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Posts Tagged Media ethics
Kiss and Tell Journalism
Posted by Kate Nacy in Media Effects, Regional Studies on April 13, 2010
Journalist Nicholas Jones discusses the maladies of celebrity reportage and the effect on British journalism.
Occasionally crass, often contrived star-riddled stories plague the UK press, and according to Jones, the ethical slips characteristic of such reportage are spreading to other regions of journalism and media. “The exploitation of other people’s embarrassment — even other people’s misery — has also encouraged what has to be seen as the nasty side of citizen’s journalism, the sale of personal information, perhaps mobile phone photos taken at private occasions Read the rest of this entry »
Media Accountability in Romania
Posted by Tina Bettels in Ethics, New Media, Regional Studies on April 7, 2010
Interview with Mihai Coman of the University of Bucharest’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
Q: Are there successful examples of media accountability in Romania?
It depends on perspective. On an institutional level there are a few examples one could call successful. There is a code of ethics in Romania that has been accepted and implemented by all journalistic associations. Now there is also an ombudsman in public television. From a social, sociological perspective we have to ask ourselves who controls the journalistic profession. There is a constant struggle between top and low-level journalists, between media owners and journalists, between politicians and journalists – they all want to control the field. We are involved in the process of transformation in Romania. We believed that the transition to capitalism would occur quickly, however we discovered that such a change takes Read the rest of this entry »
MediaAct Interview: Colin Porlezza
Posted by Tina Bettels in Ethics, Regional Studies on March 29, 2010
Interview with Colin Porlezza, communications researcher at the Università della Svizzera italiana and EJO collaborator.
Q: Are there successful examples of media accountability in Switzerland?
It depends on what one understands as a successful example. Is the existence of a press council already a success – although it has only limited possibilities to impose a sanction? Or can one regard the existence of ombudsmen as positive, even though they are hardly present in public? The infrastructure of journalistic quality management is relatively broad and consistent in Switzerland. A quite successful example is the way TV and radio licenses are allocated – certain quality standards are prerequisites to receiving one. Furthermore, the quality awareness seems to be in general quite high in Switzerland, although this can’t Read the rest of this entry »
MediaAct Interview: Epp Lauk
Posted by Tina Bettels in Ethics, Regional Studies on March 24, 2010
Interview with Epp Lauk, Institute of Journalism and Communication, University of Tartu, Estonia.
Q: Are there successful examples of media accountability systems in Estonia?
There are two press councils in Estonia – the Newspaper Association’s Press Council (since 2002) and the Estonian Press Council (since 1991). As there is no cooperation between the two councils and there even is an agreement among the newspapers who are members of the Newspaper Association to ignore the Estonian Press Council, I would say that both have little effect.
Q: Do you believe there should be a new ethical code specifically for online journalism? Read the rest of this entry »
MediaAct Interview: Daniela Kraus
Posted by Tina Bettels in Regional Studies on March 10, 2010
Daniela Kraus of Medienhaus Wien discusses media accountability, media ethics and innovations in Austrian journalism.
Q: Are there successful examples of media accountability in Austria?
It would be easier to mention examples that have failed. In Austria, there hasn’t been a press council since 2002. These are really exceptional circumstances, whereas a new “press council” is being founded at the moment. In general, there is hardly any media journalism in Austria in the ‘old media’ and hardly any discourse about media and journalism.
However, postings in the media coverage section on the Internet are working quite well. Derstandard.at has quite lively media coverage, actually the only extensive, noteworthy Read the rest of this entry »
Professional Ethics v. Morality
Sanjay Gupta, CNN’s chief medical correspondent and a practicing neurosurgeon, reports from Haiti.
Physician-journalists like Gupta typically appear on staff to offer a sophisticated understanding of medical science, clinical practice or health advice. Not only has Gupta been filmed reporting from the field, but also performing surgery and working in a Haitian emergency medical clinic. Alas, the fusion of doctor and journalist is troubling for more than a few media ethicists, concerned a “marketing element” may linger in the story’s backdrop. According to Poynter Online’s Bob Steele, “this situation with Sanjay Gupta the physician and Sanjay Gupta the journalist is not as black and white as it might appear.”
Read more at Poynter Online.
What is the “Public Interest”?
Posted by Stephan Russ-Mohl in Ethics on January 14, 2010
When and under which conditions is journalism in the “public interest?”
If one does not complacently assume whatever journalists publish is serving the common good, one gets into trouble finding a plausible answer to this question, or even an answer on which consensus may be reached. Stephen Whittle and Glenda Cooper from the Reuters Institute at Oxford University set out to provide clarification on the subject with their study, “Privacy, Probity and the Public Interest,” which asks when peeking through a keyhole or whipping out a camera phone is justified in the conflict between private sphere and public service.
White and Cooper may not deliver breathtaking new insights, yet their research, which focuses on a selection of widely-discussed cases of media coverage in the U.K., gets close to the point. Read the rest of this entry »
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