ABSTRACT
Potential answers link two literature subsets: the literature of moral development as it applies to journalism and public relations, and feminist ethical theory. However, because the goal of this chapter is a universal approach, the route taken to link these two separable parts of the literature begins with a single constant: the human brain and what neuroscientists understand about how humanity thinks about morality. On to this foundation is placed a feminist theory of care infused with an authentic sense of duty. Finally, the chapter reviews the findings of moral development research applied to journalists and suggests some additional questions. The broad argument is that the organic human brain includes a hard-wired capacity for moral action influenced by an environment that shapes professional ethical response particularly at the intersection of care and duty. The goal of this theoretical work is to delineate one fruitful path by which a universal (or at least international) understanding of media ethics could be first articulated and then investigated both philosophically and empirically. Readers should be aware that, while there is significant empirical support for some of
the work reviewed here, other posits have yet to be tested. This interdisciplinary conversation between philosophy and psychology includes false starts and fragmentary understandings. The chapter attempts to connect some fragments, but it is work that will continue for many decades.
