ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces the kinds of ethical issues confronted by students and practitioners in the various forms of the mass media. Not all mediated communication is mass media, just as not all communication is mass communication. Personal emails, phone calls, some fax messages, and personal letters represent mediated communication but not mass media. The chapter explores the nature and functions of the mass media by listing the various categories or areas of study associated with the media: journalism or the press, public relations, advertising and marketing and entertainment. Mass communications are directed at a public audience, even though their messages are often received by individuals, in private, sitting alone at home in front of a television set or in front of a computer screen. Clifford Christians, an ethicist of mass communication, however, suggests the dialogical perspective can provide guidance for ethical decision making concerning issues in the mass media.
