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The Handbook of Mass Media Ethics |
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reviewed by Nermin Aydemir |
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Author: Lee Wilkins and Clifford G. Christians (Eds.) |
ISBN:
978-0-8058-6191-4 |
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Publisher:
Routledge |
Page:
416 |
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Type:
Hardcover |
Price:
$150 |
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Place of Publication:
New York |
Published in:
2009 |
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Review: |
Whether media should be impartial and objective; how the public's right to know should be balanced against an individual's right to privacy; and how the media should be regulated have constantly been the subjects of public debate (Kieran 2002: I and Christians : 15). The main issues that the media come across such as diverse points of views, propaganda, infotainment, violence as well as the fundamentals of mass media ethics, i.e. truth and objectivity, moral reasoning, and transparency are given space in The Handbook of Mass Media Ethics.
Wilkins and Christians bring about a comprehensive review of the contemporary discourse on mass media ethics. The two distinguished scholars succeed in what they promise to do in the beginning, namely assembling the major insights of the field - in a single volume. Wilkins and Christians bring together twenty-eight academicians from various American universities, many of whom have worked as journalists, public relations professionals and advertising practitioners, and introduce a summary of contemporary discourse as well as open new horizons for the future research thanks to the suggestions of the contributors.
The Handbook of Mass Media Ethics consists of four parts and twenty eight chapters allocated under these parts. The first chapter of the book is devoted to the background of the subject. The historical background as well as the epistemology as well as of mass media ethics is discussed in the first part. Contributors deal with the dilemmas and the issues regarding ethics in professional practices in the latter part. Concrete issues, i.e. justice as journalistic value and goal, transparency in journalism, the situation of conflicting interests in the new age, digital ethics in autonomous systems, peace versus war journalism and privacy are explored in the third part. Institutional considerations are tackled in the last chapter. The authors in this chapter put forward highly different theories ranging from communitarianism to liberalism, from feminism to Buddhism.
Media ethics is a democratic enterprise since the public has been involved in media ethics from the beginning and professionals and academicians have taken public concerns seriously, according to Ferre. To put it in a different way, issues such as fairness, privacy, and truth telling have not appeared outside public, the author puts forward. Christians and Cooper "search for universals" in the fifth chapter. Although underlining cross-cultural differences the two list values, both of the authors regard fairness, privacy, and truth telling as the cores of universal media ethic. Truth, respecting human dignity and nonviolence are the fundamentals of a global media ethic.
The authority of truth, however, is challenged in another chapter of the book. Ward says that the contemporary understanding significantly challenges the two founding pillars, i.e. truth and objectivity, of media ethics. The later part of his chapter confronts the once "incontestable" statute of objectivity. The value of objectivity cannot be given back unless a detailed and thoughtful theory responds adequately to post-modern skepticism about truth and objectivity, according to the author. The essay of Craft and Heim demands a careful review of the conventional approval of transparency as one of the core elements of media ethics. Like Ward, Craft and Heim criticize a superficial adherence to transparency and deem empirical work imperative to provide justification of a transparent society.
As for photojournalism ethics, journalists in this category need to be more careful regarding ethics since the possibility to change the content and give a totally different picture of the "real world" is much more possible with photos than it is with narratives, Newton states. Newton also touches upon what he defines as "participatory visual journalism". Cell phones make participating in visual reports more likely. Plaisance once more underlines the effects of violence on TV by referring to a study, which states that an average American child witnesses more than 10,000 violent crimes each year on TV. The author gives a sophisticated literature review about the short and long term impacts of violence, in this regard. Drawing attention to the media's cross-boundary role, Alleyne puts forward the necessity of universally accepted standards of media ethics.
The Handbook of Mass Media Ethics is not an effortless book to read since dealing with a broad range of issues complicates building connections between the chapters. The book would have been more coherent and the relation between different dimensions of mass media ethics would have been much better articulated if the chapters were more related to each other. Yet, giving space to such different topics and assembling twenty-eight contributors in the same volume does not seem to give much room for the issue of coherence. Each chapter of the book enlightens an aspect of the subject and the handbook seems to be a very powerful candidate to be among the most cited in the field of mass media ethics. The impetuosity of reviewing the existing literature, expressing his or her own ideas and identifying new directions for the future research at the same time leaves not much space for referring to empirical data.
Nevertheless, the two drawbacks do not undermine the accomplishments of the book. The Handbook of Mass Media Ethics appears to be a notable peace of work, taking a snapshot of the current discourse on the subject and opening new horizons for future directions of study in the field. The handbook succeeds in serving as a summary of existing research and thinking in the field as well as setting items for the future research agenda, as the authors claim to do. Shedding light on up to date and controversial issues such as the "cartoon crisis" and the execution of Saddam Hussein further increases the weight of the volume. The Handbook of Mass Media Ethics seems to take its place among the must reads for those who are interested in media, mass communication, and journalism in very near future.
References:
Christians, C. G., An Intellectual History of Mass Media Ethics, in B. Pattyn (Eds.), European Ethics Network Core Materials for the Development of Courses in Professional Ethics
Kieran, M. (2002), Media Ethics, New York: Routledge
Wilkins, L. and C. G. Christians (2009), the Handbook of Mass Media Ethics, New York: Routledge.
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about book: |
This Handbook encapsulates the intellectual history of mass media ethics over the past twenty-five years. Chapters serve as a summary of existing research and thinking in the field, as well as setting agenda items for future research.
Key features include:
•up-to-date and comprehensive coverage of media ethics, one of the hottest topics in the media community
•'one-stop shopping' for historical and current research in media ethics
•experienced, top-tier editors, advisory board, and contributors.
It will be an essential reference on media ethics theory and research for scholars, graduate students, and researchers in media, mass communication, and journalism.
*Information is taken from Routledge website. |
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intellectual platform for social sciences, JTW contributes to
this area by promoting new publications in its Book Reviews
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Editor for Book Reviews:
Dilek Aydemir
bookreviews@turkishweekly.net
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