Media Ethics: Cases and Moral Reasoning

by Clifford G. Christians, Mark Fackler

Using commentaries and cases, this text focuses on a wide spectrum of ethical issues facing media practitioners including corporate takeovers, sexism and homelessness. It is designed to help students develop analytical skills and raise moral sensitivity. It aims to make theory accessible by allowing students to do systematic ethical thinking on their own, and the commentaries added to each case emphasize the important social and moral values used by media practitioners.

Genres: Reference

445 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

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.

Reviews

[Carolyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

As far as text books go, on media ethics no less, this one was quite informative yet storytelling in quality. The case studies were relevant and led to great discussions. I mean, if you gotta read a book on ethics, it's nice for it to be a little entertaining!

[Irene · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very accessible and easy to read book with some fantastic real word case studies.

[Lucinda Kinsinger · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good information, but I found it boring. Guess ethics just isn't my thing.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

More interesting and readable than I expected.