ABSTRACT
The overarching aim of this handbook is to bring expertise and insight from academic philosophy to bear on ethical questions that arise in and about the media. In introducing it, we do two things. First, we state our case for the kind of academic and practical contribution that this volume aims to make, which is to engage in a distinctively philosophical examination of the myriad ethical concerns that arise for us where we now find ourselves, which is in the belly of the enormous and unwieldy beast that is the modern mass media. Second, we set out in broad terms the key areas of ethical interest, as we see them, that demand, and would repay, sustained philosophical investigation, and we explain how the excellent contributions in the handbook help to do that. We say “interest” rather than “concern”, because ethics is a positive discipline, that seeks to fill out the notion of a good life. Though it often deals with wrongdoing and moral failure, at its heart it is a fundamentally optimistic enterprise. The areas we have chosen to focus on certainly include big and familiar concerns facing the media at the present moment in time, but they also canvas opportunities to reimagine and remake the public sphere in ways that help us to live good lives in good communities.
