CHAPTER 14 — Ethical Considerations—

GC / MCS 115

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•  Defining and Refining the First Amendment 6. Free Press vs. Fair Trial

Ø Free Press (First Amendment) Ø Fair Trial (Sixth Amendment)

Ø Can pretrial publicity deny citizens judgment by 12 impartial peers?

A Short History of the First Amendment

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•  Defining and Refining the First Amendment 6. Free Press vs. Fair Trial

Ø Free Press (First Amendment) Ø Fair Trial (Sixth Amendment)

Ø  Should cameras be allowed in the courtroom, supporting the public’s right to know, or do they alter the workings of the court that a fair trial is impossible?

A Short History of the First Amendment

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•  Defining and Refining the First Amendment 7. Libel and Slander

Ø  Libel: the false or malicious publication of material that damages a person’s reputation

Ø  Slander: the oral or spoken defamation of a person’s character

•  Both are not protected by the First Amendment

A Short History of the First Amendment

© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

•  Defining and Refining the First Amendment 7. Libel and Slander

Ø New York Times vs. Sullivan (1964) Ø The U.S. Supreme Court defined the standard

of actual malice

A Short History of the First Amendment

© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

•  Defining and Refining the First Amendment 8. Prior Restraint

Ø The power of the government to prevent the publication or broadcast of expression

Ø Near vs. Minnesota (1931) Supreme Court ruling that freedom from prior restraint was a general, not an absolute principle

Ø The Progressive magazine (1979)

A Short History of the First Amendment

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•  Defining and Refining the First Amendment 9. Obscenity and Pornography

Ø  Landmark Supreme Court cases that established definition and illegality of obscenity:

Ø Roth vs. United States (1957) Ø Miller vs. State of California (1973)

•  How do courts, media, and the public judge content against standards set out in Miller case?

A Short History of the First Amendment

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• Other Issues of Freedom and Responsibility •  Indecency

•  Deregulation

•  Copyright

•  The Internet and Expanding Copyright

A Short History of the First Amendment

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Social Responsibility Theory

• Normative theory

Ø  Social responsibility theory: Media must remain free of government control, but in exchange media must serve the public

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Social Responsibility Theory

•  Normative theory

•  Core assumptions of social responsibility theory: 1. Media should accept and fulfill certain obligations to society 2. Media can meet these obligations by setting high standards of professionalism, truth, accuracy, and objectivity 3. Media should be self-regulating within the framework of the law

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Social Responsibility Theory •  Normative theory

•  Core assumptions of social responsibility theory: 4. Media should avoid disseminating material that might lead to crime, violence, or civil disorder or that might offend minority groups 5. The media as a whole should be pluralistic 6. Public has a right to expect high standards of performance, and official intervention can be justified to ensure public good 7. Media professionals should be accountable to society, employers and the market

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Media Industry Ethics

• Ethics: The rules of behavior or moral principles that guide our actions in given situations

Ø  Metaethics

Ø  Normative ethics Ø Applied ethics

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Media Industry Ethics

• Ethics: The rules of behavior or moral principles that guide our actions in given situations

•  Truth and honesty •  Privacy •  Confidentiality •  Personal conflict of interest •  Profit and social responsibility •  Offensive content

© 2012 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Media Industry Ethics •  Codes of Ethics and Self-Regulation

Ø  All major groups of media professionals established formal codes or standards of ethical behavior

Ø  Broadcast networks have Standards and Practices Departments

Ø  Local broadcasters have policy books.

Ø  Newspapers and magazines: operating policies and editorial policies

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Media Industry Ethics •  Codes of Ethics and Self-Regulation

• Ombudsmen • Media councils

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Developing Media Literacy Skills

• Media Reform •  Numerous organizations and media

personalities publicly oppose the FCC’s weakening of the country’s media ownership rules

•  American citizens are making their voices heard in far greater numbers to reclaim the airwaves

•  The people have spoken against greater media concentration and for media reform