Desperately Seeking Ethics: A Guide to Media Conduct / Edition 1

by Howard Good

Overview

Trends prevailing in the media suggest a seemingly disintegrating concept of media ethics. It is no surprise; being ethical is hard work and, could very well put a person in conflict with prevailing trends. Many of the people cited within the 13 essays of Desperately Seeking Ethics illustrate this_from Socrates and Martin Luther King Jr., who both died for their principles, to reporter David Kidwell of the Miami Herald who chose jail over testifying for the prosecution in a murder trial. This is not just another media ethics book. Engaging and non-conventional it breaks away from the usual text practice of presenting the ethical theories of well-known philosophers in watered-down form. Instead, the contributors, all of whom teach media ethics, select a poem, movie, song, speech, or other cultural document, analyze it for implied or explicit ethical lessons, and then apply the lessons of that work to a specific case that involved controversial media conduct. In addition to endnotes, each chapter contains questions for discussion and a list of further readings. Where possible, the contributors have included all or part of the poems, speeches, and other documents they analyze as sources of ethical instruction and inspiration.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780810846432
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	04/16/2003
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	232
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Howard Good is Professor of Journalism in the Communications and Media Department at SUNY New Paltz, New York, where he originated and teaches the course in media ethics. He is the author of seven previous books, including The Journalist As Autobiographer, Girl Reporter, The Drunken Journalist, and Media Ethics Goes to the Movies (with Michael Dillon). He can be reached at [e-mail].

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Preface Chapter 2 1 A Teacher's Last Instruction: "Love Each Other or Die" Chapter 3 2 Reporters or Peeping Toms?: Journalism Codes of Ethics and News Coverage of the Clinton-Lewinsky Scandal Chapter 4 3 How Close is Too Close?: When Journalists Become Their Sources Chapter 5 4 Socrates in Jail: The Importance of Independence and Responsibility Chapter 6 5 To See Our Flaws as Others See Them: Big Media through 007's Scope Chapter 7 6 "Created Equal": The Press and Hate Speech Chapter 8 7 A Dream Deferred: Hip-Hop Music and the Media Portrayal of American Youth Chapter 9 8 As Good as it Gets: The Media's Disabling Stereotypes Chapter 10 9 Frost Warning: Advertising and "The Road Not Taken" Chapter 11 10 Survivor in the Vast Wasteland: The Ethical Implications of Reality Television Chapter 12 11 Professional Wrestling and Human Dignity: Questioning the Boundaries of Entertainment Chapter 13 12 Natural Born Killers and Media-Born Thrillers: Ethical Contradictions in the Infotainment Age Chapter 14 13 Boldly Seeking Ethics: Journalism's Great Adventure Chapter 15 Index Chapter 16 About the Contributors Chapter 17 About the Editor

Editorial Reviews

...this is a useful collection of essays. It shows media ethics in their concrete applications and areas of relevance, and raises key questions about media conduct and performance.

European Journal Of Communication

...Good's last two essayists give us some helpful ethical decision making tools legitimately derived from contemporary cultural documents. In fact, Joseph Harry in chapter 12 and Douglas Birkhead in chapter 13 alone make Good's book worth its price.

Journal of Media Ethics - Lawrence Souder

...this is a useful collection of essays. It shows media ethics in their concrete applications and areas of relevance, and raises key questions about media conduct and performance.--European Journal Of Communication, Vol. 19, No. 2

...Good's last two essayists give us some helpful ethical decision making tools legitimately derived from contemporary cultural documents. In fact, Joseph Harry in chapter 12 and Douglas Birkhead in chapter 13 alone make Good's book worth its price.--Lawrence Souder "Journal of Media Ethics "

From the Publisher

...Good's last two essayists give us some helpful ethical decision making tools legitimately derived from contemporary cultural documents. In fact, Joseph Harry in chapter 12 and Douglas Birkhead in chapter 13 alone make Good's book worth its price.
— Lawrence Souder

Journal Of Mass Media Ethics