Paper Topic:

Ethics in the media

Through the years , many things have happened and new technologies have appeared which have both raised questions regarding the ethical behavior of media . With the expanse , diversity and power that the media is now enjoying , it has hugged the limelight because of the increasing incidence of unethical behavior among the different kinds of media practitioners . It is thus necessary that the main points of the statement mentioned be discussed and explained

First thing is to ask what unethical behavior is . This can be explained by pointing what it is not . Ethics can

be defined as moral principle (Oxford , 2000 . It associates to behaving in a good , honest , just , and righteous manner . Ethics in media can help newsroom staffers make sound decisions and build journalism credibility about many ethical problems they may encounter in their work (Steele 1999 . When a person listens to what another wants to say , if a person speaks objectively about an issue and if a person respects the properties and opinions of others , he is living an ethical life . So unethical behavior is exactly its opposite If a person takes advantage of his fellowmen , put into danger the life of another and violates the rights of an individual he is behaving unethically . But it must be noted that not only those criminals are culprits here , even an ordinary man can behave unethically sometimes unknowingly . When a vendor intentionally use a non-calibrated weighing scale to weigh his goods for sale he is unjust . When a student submits a project that he did not do that is cheating and it is dishonest . And when an officemate say bad things behind another co-worker just to get the promotion he is unrighteous . It does show that every sector of the society has code of ethics to be followed so that life is lived fairly And every sector of the society thus experience incidence of unethical behavior

Media , has also its share of incidence of unethical practice of conduct And the alarming reality now is that it is increasing by the day . The media in all its form has been recently in the limelight for the many incidents of unethical behavior among its practitioners . And why is this happening ? What contributes to this kind of behavior ? And why can 't it be controlled

To shed light to these questions , the writer would like to go back and discuss one at a time the points raised at the beginning of this

Media today is so diverse and its expanse is so far-reaching that monitoring it becomes difficult . With the diversity and expanse of media comes power and influence . Media has evolved and aside from the early forms like print , theater and arts , it now includes broadcast , film and electronic . Their role has also increased from merely informants to now a more influential and powerful role of shapers of society . As clichy has it , media can either make or break . The word PRESS ' has often been used as ticket to the world of...

6 pages

39.0 KB

Free sing-up