in climate discourse and the de-pluralization of ideas. This study argues that for people to be actually engaged in climate campaigns, it is important to draw attention to what understanding of “person” and “community” undergird current CCC practice. The work draws insights from African political theories and communication studies to position CCC toward inclusive public engagement.
{"title":"From “Communicating” to “Engagement”: Afro-Relationality as a Conceptual Framework for Climate Change Communication in Africa","authors":"Dominic Ayegba Okoliko, M. de Wit","doi":"10.1080/23736992.2020.1856666","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23736992.2020.1856666","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This study interrogates the conventional understanding of and practice within mediated climate change communication (CCC) as a forum where transformative ideas on sustainability practices are shaped. Besides the dominance of non-African contexts and epistemologies in literature analyzing the media-climate change and public nexus, there is little attention given to problematizing public engagement. Common assumption pitches “the public” on the one side and “the communicator” on the other side. This bifurcated model of “communicating” climate change has import for the forms of subjectivity in climate (in)action, including a weakened citizenship representation in climate discourse and the de-pluralization of ideas. This study argues that for people to be actually engaged in climate campaigns, it is important to draw attention to what understanding of “person” and “community” undergird current CCC practice. The work draws insights from African political theories and communication studies to position CCC toward inclusive public engagement.","PeriodicalId":45979,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Media Ethics","volume":"33 1","pages":"36 - 50"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2020-12-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"76475106","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-11-18DOI: 10.1080/23736992.2020.1846539
Marlene S. Neill
ABSTRACT The 2017 Commission on Public Relations Education (CPRE) report found new professionals are not meeting employers’ expectations regarding ethics knowledge, skills and abilities. This mixed-method study identifies the most common ethical issues facing public relations professionals today, essential competencies associated with ethics in public relations, and which of those skills are lacking. The study began with a Delphi survey with public relations leaders followed by 40 personal interviews. Implications for educators and public relations professionals are provided. In addition, a model of public relations practice, drawing on virtue theory, is proposed that contrasts the role of an ethical conscience with that of a spin doctor.
{"title":"Public Relations Professionals Identify Ethical Issues, Essential Competencies and Deficiencies","authors":"Marlene S. Neill","doi":"10.1080/23736992.2020.1846539","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23736992.2020.1846539","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The 2017 Commission on Public Relations Education (CPRE) report found new professionals are not meeting employers’ expectations regarding ethics knowledge, skills and abilities. This mixed-method study identifies the most common ethical issues facing public relations professionals today, essential competencies associated with ethics in public relations, and which of those skills are lacking. The study began with a Delphi survey with public relations leaders followed by 40 personal interviews. Implications for educators and public relations professionals are provided. In addition, a model of public relations practice, drawing on virtue theory, is proposed that contrasts the role of an ethical conscience with that of a spin doctor.","PeriodicalId":45979,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Media Ethics","volume":"24 1","pages":"51 - 67"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2020-11-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86382932","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-11-08DOI: 10.1080/23736992.2020.1841643
B. Johnson, Ryan J. Thomas, K. Kelling
ABSTRACT In the United States, hate speech sits at the intersection of ethical and legal debates and has a complex relationship with journalism. The First Amendment provides broad legal protections for hate speech, and U.S. journalists have historically been known for their advocacy for speech freedoms. However, ethical debate persists about the extent to which hate speech should be used within U.S. public discourse. At the nexus of this debate are journalists with intersecting and – possibly – competing duties. This study examines the discursive construction of hate speech in U.S. opinion journalism, analyzing journalistic discourse published in U.S. editorials and opinion columns between 1998 and 2019. The study finds five key themes that, together, indicate the use of hate speech as a means to articulate a libertarian interpretation of public discourse, facilitating a reductionist conception of freedom of expression that does not live up to journalism’s duties to democracy.
{"title":"Boundaries of Hate: Ethical Implications of the Discursive Construction of Hate Speech in U.S. Opinion Journalism","authors":"B. Johnson, Ryan J. Thomas, K. Kelling","doi":"10.1080/23736992.2020.1841643","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23736992.2020.1841643","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT In the United States, hate speech sits at the intersection of ethical and legal debates and has a complex relationship with journalism. The First Amendment provides broad legal protections for hate speech, and U.S. journalists have historically been known for their advocacy for speech freedoms. However, ethical debate persists about the extent to which hate speech should be used within U.S. public discourse. At the nexus of this debate are journalists with intersecting and – possibly – competing duties. This study examines the discursive construction of hate speech in U.S. opinion journalism, analyzing journalistic discourse published in U.S. editorials and opinion columns between 1998 and 2019. The study finds five key themes that, together, indicate the use of hate speech as a means to articulate a libertarian interpretation of public discourse, facilitating a reductionist conception of freedom of expression that does not live up to journalism’s duties to democracy.","PeriodicalId":45979,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Media Ethics","volume":"3 1","pages":"20 - 35"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2020-11-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86847179","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-10-01DOI: 10.1080/23736992.2020.1834397
Ginny Whitehouse
Josephine Livingstone highlights the Hollywood ‘twin film phenomenon’ in her takedown of the Fyre Festival. That’s when an historical event or character gets two treatments released at about the sa...
{"title":"Calling Both Fyre Documentaries Unethical Misses the Point","authors":"Ginny Whitehouse","doi":"10.1080/23736992.2020.1834397","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23736992.2020.1834397","url":null,"abstract":"Josephine Livingstone highlights the Hollywood ‘twin film phenomenon’ in her takedown of the Fyre Festival. That’s when an historical event or character gets two treatments released at about the sa...","PeriodicalId":45979,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Media Ethics","volume":"2 1","pages":"241 - 242"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2020-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87665393","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-09-15DOI: 10.1080/23736992.2020.1819813
M. Díez, Alba Sabaté Gauxachs, J. Micó
ABSTRACT Social projects are based on ethical values that members defend, incorporate in their life and want to implement. Identity and mission play an important role in the transmission of values within organizations, especially in the case of social oriented projects. This article examines the digital communications of La Fageda, a socially driven commercial cooperative. The research explores how the project ethically communicates its action: making the life of people with intellectual disabilities better by producing high quality yogurts and other related products. Through focus groups, in-depth interviews and field visits, we analyzed how La Fageda is explained through its ethical principles and values, as a way to articulate lessons for corporate communications field. We compare how the project is communicated and received in social media and if there is consistency and alignment or a distortion in this perception.
{"title":"Caring Leadership: The Alignment of Organizational Values and Social Media Messaging","authors":"M. Díez, Alba Sabaté Gauxachs, J. Micó","doi":"10.1080/23736992.2020.1819813","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23736992.2020.1819813","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Social projects are based on ethical values that members defend, incorporate in their life and want to implement. Identity and mission play an important role in the transmission of values within organizations, especially in the case of social oriented projects. This article examines the digital communications of La Fageda, a socially driven commercial cooperative. The research explores how the project ethically communicates its action: making the life of people with intellectual disabilities better by producing high quality yogurts and other related products. Through focus groups, in-depth interviews and field visits, we analyzed how La Fageda is explained through its ethical principles and values, as a way to articulate lessons for corporate communications field. We compare how the project is communicated and received in social media and if there is consistency and alignment or a distortion in this perception.","PeriodicalId":45979,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Media Ethics","volume":"88 1","pages":"228 - 240"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2020-09-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78343610","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-09-14DOI: 10.1080/23736992.2020.1819286
D. Dwyer, Chad Painter
ABSTRACT Unpublishing, or the act of deleting previously published media content from a news outlet’s online archive in response to an external request, is a growing ethical and practical dilemma for journalists. Adjudicating unpublishing requests leaves each media outlet to wrestle with balancing the ethical tenets of accuracy and objectivity. Amid a substantial rise in scholarly attention to technological challenges associated with digital privacy, research specific to unpublishing is limited and less focused on the ethical foundations from which professional practices might be developed. This study used qualitative interviews with editorial decisionmakers at print, television, and radio news outlets to explore the challenges unpublishing pose to journalists’ work. Results show a struggle to balance competing loyalties to the individuals requesting content to be removed and two fundamental paradigmatic assumptions. Findings identify new complexities to the media-audience relationship and call for refocusing attention toward resolving how unpublishing decisions fit within the journalistic paradigm before tenable newsroom practices can take root.
{"title":"Erasing the Past: Untangling the Conflicting Journalistic Loyalties and Paradigmatic Pressures of Unpublishing","authors":"D. Dwyer, Chad Painter","doi":"10.1080/23736992.2020.1819286","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23736992.2020.1819286","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Unpublishing, or the act of deleting previously published media content from a news outlet’s online archive in response to an external request, is a growing ethical and practical dilemma for journalists. Adjudicating unpublishing requests leaves each media outlet to wrestle with balancing the ethical tenets of accuracy and objectivity. Amid a substantial rise in scholarly attention to technological challenges associated with digital privacy, research specific to unpublishing is limited and less focused on the ethical foundations from which professional practices might be developed. This study used qualitative interviews with editorial decisionmakers at print, television, and radio news outlets to explore the challenges unpublishing pose to journalists’ work. Results show a struggle to balance competing loyalties to the individuals requesting content to be removed and two fundamental paradigmatic assumptions. Findings identify new complexities to the media-audience relationship and call for refocusing attention toward resolving how unpublishing decisions fit within the journalistic paradigm before tenable newsroom practices can take root.","PeriodicalId":45979,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Media Ethics","volume":"22 1","pages":"214 - 227"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2020-09-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87523592","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-09-11DOI: 10.1080/23736992.2020.1819285
C. Carlson, Luc S. Cousineau
ABSTRACT In the United States, social media organizations are not legally liable for what users do or say on their platforms and are free to regulate expression in any way they see fit. As a result, dark corners of the Internet have emerged to foster communities whose sole purpose is to create and share content that subjugates members of traditionally marginalized groups. The subreddit,/r/TheRedPill, is one such community. This article explores whether hiding this offensive content through digital “quarantine” or removing the community altogether is more ethically justifiable. We draw on theorizing about the ethics of social media content moderation to develop a framework for ethical decision-making based on transparency, corporate social responsibility, and human dignity to guide decisions about content removal. Using/r/TheRedPill as a case study, we argue that the most ethically justified course of action is for Reddit to remove the site entirely from its platform.
{"title":"Are You Sure You Want to View This Community? Exploring the Ethics of Reddit’s Quarantine Practice","authors":"C. Carlson, Luc S. Cousineau","doi":"10.1080/23736992.2020.1819285","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23736992.2020.1819285","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT In the United States, social media organizations are not legally liable for what users do or say on their platforms and are free to regulate expression in any way they see fit. As a result, dark corners of the Internet have emerged to foster communities whose sole purpose is to create and share content that subjugates members of traditionally marginalized groups. The subreddit,/r/TheRedPill, is one such community. This article explores whether hiding this offensive content through digital “quarantine” or removing the community altogether is more ethically justifiable. We draw on theorizing about the ethics of social media content moderation to develop a framework for ethical decision-making based on transparency, corporate social responsibility, and human dignity to guide decisions about content removal. Using/r/TheRedPill as a case study, we argue that the most ethically justified course of action is for Reddit to remove the site entirely from its platform.","PeriodicalId":45979,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Media Ethics","volume":"19 1","pages":"202 - 213"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2020-09-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"87368573","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-07-02DOI: 10.1080/23736992.2020.1799154
K. Berg, Ryan J. Thomas
The Ethical Responsibilities of Journalism Vis-a-Vis the Economics of News Earlier this year, Dr. Ryan Thomas reached out to me about a potential topic for the Trends section of the journal. He had...
{"title":"Reasons to Be Cheerful? The Short Supply of Optimism in Journalism Education","authors":"K. Berg, Ryan J. Thomas","doi":"10.1080/23736992.2020.1799154","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23736992.2020.1799154","url":null,"abstract":"The Ethical Responsibilities of Journalism Vis-a-Vis the Economics of News Earlier this year, Dr. Ryan Thomas reached out to me about a potential topic for the Trends section of the journal. He had...","PeriodicalId":45979,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Media Ethics","volume":"150 1","pages":"195 - 199"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9,"publicationDate":"2020-07-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"76413366","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}