ABSTRACT

Ethics and Media Culture straddles the practical and ethical issues of contention encountered by journalists. The book's various contributors cover a diversity of issues and viewpoints, attempting to broaden out the debates particularly in relation to Journalism Studies, Cultural Studies, Sociology of Culture and Communications, Philosophy and History.

The debate concerning media ethics has intensified in recent years, fuelled mainly by the standards of journalist and media practices. The role of practitioners has taken centre-stage as concerns over what constitutes ethical, and therefore socially acceptable practice and behaviour, by the public, practitioners and intellectuals alike. The discursive relationship between the production and consumption of information is central to the debate regarding moral conduct, particularly in light of the commercialisation of the media. Considering that media institutions operate in a climate of intense competition, the value of information and its corresponding quality have begun to be critically assessed in terms of ethical understanding.

A degree of open-endedness is maintained in discussions throughout this book, which is intended to engage the reader with the issues raised and determine their own conclusions.

chapter |9 pages

Introduction

chapter |17 pages

Radical mass media criticism: elements of a history from Kraus to Bourdieu

‘In the beginning was the press, and then the world appeared’ Karl Kraus, 1923

chapter |13 pages

Parody, pastiche or purloining?

The uses and abuses of artistic imagery in media representations

chapter |19 pages

And the consequence was …

Dealing with the human impact of unethical journalism

chapter |14 pages

Codes and cultures