Chapter 15-Understanding Media Morality Flashcards
Ethics
The study of guidelines that help people determine right from wrong in their voluntary conduct.
Hoaxes
Purposeful deceptions of the public.
Blacklisting
The practice of keeping a particular type of person from working in media and other industries.
Absolutist Ethics
Position from which there is a clear-cut right or wrong response for every ethical decision.
Prescriptive Codes
Guidelines that stipulate specific behaviors to be followed.
Proscriptive Codes
Guidelines that stress the things that should not be done.
Two-Sources Rule
Common newspaper rule stating that nothing should be published as fact unless at least two sources confirm it.
Categorical Imperative
Immanuel Kant’s term for the ethical guideline to look for principles that will hold true in all situations.
Veil of Ignorance
John Rawl’s term associated with the idea that ethical behavior is possible only if everyone is treated equally.
Situation Ethics
Principle that ethical choices can be made according to the situation, without a rigid adherence to set rules.
Relativistic Ethics
Another name for situation ethics.
Golden Mean
Aristotle’s term for describing ethical behavior as a midpoint between extremes.
Utilitarian Principle
John Stuart Mill’s idea that actions are ethical only if they result in the greatest good for the most people.
Machiavellian Ethics
The idea that the end justifies the means.
Enlightened Self-Interest
Theory that holds that doing what is right for yourself will probably be right for others.
Pool Cameras
One camera crew shared by several TV news organizations.
Media Circus
Chaos that results when crowds of journalists descend on the scene of a news event.
Conflict of Interest
Clash that occurs when an outside activity influences what a media professional does.
Checkbook Journalism
Paying news sources for their stories.
Accountability
The obligation to take responsibility, or account for, the consequences of one’s actions. In media ethics, accountability involves the questions of who controls media practitioners and who has the power to punish them for ethical lapses.
Standards and Practices Departments
Departments at television networks that oversee the ethics of their programming.
Ombudsperson
Staff member whose job is to oversee media employees’ ethical behavior.
News Councils
Independent agencies whose mission is to objectively monitor media performance.
Citizens’ Groups
Associations made up of members of the public to exert influence, such as on the media.
