MEDIA ETHICS
ETHICS:- Ethics also
known as moral philosophy, is a
branch of philosophy which seeks to address questions about morality, such as
what the fundamental semantic, ontological, and epistemic nature of ethics or
morality is (meta-ethics), how moral values should be determined (normative ethics),
how a moral outcome can be achieved in specific situations (applied ethics),
how moral capacity or moral agency develops and what its nature is (moral
psychology), and what moral values people actually abide by (descriptive
ethics).
MEDIA ETHICS:- The subdivision of practical ethics dealing
with the specific ethical principles and standards of media, including broadcast
media, film, theatre, the arts, print media and the internet. The field covers
many varied and highly controversial topics, ranging from war journalism to Benetton
advertising.
·
Ethics
of Journalism: The
ethics of journalism is one of the most well-defined branches of media ethics,
primarily because it is frequently taught in schools of journalism. News can
manipulate and be manipulated. Governments and corporations may attempt to
manipulate news media; governments, for example, by censorship, and
corporations by share ownership. The methods of manipulation are subtle and
many. Manipulation may be voluntary or involuntary. Those being manipulated may
not be aware of this.
·
Ethics
of entertainment media: The depiction of violence and sex, and
the presence of strong language. Ethical guidelines and legislation in this
area are common and many media (e.g. film, computer games) are subject to
ratings systems and supervision by agencies. An extensive guide to
international systems of enforcement can be found under motion picture rating
system. An increasingly common marketing tactic is the placement of products in
entertainment media. The producers of such media may be paid high sums to
display branded products. The practice is controversial and largely
unregulated. Both advertising and entertainment media make heavy use of stereotypes.
Stereotypes may negatively affect people's perceptions of themselves or promote
socially undesirable behaviour. The stereotypical portrayals of men, wealth and
ethnic groups are examples of major areas of debate.
Art is
about the questioning of our values. Normative ethics is often about the
enforcement and protection of our values. In media ethics, these two sides come
into conflict. In the name of art, media may deliberately attempt to break with
existing norms and shock the audience. The extent to which this is acceptable
is always a hotbed of ethical controversy.
·
Media
and democracy: In democratic countries, a special
relationship exists between media and government. Although the freedom of the
media may be constitutionally preserve and have precise legal definition and
enforcement, the exercise of that freedom by individual journalists is a matter
of personal choice and ethics. Modern democratic government subsists in representation
of millions by hundreds. For the representatives to be accountable, and for the
process of government to be transparent, effective communication paths must
exist to their constituents.
Today
these paths consist primarily of the mass media, to the extent that if press
freedom disappeared, so would most political accountability. In this area,
media ethics merges with issues of civil rights and politics.
·
Media
ethics and the law: Like ethics the law seeks to balance competing
aims. In most countries there are laws preventing the media from doing or
saying certain things when this would unduly breach another person's rights. For
instance, slander and libel are forms of defamation, a tort. Slander occurs
when a person's good name is unfairly slurred. Libel is concerned with attacks
on reputation through writing. A major area of conflict is between the public's
"right to know", or freedom of the press, and individual's right to
privacy. This clash often occurs regarding reporting into the private lives of
public figures. There are restrictions in most countries on the publication of
obscene material, particularly where it depicts nudity, desecration of
religious objects or symbols (blasphemy), human remains or violent or sexual
crime.
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