Ethics Autonomy

• It is the branch of knowledge that deals with moral principles.
• Moral principles that govern a person's behavior or the conducting of
an activity.
• Moral concerned with the principles of right and wrong behavior and
the goodness or badness of human character.
• A set of moral principles: a theory or system of moral values
• The principles of conduct governing an individual or a group
• The discipline dealing with what is good and what is bad and with
moral duty and obligation
Moral
• Of or relating to principles of right and wrong behavior
• Conforming to a standard of right behavior
Norm
• A principle of right action binding upon the members of group and
serving to guide, control, or regulate proper and acceptable behavior
Ethical Principles
Ethical principles are general standards of conduct that make up an
ethical system.
Ethical principles are behavior guide which entails particular
imperatives.
These imperatives involve specification that some type of action or conduct is
either prohibited, required, or permitted in certain circumstances.
Four Ethical Principles/ Fundamental Ethical Principles
1. Autonomy
2. Non-maleficence
3. Beneficence
4. Justice
• Comes from the Greek word “autos” (self) and “nomos” (rule,
governance, or law).
• People should be free to choose and entitled to act on their
preferences provided their decisions and actions do not stand to
violate, or impinge on, the significant moral interest of others.
• We have an obligation to respect the autonomy of other persons,
which is to respect the decisions made by other people concerning
their own lives.
• This is also called the principle of human dignity.
• It gives us a negative duty not to interfere with the decisions of
competent adults, and a positive duty to empower others for whom
we’re responsible.
Corollary principles: honesty in our dealings with others & obligation
to keep promises.
Non- maleficence
• Comes from the Latin-derived maleficent
• from maleficus meaning wicked, prone to evil
• From malum meaning evil
• male meaning ill
• As a moral principle, non-maleficence (literally refuse evil),
prescribes above all, DO NO HARM, which entails a stringent
obligation not to injure or harm others.
Beneficence
• From Latin word beneficus, from bene meaning well or good and
facere meaning to do.
• This principle prescribes “ABOVE ALL, DO GOOD”
• In practice in entails a positive obligation to literally act for the
benefit of others and contribute to the welfare and well-being of
others.
• We have an obligation to bring about good in all our actions.

• Act of beneficence can include such virtuous actions as: care,
compassion, empathy, sympathy, altruism, kindness, mercy, love,
friendship and charity.
• We have an obligation not to harm others: "First, do no harm."
Corollary principle: We must take positive steps to prevent
harm. However, adopting this corollary principle frequently places us
in direct conflict with respecting the autonomy of other persons.
Corollary principle: Where harm cannot be avoided, we are obligated
to minimize the harm we do.
Corollary principle: Don't increase the risk of harm to others.
Corollary principle: It is wrong to waste resources that could be used
for good.
Combining beneficence and nonmaleficence: Each action must
produce more good than harm.
Justice
• From the Latin word Justus meaning righteous.
• We have an obligation to provide others with whatever they are owed
or deserve. In public life, we have an obligation to treat all people
equally, fairly, and impartially.
• Justice as an equal distribution of benefits and burdens
• Justice as what is deserved (each according to one’s merit or worth)
Different Conceptions of Justice
• Justice as revenge (retributive justice)
• Justice as mercy (Christian Ethics)
• Justice as harmony
• Justice as equity (impartiality and fairness)
• Justice as avoiding parochialism and reducing global injustice
• Justice as equality (equals must be treated equally)
Corollary principle: Impose no unfair burdens.
Combining beneficence and justice: We are obligated to work for the benefit
of those who are unfairly treated.
Core Values of Journalism
• Accuracy and fact-based communications;
• Humanity and respect for others;
• Transparency and accountability.
Core Values for Responsible Communications
• Accuracy and fact-based communications. (Avoiding malicious
deception and untruth – and understanding the exceptions, such as
humour and satire);
• Humanity and respect for the Other. (Challenging hate-speech,
incitement and discrimination in all its forms, including misogyny);
• Transparency and Accountability. (Challenging plagiarism and
understanding the right to anonymity and respect for sources of
information and the need to correct errors);
• Introduction to free expression in the digital age. (The limits to free
expression. Contemporary threats and the challenges facing
policymakers, civil society, academics and media professionals);
• The Difference between Journalism and Free Expression.
(Understanding ethics in the context of self-regarding and others-
regarding communications);
• Personal and Public Communications. (The public sphere and the
value of self-restraint. Developing a shared culture for tolerance and
respect in communications);
• Pluralism and Other Voices. (The importance of diversity of opinion
to building democracy and informed society);
•
 Ethical Use of Information Paraphrase

• Using someone’s ideas but rephrasing them in your own words.

Plagiarism • Although you will use your own words to paraphrase, you must still
acknowledge and cite the source of the information.
• Using other people’s words and ideas without clearly acknowledging
the source of the information.

Common Knowledge
Media Convergence
• Facts that can be found in numerous places and are likely to be
widely known. • The co-existence of traditional and new media: print media,
• Example: John F. Kennedy was elected President of the United States broadcast media (radio and television), the Internet, mobile phones,
in 1960. This is generally known information. You do not need to as well as others, allowing media content to flow across various
document this fact. platforms.
• The ability to transform different kinds of media into digital code,
which is then accessible by a range of devices (ex. from the personal
Interpretation computer to the mobile phone)
• Creating a digital communication environment.
• You must document facts that are not generally known, or ideas that
interpret facts.
• Example: Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player ever to Mass Media and Media Effects
have played the game.
• This idea is not a fact but an interpretation or an opinion. Mass Media
• You need to cite the source.
Refer to channels of communication that involve transmitting in
some way, shape or form to large numbers of people.
Quotation
Media Effects
• Using someone’s words directly.
• When you use a direct quote, place the passage between quotation are the intended or unintended consequences of what the media does.
marks, and document the source according to a standard (Denis McQuail, 2010)
documenting style.
• Example: According to John Smith in The New York Times, “37%
of all children under the age of 10 live below the poverty line”.
• You need to cite the source.
 Media Effects
Propaganda Model of Media Control (Herman & Chomsky)

Hawthorne Effect The model tries to understand how the population is manipulated,
and how the social, economic, political attitudes are fashioned in the minds of
The alteration of behavior by the subject of a study due to their people through propaganda.
awareness of being observed.
Propaganda

Boomerang Effect Ideas or statements that are often false or exaggerated and
that are spread in order to help a cause, a political leader, a
It refers to the unintended consequences of an attempt to persuade government, etc.
resulting in the adoption of an opposing position instead.
The Essence of Propaganda

Third-party Theory Stereotypes are at the heart of all propaganda efforts. Their
purpose is to create the perception that our actions are always
People think they are more immune to media influence than others. ethical and honorable, while those of our opponents are
unethical and dishonorable.

Reciprocal Effect

When a person or event gets media attention, it influences the way

the person acts or the way the event functions. Media coverage often
increases self-consciousness, which affects our actions.

Cultivation Theory (George Gerbner)

States that media exposure, specifically to television, shapes our

social reality by giving us a distorted view on the amount of violence and risk
in the world.

Agenda- setting Theory (Lippmann/ McCombs and Shaw)

Process whereby the mass media determine that we think and worry
about. Public reacts not to actual events but to the pictures in our head,
created by media.