ABSTRACT
Radio and television are highly competitive businesses. They can also be very lucrative. In radio and television, ethics refers to a personal sense of what is right and what is wrong on the part of individuals who make major policy decisions for the operation—persons such as licensees, members of the board of directors, corporate officers, general and system managers. Self-regulation is the translation of those personal ethics into systematic rules of conduct. Like newspaper publishers, radio or television managers are subject to laws and judicial decisions involving defamation, invasion of privacy, pornographic material, and false and misleading advertising. The Communications Act of 1934 requires the FCC to determine whether the public interest would be served before granting any license for use of the radio frequencies. Motivations for unethical conduct in radio and television are the same as in any other field—drive for power and desire for prestige.
