Ethics for Public Communication

by Clifford G. Christians, John Ferre, Mark Fackler

Focusing on one historic episode per chapter, Ethics for Public Communication is divided into three parts, each dedicated to one of the three major functions of the media within democratic societies: news, persuasion, and entertainment. Authors Clifford Christians, Mark Fackler, and John Ferré, three trusted scholars in the field, discuss media ethics from a communicative perspective, setting the book apart from other texts in the market that simply combine journalism with libertarian theory. Classic media ethics cases, like the publication of Rachel Carson's 1962 book Silent Spring , are covered in tandem with such contemporary cases as the creation of Al-Jazeera English and the controversy surrounding Ice-T's protest song, "Cop Killer."

FEATURES

- A new "communitarian" approach to ethics that breaks from other texts in the discipline
- A focus on classic and current cases that are culturally relevant today
- A thorough and comprehensive grounding in the theory of media ethics
- Longer and more universal case studies than those included in other texts , in order to provide more real-life, ethical dilemmas

294 pages, Paperback

First published November 30, 2011

About the author

Research Professor Emeritus of Communications
Professor Emeritus of Media Studies
Professor Emeritus of Journalism

Christians is the former director of the Institute of Communications Research and chair of the doctoral program in communications, positions he held from 1987-2001 and from 2007-2009. He has been a visiting scholar in philosophical ethics at Princeton University, a research fellow in social ethics and also a visiting scholar at the University of Chicago, and a PEW fellow in ethics at Oxford University. He has a Doctor of Letters D.Litt Honoris Causa Degree from Marquette University and an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Emerson College. He was a Charles H. Sandage Distinguished Professor, has won six teaching awards, and is a faculty member in the Fulbright Specialist Program. His research is in the philosophy of technology, communication theory, and media ethics. A Festschrift Ethics and Evil in the Public Sphere has been published in his honor.

He is a founding member of the International Ethics Roundtables with venues in Stellenbosch, Dubai, Delhi, and Beijing. He has lectured or given papers or taught classes in thirty-five countries. He is listed in Whos Who in America, Whos Who in the World, International Whos Who in Education, and Outstanding Scholars of the 21st Century: Communication Ethics. The Carl Couch Center for Social and Internet Research offers annually the Clifford G. Christians Ethics Research Award. He has been given academic awards such as these: Ethics Scholar Award (Lambda Pi Eta Honor Society, Duquesne University; the AEJMC Presidential Award for distinguished service and AEJMCs Paul J. Deutschmann Award for Excellence in Research; James A. Jaksa Ethics Scholar in Residence; Ralph Crossman and FIRST Scholar awards (University of Colorado); Fellow at the University of Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study; Honor Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism (University of Missouri); Best Edited Book of the Year (with Lee Wilkins, Handbook for Media Ethics); Kappa Tau Alpha Award for Normative Theories of the Media; Distinguished Scholar Award from the National Communication Association; James W. Carey Media Research Award; First Place Faculty Research Paper award (with Stephen Ward, from Media Ethics Division, AEJMC); Louis Forsdale Award as Outstanding Educator in the Field of Media Ecology; Charles Colson Award for Outstanding Contribution to Ethics, Media and Culture; and the Guido H. Stempel III Award for Journalism and Mass Communication Research.