Media Culture Practices and Representations - Assignment Example

Name: Tutor: Title: Major Essay Course: Date: Major Essay Question 2 Introduction Ethical considerations involve the procedure of making decisions. In this case the decisions made in an ethical manner should be regarded as the right choices. The procedure of making the accurate type of choice comprises the recognition while at the same time making priorities in relation to the duty to oneself as an individual, an individual’s occupation and the community at large. It is therefore important to comprehend the duties and how such duties and roles impact of various individuals and groups with varied multifaceted and opposing social welfares. The diversity in terms of the political and economic aspects of the society encourages individuals to follow self interest in terms of authority, reputation and prosperity. The media and journalists in the process of reporting to the masses are usually faced with various forms of dilemma in relation to what is considered as ethical and what is unethical. The essay will engage in evaluating concerns of ethics and communication in relation to unethical forms of journalism (Breit, 2007 pp.307-309). Unethical Journalism Journalists are generally faced with ethical aspects in terms of decision making. This arises due to the fact that journalism profession is involved in the process of dealing with information technologies that are considered powerful and spread to mass audiences who are regarded as consumers of the information being distributed. It is therefore important to note that varied methods to ethics impact differently on the process of decision making. It is also significant to comprehend the fact that ethical influence on the process of communication is an important tool in achieving cohesion within the society at large (Breit, 2007 pp. 301). A lot of ethical issues occur as a result of conflicting interests and principles that involve journalists as they undertake their day to day activities. Conflicting interests may also be in form of legal standards that oversee communication as a profession. There are certain limitations that face journalists in the process of conveying information to the masses. The political aspect plays an important role as in most cases the political aspect places a lot of limitations on journalism and communication. In some instance journalists may not report a certain occurrence as a result of the fear of what may transpire in regards to the information reported (Christians & Traber 1997 pp. 12-13). Various theories have been used in evaluating the ethical behavior and decision making process in communication and journalism. Such theories and its relevance to the contemporary journalism world has been used to discuss what is considered as ethical or unethical and how the process of decision making should be conducted so as to fulfill the ethical criteria of both actions and communication through the use of the media. The role of reporters is mainly to gather information so as to inform the public. This role should therefore not be confused with any other role. The reporters should not be used to gather information to assist the police. The public should leave the role of gathering information to reporters and they should not act as participants in the process of gathering information (Dennis & Merrill pp.98). There are various effects of blemished journalism in respect to public relations. The main contributing factor to the inconsistent journalism on public relations includes greater stress among the journalists to generate more copies within a short period of time. Hence the pressure applied to journalists to produce a high number of copies at a shorter period of time has greatly eroded the quality of journalism. This has therefore centered to the reliance on public relations to offer sources and materials leading to difficulty situations between the public relations and journalism (Salmon, 1989). In journalism the procedure of making ethical decisions is not an easy task. It is therefore imperative for journalism to possess all the facts at hand before engaging in any form of decision making. This will go a long way in ensuring that effective types of decisions are made and adhered to. In cases where there is lack of facts among communicators it may lead to spreading of deceptive information either knowledgeably or unknowingly. Journalists are free to refuse to convey information if they know little or nothing about the facts of the information that they want to disseminate to the public (Berry, 2000). In this sense ethical public relations implies the process of comprehending and observing the stakeholders together with their interests and responding in a responsible manner according to the stakeholders and the organ ization’s line of interests. Press releases should therefore be used effectively for the purpose of conveying information to the masses (Breit, 2007 pp. 321). The changing media environmental setting has given rise to a situation whereby the media consumers are engaging in the procedure of production through the production of their own form of media by use of various media technologies. This aspect is mainly referred to as citizen journalism and faces various challenges as far as ethical considerations are concerned. This is due to the fact that personal views in relation to public relations may be distorted. Hence the development of citizen forms of journalism and organization of community activity setting and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) is progressively drawing the general public into specialized communication practices (Scott, 1990 pp.112). The application of the concept of public interest in journalism is essential. This due to the fact that public interest involves the information the is regarded as important to the public and the public wishes to know such important information. Public opinion should therefore be differentiated from public interest. Journalism should also be engaged in comprehending the aspects of public opinion and public interest so as to act in an ethical manner in disseminating information to the masses (Singer, 1993 pp.251). Journalism may engage in the use of consumers or their audience as a justification of the involvement in unethical type of journalism. Journalists may further justify their actions with the reason that they are presenting to the public what the public wants to get. The reliance on consumers as a mode of testing ethical communication is not right due to the fact that mainly the consumers are not conscious that the type of publication presented encompasses unethical forms of materials. The conclusion regarding if the publication is unethical can only be made after the consumers consume the publication through reading the particular story in order to ascertain whether it is ethical or unethical. The type of media publicity in relation to the unethical publication draws more attention among the audiences or consumer. This attention encourages consumers to purchase the material that has been publicized as unethical in order for consumers to find out themselves what the information is all about. The morality surrounding the decision to public the material involves the moral type of judgment on the decision to read the published unethical material. Public form of communication therefore involves the process research, publication, professional and consumption by the audience or consumers. When regulating the professional ethics consideration must be taken in relation to how journalism and public relations is arranged and printed. The understanding of the message being conveyed is also an important aspect that self-regulators need to consider and take into account. In the comprehension of the message being disseminated public interest and public opinion is of great essence (Ricketson, 2001 pp.7). Communicative Theories of Habermas Within the ethical difficulties facing communicators lies the pressure that Habermas defines as unrestrained and premeditated approaches of communication. Thus the major purpose of communication involves the orientation towards attaining the mutual form of comprehension of players involved within the communication process. Habermas generated a moral form of argument implying that an ethical type of communication comprises participants with an equal opportunity to make proposition and discuss controversies. In this sense for individuals to actively engage in the process of making propositions and debate it is essential for facts about the information to be obtained. Public relations play a role of conveying the right information in order to enhance comprehension between the different stakeholders. However the use of public relations in disseminating information can lead to distorted forms of information. Hence it is important for journalists to engage the use of public relations with cautiousness in relation to disseminating information to the masses. According to Habermas the communication form of ethics should be assessed within two major perspectives (Habermas, 1981 pp.101). This includes the perspective of production and reception. Journalists should consider the ethical perspective of information prior to production. In this sense the excuse the journalists are producing what the masses or consumers want to get should not be considered. The ethical perspective of the material should be considered before publication. Journalists are involved in the gathering of information to be disseminated to the public. Hence during the gathering of information the ethical values should be considered in form of who is gathering the information and the ethical perspective of the information being gathered. Private individuals should therefore not be paid so as to gather information for the media as such information may be distorted either knowingly or unknowingly (Turner, 2001 pp.350). The aspect of reception according to Habermas is also an important aspect. Reception in this case involves the consumers of the materials being produced. Thus audience who are the main recipients should restate their duties as citizens of a particular country and not just producers and consumers of information. What is considered as ethical from a journalists approach might be considered as unethical from the consumer or audience perspective. Various factors should therefore be put into place in regards to reception of the information being produced. Media diversity should be promoted while recognizing the diverse types of journalism and different types of public relations that assist individuals in the process of gathering information as active citizens. Hence there is need for more emphasis on the ethics involving media reception so as to tame the unethical journalism across the world (Habermas, 1981 pp.71). Deontological Theories of Ethics Deontological theory of ethics emphasizes more on the action that is considered independent form the objective within which the activity is executed. In this case a favorable activity is mainly determined by roles and duties. There are various forms of duty perspectives within the deontological theory. Traditional duty theory is mainly derived from the virtue theory that is categorized as duties to God, to an individual self and duties to other within the society. The moral value of an action is therefore explained by the three forms of duties. Duty theory involves the idea of social contract and journalists rely on in relation to the freedom of speech. The theory also involves the emphasis on the aspect of social justice. Social justice stipulates that an action can only be considered as right if it enhances fairness within the distributive, retaliatory and reparation dimensions of social paybacks and afflictions. An action is therefore considered as ethical if it conforms to the agreed upon conditionality as discussed by competent groups. As a journalist freedom of speech should be upheld with responsibility. This means that journalists should be truthful and independent in their profession. Therefore according to Breit (2007) Kantian unconditional imperative can be related to the decision making process by journalists for the purpose of justification of rationality. However Breit argues that Kantian freedom can only be obtained through moral means as opposed to the imposition of either state or organizational types of rules (Breit, 2007 pp.312-313). Conclusion Media social responsibility involves the process of evaluating the ethical aspects of communication. Hence what is considered as ethical from a journalist point of view might be considered as unethical in the public interest or opinion. In the process of evaluation it is therefore important to look at both the micro and macro perspective of journalism, communication and public relations. While freedom of speech is guaranteed among the media practitioners it is important to note that social responsibility and self-regulatory plays an essential role. The consumers or audiences of the media materials are also important in the process of raising awareness, debate and education in relation to journalism ethics. List of References Berry, D (ed.) 2000, Ethics and media culture practices and representations, Focal Press Oxford, Auckland. Breit, R 2007, ‘Professional communication, ethics and accountability’,Law and ethics for professional communicators, LexisNexis Butterworths, Chatswood, NSW,pp. 307–48. Breit, R. 2007, Law and ethics for professional communicators, LexisNexis Butterworths, Chatswood, NSW. Christians, C & Traber, M (eds) 1997, Communication ethics and universal values,Sage, Thousand Oaks, California. Dennis, EE & Merrill, JC 2002, Media debates: great issues for the digital age, Wadsworth & Thomson Learning, Belmont, California. Habermas, J 1981, The theory of communicative action volume one: reason and the rationalization of society, Beacon, Boston, Massachusetts. Ostwald, M 1979, Aristotle Nichomachean ethics, Bobbs-Merrill Educational Publishing, Indianapolis. Ricketson, M 2001, ‘The importance of investigative journalism’, Four corners celebrates 40 years, retrieved 26th May 2014, http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/4c40/essays/ricketson.htm. Salmon, CT (ed.) 1989, Information campaigns: balancing social values and social change, Sage, Newbury Park, California. Scott, EC 1990, The question of ethics: Nietzsche, Foucault, Heidegger, Indiana University Press, Bloomington. Singer, P 1993, How are we to live? Ethics in an age of self-interest, Text Publishing, Melbourne, Australia. Turner, G 2001, ‘Ethics, entertainment and the tabloid: the case of talkback radio in Australia’, Journal of Media and Cultural Studies, vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 349–57. Read More

Various theories have been used in evaluating the ethical behavior and decision making process in communication and journalism. Such theories and its relevance to the contemporary journalism world has been used to discuss what is considered as ethical or unethical and how the process of decision making should be conducted so as to fulfill the ethical criteria of both actions and communication through the use of the media. The role of reporters is mainly to gather information so as to inform the public.

This role should therefore not be confused with any other role. The reporters should not be used to gather information to assist the police. The public should leave the role of gathering information to reporters and they should not act as participants in the process of gathering information (Dennis & Merrill pp.98). There are various effects of blemished journalism in respect to public relations. The main contributing factor to the inconsistent journalism on public relations includes greater stress among the journalists to generate more copies within a short period of time.

Hence the pressure applied to journalists to produce a high number of copies at a shorter period of time has greatly eroded the quality of journalism. This has therefore centered to the reliance on public relations to offer sources and materials leading to difficulty situations between the public relations and journalism (Salmon, 1989). In journalism the procedure of making ethical decisions is not an easy task. It is therefore imperative for journalism to possess all the facts at hand before engaging in any form of decision making.

This will go a long way in ensuring that effective types of decisions are made and adhered to. In cases where there is lack of facts among communicators it may lead to spreading of deceptive information either knowledgeably or unknowingly. Journalists are free to refuse to convey information if they know little or nothing about the facts of the information that they want to disseminate to the public (Berry, 2000). In this sense ethical public relations implies the process of comprehending and observing the stakeholders together with their interests and responding in a responsible manner according to the stakeholders and the organ ization’s line of interests.

Press releases should therefore be used effectively for the purpose of conveying information to the masses (Breit, 2007 pp. 321). The changing media environmental setting has given rise to a situation whereby the media consumers are engaging in the procedure of production through the production of their own form of media by use of various media technologies. This aspect is mainly referred to as citizen journalism and faces various challenges as far as ethical considerations are concerned. This is due to the fact that personal views in relation to public relations may be distorted.

Hence the development of citizen forms of journalism and organization of community activity setting and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) is progressively drawing the general public into specialized communication practices (Scott, 1990 pp.112). The application of the concept of public interest in journalism is essential. This due to the fact that public interest involves the information the is regarded as important to the public and the public wishes to know such important information. Public opinion should therefore be differentiated from public interest.

Journalism should also be engaged in comprehending the aspects of public opinion and public interest so as to act in an ethical manner in disseminating information to the masses (Singer, 1993 pp.251). Journalism may engage in the use of consumers or their audience as a justification of the involvement in unethical type of journalism. Journalists may further justify their actions with the reason that they are presenting to the public what the public wants to get. The reliance on consumers as a mode of testing ethical communication is not right due to the fact that mainly the consumers are not conscious that the type of publication presented encompasses unethical forms of materials.

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