Analyzing ethics case studies

The midterm and the two papers will all involve writing commentaries on the ethical decision making process in "real world" media ethics cases. Your analytical commentary will fully
articulate your positions - and what arguments and reasoning you used to arrive at them - on the case studies. The commentaries will also help you in understanding and applying the readings and discussions. Although you will consider your own personal ethics, remember that professional ethics and the norms and standards of the profession should be the main focus. Do not write them as a media criticism, but as an analysis of all the ethical considerations that go into the decision making process. Each of your commentaries should address these essential questions:

1. What are the ethical theories most appropriate to apply this case and why?
2. What are the ethical or moral issues at stake in this case?
3. Who are the stakeholders?
4. What are the morally relevant facts?
5. What possible courses of action are available?
6. What are the predictable effects of each action?
7. Which set of possible outcomes is relatively better?

Note: The commentaries should try to take into account ALL sides to the issue. A paper that discusses only one course of action or one effect or outcome will result in a low grade.
 

Exams and Assignments:

Midterm — It will consist of traditional questions such as short answer, matching or multiple choice, as well as one or more case study commentary.

Short paper case analysis — This case study commentary will be 1500 to 2000 words and focus on a specific media case. Research the most recent issues of trade, popular and academic journals, magazines and newspapers to find a current ethics case study of interest to you. (It can be from any mass media field -- print journalism, broadcast journalism, online/web journalism, PR, advertising, or entertainment media). Seek 1st-person interviews with working professionals and knowledgeable experts in that field. The best papers will have actual interviews with working professionals, so I will be available to help you make contacts whenever possible. (If you difficulty obtaining an interview, you can incorporate interviews with media professionals from the trade journals and other references listed below.) Make sure to identify and describe the larger ethical issue involved in this case study — this will hopefully be the topic of your final paper.

For example, if your case study is about violent images on TV news during the recent shooting at the Jewish Community Center in Los Angeles, your final paper could focus on the broader topic of the ethical dilemma of violent images in TV news versus the social responsibility of the broadcast journalists to get breaking news to their audiences as quickly as possible to keep them informed.
 

Final paper — This will be an in-depth research paper on a broad media ethics topic of 4000-5000 words or more. It can include the case study used in the short paper, as well as additional cases. It should also answer the questions above, but on the more global ethics topic, rather than a specific case. It should also incorporate a comprehensive literature review on all aspects of the ethics issue. Here are the questions with a broader topic in mind:
 

1. What are the ethical theories most appropriate to apply this issue and why?
2. What are the ethical or moral issues at stake in this issue?
3. Who are the stakeholders?
4. What is the relevant ethics literature on this topic?
5. What possible courses of action are available?
6. What are the predictable effects of each action?
7. Which set of possible outcomes is relatively better?
 

Resources on media ethics topics

Media organizations and their web sites:
Adbusters, http://www.adbusters.org/home/index.html
Associated Press Managing Editors, http://www.apme.com/
Association for Practical and Professional Ethics, http://php.indiana.edu/~appe/home.html
American Society of Newspaper Editors, http://www.asne.org/
American Society of Journalists and Authors, http://www.asja.org/
Business for Social Responsibility (BSR), http://www.bsr.org/
Better Business Bureau Advertising Review Programs, http://www.bbb.org/advertising/index.html
Center for Media & Democracy, http://www.prwatch.org/
Committee of Concerned Journalists, http://www.journalism.org/
The Copyright Website, http://www.benedict.com/
FAIR - Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, http://www.fair.org/
Freedom Forum, http://www.freedomforum.org/
HTML Writers Guild, http://www.hwg.org
Internet Press Guild, http://www.netpress.org/
Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE), http://www.ire.org/
National Press Photographers' Association, http://metalab.unc.edu/nppa/
Organization of News Ombudsmen, http://www5.infi.net/ono/
Pew Center for Civic Journalism, www.pewcenter.org
Poynter Institute for Media Studies, http://www.poynter.org/index.htm
Public Radio Ethics and Style Guidebook, www.npr.org/inside/styleguide/stylmain.htm
Public Relations Society of America, http://www.prsa.org/
Radio & Television News Directors Association, http://www.rtnda.org/
Reporters' Committee for a Free Press, http://www.rcfp.org/
Society of Professional Journalists, http://spj.org
Student Press Law Center, http://www.splc.org/

Trade and Academic Publications:
Advertising Age
American Editor
American Journalism Review & and its online Newslink, http://ajr.newslink.org/
Broadcasting
Columbia Journalism Review
Editor and Publisher and its online Interactive edition, http://www.mediainfo.com/
Extra (from FAIR)
Journal of Advertising
Journal of Business Ethics
Journal of Mass Media Ethics
Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly
Public Relations Journal
Quill
Newswatch (Center for Integration and Improvement of Journalism), http://newswatch.sfsu.edu/
Presstime
American Society of Newspaper Editors "Examining Our Credibility" Report
Poynter Institute Bibliography of Media Ethics (some articles online), www.poynter.org
Committee of Concerned Journalists' "What is Journalism?"
Poynter Institute Case Studies, Articles & Speeches, and Seminar Handouts

Codes of Ethics, which are available online
Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics, http://spj.org/ethics/index.htm
Associated Press Managing Editors (APME) Code of Ethics, http://www.apme.com/html/ethics.html
RTNDA Association of Electronic Journalists Code of Ethics, http://www.rtnda.org/rtnda/ethics.htm
European Codes of Journalism Ethics and Asia Media Ethics provide an international comparison, http://www.uta.fi/ethicnet/ and http://www.uow.edu.au/crearts/journalism/ajnet/ethics.html
Minnesota News Council, http://www.mtn.org/~newscncl/

NOTE: The references listed in Media Ethics, Cases and Moral Reasoning and Recommended Readings in that book, pp. 313-321, will also lead you to numerous helpful sources.