Transcript Digital media - Studentportalen

Media and digital media ethics
Uppsala 12/10 2012
Katarzyna Płaneta-Björnskär
Department of Informatics and Media
Uppsala University
Social and political theory of the press
 Professional theory and practice of journalism
 The public as citizens (public opinion)
 The public as audience
 The media market
 The state and its agencies
 Interested parties in the society affected by media
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Press councils
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Professionalism in journalism
Objective, independent, informative journalism.
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Journalistic codes of ethics
Responsibility and accountability
Responsibility
- assigned
- contratced
- self-imposed
Accountability
- as liablity
- as answerability
”To have responsibility”
”To act responsible and to
take responsibility”
Public service
 Objectivity
 Autonomy
 Immediacy
 Ethics
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Truthfulness of information
Clarity of information
Defence of the public rights
Responsibilities in forming public opinion
Standards of gathering and presenting information
Respecting the integrity of the sources
Provide accurate news
• Treat rebuttals generously
• Respect indivdual privacy
• Be thoughtful when using pictures
• Listen to every side
• Be cautious with publishing names
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Political pressures
Economic pressures
Source tactics and strategies
Technological possibilities and constrainsts
Organizational possibilites and constraints
Pressures by interest groups, owners and advertisers
 Pressures by audiences
 Dangers of journalistic routines: sources,
frames&myths, newsworthiness
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Entman (1993: 53):
‘[selecting] some aspects of perceived reality
and mak[ing] them more salient in a
communicating text, in such a way as to
promote a particular definition of a
problem, causal interpretation, moral
evaluation, and/or treatment
recommendation for the item described’.
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Politics and media – agenda crossroads?
The question of mutual influence
Event-responsive agendas
5 types of frames:
Multicultural
Emancipation
Restriction
Victimization
Islam as a threat
Speed and easiness – ”greased information”, easy to
copy and affecting privacy
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Convergence
– bringing together what once was distinct
Scale
and scope of communication - billions of people
are active users; international and global reach; crosscultural encounters
Activity
and interacitvity - ethics is not an issue for them
in the media but for us; digital media becoming more
”social”; distributed responsibility
Fluidity
of digital media
changeable, new forms
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Utilitarianism and consequentialism
assessing the costs and benefits (short-term, long-term)
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Deontology
focus upon adherence to independent moral rules or
duties; failing to follow one’s duty is immoral; Kantian
Categorical Imperative as a rational deontology.
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French moralism (teleology)
oriented towards the goal of keeping social and ethical
order, for a better social life
• Feminist ethics and ethics of care:
from reward-punishment to individual autonomy: pre-conventional,
conventional, post-conventional morality; highlights the role of social
relations, emotion and justice; eco-ethics
• Virtue ethics
cultivating excellence as a human being; developing practical reason
and capacity for judgment; attention to emotions and learning
• Confucian ethics
breaking up with atomic self - we are relational beings; striving after
completeness and harmony; filial piety and propriety
• African ethics
ubuntu idea: a person is defined through relationships with others;
personhood under construction
Ethical absolutism/monism
- universal norms valid for all
- often seen as ”our” and ”others” norms
• Ethical relativism
- all norms are culturally dependent
- no guidelines for relating different systems
• Ethical pluralism
- there are basic shared norms, values
- these are practised and interpreted in
different ways
- establishes a middleground between EA and ER
- dialogical process listening and accepting difference
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Danish cartoons controversy, 2005-2006
(Berthaut 2007; Miera 2009)
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Freedom of speech - between universalism
and relativism
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Four media discourses: a) liberal
fundamentalism, b) liberal pragmatism, c)
dialogic multiculturalism, d) religious/ethnic
fundamentalism
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Islam as a public issue: between ‘western’
values and cultural recognition