Media ethics

Media ethics is the subdivision of applied ethics dealing with the specific ethical principles and standards of media, including broadcast media, film, theatre, the arts, print media and the internet. The field covers many varied and highly controversial topics, ranging from war journalism to Benetton ad campaigns. Media ethics is the subdivision of applied ethics dealing with the specific ethical principles and standards of media, including broadcast media, film, theatre, the arts, print media and the internet. The field covers many varied and highly controversial topics, ranging from war journalism to Benetton ad campaigns. Media ethics involves promoting and defending values such as a universal respect for life and the rule of law and legality. Literature regarding the ways in which specifically the Internet impacts media ethics in journalism online is scarce, thereby complicating the idea for a universal code of media ethics. Research and publications in the field of information ethics has been produced since the 1980s. Notable figures include and Robert Hauptman (who focused his work specifically on censorship, privacy, access to information, balance in collection development, copyright, fair use, and codes of ethics), Rafael Capurro, Barbara J. Kostrewski and Charles Oppenheim (who wrote the article '“Ethics in Information Science” , discussing issues as confidentiality of information, bias in information provided to clients or consumers, the quality of data supplied by online vendors, etc.). In the 1990s, the term 'information ethics' began to be explored by various Computer Science and Information departments in the United States. In the late 1990s, textbooks such as Richard Severson's The Principles of Information Ethics and Marsha Cook Woodbury's Computer and Information Ethics, and Deborah G. Johnson's Computer Ethics were published. Media ethics: Issues of moral principles and values as applied to the conduct, roles, and *content of the mass media, in particular journalism ethics and standards and marketing ethics; also the field of study concerned with this topic. In relation to news coverage it includes issues such as impartiality, objectivity, balance, bias, privacy, and the public interest. More generally, it also includes stereotyping, taste and decency, obscenity, freedom of speech, advertising practices such as product placement, and legal issues such as defamation. On an institutional level it includes debates over media ownership and control, commercialization, accountability, the relation of the media to the political system, issues arising from regulation (e.g. censorship) and deregulation. The ethics of journalism is one of the most well-defined branches of media ethics, primarily because it is frequently taught inschools of journalism. Journalistic ethics tend to dominate media ethics, sometimes almost to the exclusion of other areas. Topics covered by journalism ethics include: The Internet has shaped and redefined various ethical and moral issues for both online journalists and journalists utilizing online resources.