Ethics and EffectsChapter 12

Ethical Guidelines • Oscar code – code of behavior for the awards season • Broadcast standards – during commercial , producing storyboards before proceed• Conflict and Cooperation – conflict between broadcast standards • study case – Schindler’s List – uncut • informed earlier

• Policy – what can and what can’t

Ethical Considerations • involves heavy thinking - fairness, taste, conflict of interest, trust and accuracy • toward audience • toward others • Ethical decisions are not clear cut – deciding to do something may harm one segment of

society while deciding not to may harm another. • Ethical values change over the years• Technology advances make for ever-changing ethical dilemmas – photoshop • Something may appear unethical to a certain group of people that genuinely appears

ethical to the person engage to it. • Ethical – profit?• Conflict loyalties – to report or not to report?• Being unable to resolve an ethical issue doesn’t mean you shouldn’t grapple with it• Ethics is basically doing the right thing from a moral point of view when decision making

is required

An Ethics Rubric

• Evaluate – needs to be examine in a number of different ways. Not a single perspective. Take time to evaluate

• Truth – make sure you have a clear definition of the facts as well as a definition that can agreed upon by others.

• Harm – likely to ensue from a given action • Investigation – digging deep to gather necessary information• Codes of Ethics – valuable guidelines that can facilitate ethical decision making. • Situational Ethics – case-by-case basis that allows you to adjust ethical beliefs to meet

particular situation. Avoids the tendency to rush judgment.

Effects of Media

• Influence • Accusations • Good Effects • Ubiquity

Organizations that Consider Effects • Government Agencies • Critics • Citizen Groups • Academic Institutions – conduct research on effects , should not be biased. Few

techniques : laboratory, field, surveys, content analysis, • academic research – qualitative and quantitative • hypothesis• cause and effects • uses and gratifications

High-Profile Effects

• Violence • acts • how much you need to show?• possibility of assassination • several advertisers canceled sponsorship of violent programs• 1996 – V-chips implementation

• Children and Media• cartoon study • violent movies• the role of parents – how do you control you children?

• News• sensationalism• bias • uses-and-gratifications • violence, children and news

High-Profile Effects

• Women and Minorities• bad mood – prefer media • how these groups are being portrayed• mostly negative stereotypes • underrepresented

• Sex• perennial issue • type and amount • people seeing so much sex , become promiscuous• teaching of safe sex

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