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Journalism Ethics and Media Responsibility by Ruben Rabinsky, Ph.D. Key Concepts Journalism Ethics: the application of ethics to the profession of journalism: the attempt to discover what constitutes ‘good journalism' and to distinguish this from ‘bad (or unethical) journalism'. What are the main ethical duties that journalists should fulfill? The Right to Freedom of Expression: one of the basic natural human rights, the right to freedom of expression implies that one has the right to express one's thoughts, ideas, views, etc. to others without retribution from the State and without being censored by others. (Philosophically, a case may be made in support of the view that if speech or expression may or will cause direct physical harm to others, then and only then may such speech be censored or regulated - according to John Stuart Mill's "Harm Principle".) The Right to Editorial Self-Determination: the idea that independent, privately owned news organizations, as well as individual journalists, editors, and publishers, have the natural right to decide for themselves (as persons and groups) what kinds of news reports they will create & disseminate, and what editorial guidelines, perspectives, and philosophical views will shape and direct their news content. (In other words, the government and "media watchdog committees" should not and cannot impose their standards of what is newsworthy on independent, private journalists and news organizations.) Newsworthy: a contemporary event, recently occurring facts, or present state-of-affairs which has the quality of being worthy of inclusion in the news. While there are no universally-agreed upon set of criteria for deciding what is newsworthy, many journalists appeal to the following considerations: how many people are affected by event (X) in question? (The more people are affected, the more newsworthy the event is or becomes.); also, how unique or rare is event (x)? (The more unique, novel, ‘new', or unusual the event, the more newsworthy it is.). A Free Society: a society that respects, promotes, and defends the basic natural human rights, which include: the rights to life, liberty, the ownership of private property, and the right to the individual pursuit of happiness. (NOTE: the term ‘free society' is a broader concept that ‘democracy', because a free society may include alternate forms of government such as a libertarian government, anarchy, a republic, etc) A Totalitarian Society: a society which does not respect, promote, or defend the natural human rights. (While communist, socialist, and fascist societies have traditionally been considered (and with historical and political justification) as manifestations of totalitarian regimes, a society can describe itself as ‘democratic', say, and yet be totalitarian in various ways (for example, linguist and philosopher Noam Chomsky has criticized the U.S. on precisely these grounds - that while it calls itself "democratic", it is actually an imperialistic, totalitarian, oppressive nation that engages in "thought control" and the systematic dissemination of propaganda through its media and military structures. - see Bibliography) The Duty to be Truthful & Objective in news reporting: the Professional Code of Ethics for Journalists (as articulated by the American Society of Newspaper Editors) requires that journalists strive for accuracy, truthfulness, and objectivity in their news reports. Philosophically, the duty to be objective is simply a requirement (both epistemological and ethical) of being faithful to the facts, both a reflection of ‘rationality' and the goal of being fair, impartial, just. (There are also a practical need to be objective: if reporters are not objective and the public loses their trust in these biased journalists, then they will lose their news audience.) Not only journalists, but also scientists, historians, and others who are engaged in purportedly genuine academic, scholarly, or intellectual endeavors will have the same (or similar) duty to be ‘objective' in their professions. The Social Responsibility of the Media in covering Newsworthy Events: this concept refers to the idea that the media - given its considerable power in disseminating information to the public in society - has a moral duty or social responsibility in conveying newsworthy events that have economic, social, political, cultural, artistic, philosophical or scientific value or import to society. NOTE: there is no way to legally enforce a ‘social responsibility' of the media, because each news organization has the right to decide its own criteria for newsworthiness and its own editorial policies (see ‘editorial self-determination', above); therefore, while journalists have the freedom to report on whatever they choose, the social responsibility of the media (if any) must be implemented on a voluntary, case-by-case basis (each journalist must decide individually whether or not to promote, and how, this journalistic social responsibility). Investigative Journalism: a kind of journalism which concerns itself with using the methods of research, deduction (logic), and extensive interviewing of sources, in order to discover facts and weave together a story which is not obviously or overtly publicized by the mainstream media or other alternative news organizations. Typically, investigative journalists cover special areas such as government or business corruption, illegal activities, conspiracies, as well as complex scientific news stories involving gradual and lengthy research and discoveries. ‘Info-tainment': a kind of sensationalistic journalism which seeks to entertain the audience more than to inform or educate it. (This kind of journalism may not even be ‘journalism' at all - stories about "Aliens landing in New York City", as may appear, say, in various ‘tabloids', are not genuine news reports because there is no evidence in support of their claims; moreover, some ‘info-tainment', while veridical, may lack significant socio-political relevance to the maintenance of a Free Society - so, for example, various stories about the romantic affairs of various film celebrities, or other celebrity ‘gossip', while perhaps entertaining or interesting to some or many people, lack significant redeeming social-political value.) The Watchdog Role of the Media: The media has been described as a kind of "watchdog" on society and the political life of a nation: because of its political, legal, and economic independence from the Government and other public and private organizations (such as the Church, say), the media can be free to criticize, comment, analyze, and report on events as it deems necessary or appropriate. This allows for a greater diversity of views and keeps the citizens of a Free Society informed so that they can make appropriate decisions and take action in their best interests. The Media as public defender of Liberty and Freedom: through its ‘watchdog role' (see above), the media has one special area which may be of greatest interest in defending: the right to freedom of expression and personal liberties (natural rights). Because the very possibility and success of the tasks of journalism depend on Freedom of Expression, this right must be defending in and by the media as much as possible, if journalism is to thrive and flourish in a free society. (A precondition of journalism is the exercise of the Right to Freedom of Expression; therefore, the defense of this right is - and should be - of paramount importance to journalists.) The Public's Moral & Epistemological Duty to Think Critically about the News: often, journalists are accused of being biased in their news reports, or of spreading propaganda through the media, etc. However, such critics fail to take into account the idea of personal responsibility: that the news audience (the general public) - as well as journalists - need to think for themselves, individually, critically, in order to sort out ‘fact' from ‘speculation' or mere hearsay. The art of thinking critically should be cultivated and practiced by everyone in society, in order for knowledge and truth to be effectively discovered and conveyed. Critical Thinking: the art of considering what, if any, are the reasons, evidence, facts, or data in support of a given idea, theory, hypothesis, or other claim to knowledge. In the task of thinking critically, one should be on the look-out for possible ‘fallacies' (errors in reasoning --- such as ‘arguing in a circle' (P because P), etc.) The use of logic and reason is fundamental for thinking critically. Rationality: a commitment to the use of reason and logic in all aspects of life: seeking and producing good reasons in support of one's beliefs and actions. Vocabulary Journalism : the profession that endeavors to create and disseminate veridical (truthful, accurate), objective news reports about recent or present / contemporary events, and to comment on them (e.g., on their cultural, social, political, economic, scientific, philosophical significance) in editorials and opinion pieces. Truth: there are various theories of truth, but the most applicable for the nature of journalism is the "Correspondence Theory of Truth" (the most classical idea of truth). According to this theory, a statement (sentence, claim, proposition) is ‘true' if and only if it corresponds with the way the world is (i.e., a sentence which accurately describes the world is thereby ‘true'). Veridical: the quality of being truthful; accurate. Objective: the quality of being impartial, fair, neutral (persons, reports, descriptions, organizations, etc) may be ‘objective' insofar as they avoid inserting or conveying their own individual biases, idiosyncracies, feelings, preferences, etc. NOTE: Objectivity is a matter of degree: news reports, persons, etc. can be more or less objective to the degree that they are neutral, impartial, accurate, and faithful to the facts. Biased: the quality of being prejudiced in an unfair or epistemologically negative way: while everyone (and every report, say) may have or convey a unique perspective or ‘bias', not all ‘biases' are epistemologically flawed: some perspectives may be more accurate or a better representation of the facts than other perspectives which may only reflect part of (or less) of the truth than more comprehensive perspectives. , Propaganda: information, symbols, visuals, text, etc. which is purposefully designed to affect, sway, or change the feelings, thoughts, views, opinions, and dispositions of a specific target audience, without the use of any rational appeals to evidence, facts, or reasons. Propaganda works at the subliminal (subconscious) level, as it seeks to win the feelings and sympathy of its target audience, usually for the purpose of getting the audience to act in various ways. Epistemology: the branch of philosophy which is concerned with the study of the nature and scope of ‘knowledge'. Epistemologists studies questions such as, What is truth? What is knowledge? Is knowledge possible? Are there limits to knowledge? How can we know? Is knowledge simply relative and subjective? Or can knowledge be objective and universally applicable? What is ‘objectivity'? What is ‘propaganda'?

Journalism Ethics and Media Responsibility

by Ruben Rabinsky, Ph.D.

Key Concepts

Journalism Ethics: the application of ethics to the profession of journalism: the attempt to discover what constitutes ‘good journalism' and to distinguish this from ‘bad (or unethical) journalism'. What are the main ethical duties that journalists should fulfill?

The Right to Freedom of Expression: one of the basic natural human rights, the right to freedom of expression implies that one has the right to express one's thoughts, ideas, views, etc. to others without retribution from the State and without being censored by others. (Philosophically, a case may be made in support of the view that if speech or expression may or will cause direct physical harm to others, then and only then may such speech be censored or regulated - according to John Stuart Mill's "Harm Principle".)

The Right to Editorial Self-Determination: the idea that independent, privately owned news organizations, as well as individual journalists, editors, and publishers, have the natural right to decide for themselves (as persons and groups) what kinds of news reports they will create & disseminate, and what editorial guidelines, perspectives, and philosophical views will shape and direct their news content. (In other words, the government and "media watchdog committees" should not and cannot impose their standards of what is newsworthy on independent, private journalists and news organizations.)

Newsworthy: a contemporary event, recently occurring facts, or present state-of-affairs which has the quality of being worthy of inclusion in the news. While there are no universally-agreed upon set of criteria for deciding what is newsworthy, many journalists appeal to the following considerations: how many people are affected by event (X) in question? (The more people are affected, the more newsworthy the event is or becomes.); also, how unique or rare is event (x)? (The more unique, novel, ‘new', or unusual the event, the more newsworthy it is.).

A Free Society: a society that respects, promotes, and defends the basic natural human rights, which include: the rights to life, liberty, the ownership of private property, and the right to the individual pursuit of happiness. (NOTE: the term ‘free society' is a broader concept that ‘democracy', because a free society may include alternate forms of government such as a libertarian government, anarchy, a republic, etc)

A Totalitarian Society: a society which does not respect, promote, or defend the natural human rights. (While communist, socialist, and fascist societies have traditionally been considered (and with historical and political justification) as manifestations of totalitarian regimes, a society can describe itself as ‘democratic', say, and yet be totalitarian in various ways (for example, linguist and philosopher Noam Chomsky has criticized the U.S. on precisely these grounds - that while it calls itself "democratic", it is actually an imperialistic, totalitarian, oppressive nation that engages in "thought control" and the systematic dissemination of propaganda through its media and military structures. - see Bibliography)

The Duty to be Truthful & Objective in news reporting: the Professional Code of Ethics for Journalists (as articulated by the American Society of Newspaper Editors) requires that journalists strive for accuracy, truthfulness, and objectivity in their news reports. Philosophically, the duty to be objective is simply a requirement (both epistemological and ethical) of being faithful to the facts, both a reflection of ‘rationality' and the goal of being fair, impartial, just. (There are also a practical need to be objective: if reporters are not objective and the public loses their trust in these biased journalists, then they will lose their news audience.) Not only journalists, but also scientists, historians, and others who are engaged in purportedly genuine academic, scholarly, or intellectual endeavors will have the same (or similar) duty to be ‘objective' in their professions.

The Social Responsibility of the Media in covering Newsworthy Events: this concept refers to the idea that the media - given its considerable power in disseminating information to the public in society - has a moral duty or social responsibility in conveying newsworthy events that have economic, social, political, cultural, artistic, philosophical or scientific value or import to society. NOTE: there is no way to legally enforce a ‘social responsibility' of the media, because each news organization has the right to decide its own criteria for newsworthiness and its own editorial policies (see ‘editorial self-determination', above); therefore, while journalists have the freedom to report on whatever they choose, the social responsibility of the media (if any) must be implemented on a voluntary, case-by-case basis (each journalist must decide individually whether or not to promote, and how, this journalistic social responsibility).

Investigative Journalism: a kind of journalism which concerns itself with using the methods of research, deduction (logic), and extensive interviewing of sources, in order to discover facts and weave together a story which is not obviously or overtly publicized by the mainstream media or other alternative news organizations. Typically, investigative journalists cover special areas such as government or business corruption, illegal activities, conspiracies, as well as complex scientific news stories involving gradual and lengthy research and discoveries.

‘Info-tainment': a kind of sensationalistic journalism which seeks to entertain the audience more than to inform or educate it. (This kind of journalism may not even be ‘journalism' at all - stories about "Aliens landing in New York City", as may appear, say, in various ‘tabloids', are not genuine news reports because there is no evidence in support of their claims; moreover, some ‘info-tainment', while veridical, may lack significant socio-political relevance to the maintenance of a Free Society - so, for example, various stories about the romantic affairs of various film celebrities, or other celebrity ‘gossip', while perhaps entertaining or interesting to some or many people, lack significant redeeming social-political value.)

The Watchdog Role of the Media: The media has been described as a kind of "watchdog" on society and the political life of a nation: because of its political, legal, and economic independence from the Government and other public and private organizations (such as the Church, say), the media can be free to criticize, comment, analyze, and report on events as it deems necessary or appropriate. This allows for a greater diversity of views and keeps the citizens of a Free Society informed so that they can make appropriate decisions and take action in their best interests.

The Media as public defender of Liberty and Freedom: through its ‘watchdog role' (see above), the media has one special area which may be of greatest interest in defending: the right to freedom of expression and personal liberties (natural rights). Because the very possibility and success of the tasks of journalism depend on Freedom of Expression, this right must be defending in and by the media as much as possible, if journalism is to thrive and flourish in a free society. (A precondition of journalism is the exercise of the Right to Freedom of Expression; therefore, the defense of this right is - and should be - of paramount importance to journalists.)

The Public's Moral & Epistemological Duty to Think Critically about the News: often, journalists are accused of being biased in their news reports, or of spreading propaganda through the media, etc. However, such critics fail to take into account the idea of personal responsibility: that the news audience (the general public) - as well as journalists - need to think for themselves, individually, critically, in order to sort out ‘fact' from ‘speculation' or mere hearsay. The art of thinking critically should be cultivated and practiced by everyone in society, in order for knowledge and truth to be effectively discovered and conveyed.

Critical Thinking: the art of considering what, if any, are the reasons, evidence, facts, or data in support of a given idea, theory, hypothesis, or other claim to knowledge. In the task of thinking critically, one should be on the look-out for possible ‘fallacies' (errors in reasoning --- such as ‘arguing in a circle' (P because P), etc.) The use of logic and reason is fundamental for thinking critically.

Rationality: a commitment to the use of reason and logic in all aspects of life: seeking and producing good reasons in support of one's beliefs and actions.

Vocabulary

Journalism : the profession that endeavors to create and disseminate veridical (truthful, accurate), objective news reports about recent or present / contemporary events, and to comment on them (e.g., on their cultural, social, political, economic, scientific, philosophical significance) in editorials and opinion pieces.

Truth: there are various theories of truth, but the most applicable for the nature of journalism is the "Correspondence Theory of Truth" (the most classical idea of truth). According to this theory, a statement (sentence, claim, proposition) is ‘true' if and only if it corresponds with the way the world is (i.e., a sentence which accurately describes the world is thereby ‘true').

Veridical: the quality of being truthful; accurate.

Objective: the quality of being impartial, fair, neutral (persons, reports, descriptions, organizations, etc) may be ‘objective' insofar as they avoid inserting or conveying their own individual biases, idiosyncracies, feelings, preferences, etc. NOTE: Objectivity is a matter of degree: news reports, persons, etc. can be more or less objective to the degree that they are neutral, impartial, accurate, and faithful to the facts.

Biased: the quality of being prejudiced in an unfair or epistemologically negative way: while everyone (and every report, say) may have or convey a unique perspective or ‘bias', not all ‘biases' are epistemologically flawed: some perspectives may be more accurate or a better representation of the facts than other perspectives which may only reflect part of (or less) of the truth than more comprehensive perspectives.
,
Propaganda: information, symbols, visuals, text, etc. which is purposefully designed to affect, sway, or change the feelings, thoughts, views, opinions, and dispositions of a specific target audience, without the use of any rational appeals to evidence, facts, or reasons. Propaganda works at the subliminal (subconscious) level, as it seeks to win the feelings and sympathy of its target audience, usually for the purpose of getting the audience to act in various ways.

Epistemology: the branch of philosophy which is concerned with the study of the nature and scope of ‘knowledge'. Epistemologists studies questions such as, What is truth? What is knowledge? Is knowledge possible? Are there limits to knowledge? How can we know? Is knowledge simply relative and subjective? Or can knowledge be objective and universally applicable? What is ‘objectivity'? What is ‘propaganda'?