Media Ethics

Do journalists have a duty to be impartial and objective? How should the public's right-to-know be balanced against an individual's right to privacy? At a time when the role and responsibilities of the media have become an increasingly important part of public debate, this text brings together philosophers, media academics and journalists to discuss the pressing ethical and moral questions faced by the media and to examine the basic notions such as truth, virtue, privacy, rights, offence, harm and freedom which underlie them. The book engages with debates about privacy and media intrusion, the ethics of political journalism, and the justification of censorship against the demands of freedom of expression.The contributors' focus ranges from the close relationship between journalism and public relations, journalism and war and the use of military propaganda in the Gulf War, media portrayals of sex and violence, and photojournalism and the tabloid press. It includes a chapter by Martin Bell on responsible journalism and war reporting in Bosnia.