ABSTRACT
It is enough to question whether the sort of global access and power filmmakers have to influence people's ideas brings with it any ethical responsibility. Film and television programming are no longer simply options for whiling away a Saturday afternoon in an air-conditioned palace—air conditioning being one of the primary attractions of cinema in the early days. Media was something one had to go out of one's way to find. It was a diversion from the everyday world. Making a film is similarly an ethical act, frame by frame, from the selection of images to the use of emotionally manipulative scoring and sound. The difference is that there are well-established ethical guideposts in the journalistic process to minimize the potential for unintended harm, but no such mechanisms exist in filmmaking. Remember, critics and detractors can use economic pressure to influence the entities through which films or programs are funded, produced, and marketed.
