Midterm Exam Flashcards
Absolutist
Duty-Based Ethics.
Very strict and emphasis on rules and commitment to duty.
Advocacy Positions
Positions in public relations and advertising. They must only provide their viewers with the truth and don’t need to be balanced/fair or objective like the news media.
PR people promote the image of one person or business and advertising people promote a product or service.
Agape
Care-Based Ethics.
Totally selfless, pure, unconditional love that you can give to another. This is all about the other person.
Aristotle
Virtue Ethics.
He’s all about finding a happy medium being overdoing something or underdoing it.
Autonomy
Freedom to do as you please or acting independently.
Jeremy Bentham
Utilitarianism.
Jayson Blair
New York Times reporter who resigned after committing journalistic fraud and fabricated material in over half of his stories.
Louis Brandeis
Young lawyer who proposed a legal recognition for the right to be left alone and monetary damages for citizens who had suffered from privacy violations, alongside Samuel Warren.
Care-Based Ethics
Starts of during time of Christ. It has religious foundations Golden rule: "Love thy neighbor as thyself" and "Do to others as you would do to you." Reversibility Agape (Greek term)
Categorical Imperatives
Commands that fit in certain categories. When it comes to the category of life, the command is to do no harm. Category of truth, the command is to not lie.
Code of Ethics
Written statements of principles used so that people can know what’s expected of them and to recognize the fundamental values for which these organizations stand for. Used by media practitioners, professional careers (lawyers, doctors, psychologists), and media institutions.
Consequentialist
Utilitarianism.
End results matter.
Janet Cooke
Young reporter who fabricated a dramatic account of an 8 y/o heroin addict for the Washington Post and was forced to return her Pulitzer prize.
Criticisms of the Different Ethical Approaches
Virtue: The middle ground doesn’t always exist in every situation.
Care-Based: World peace would exist if this approach existed.
Duty-Based: So rigid/locked in. Not realistic bc life is not that clear cut.
Utilitarianism: Relies too much on prediction bc it’s so focused on the outcome.
Social Contract: Too malleable, not set in stone. They’re apt to be rewritten.
Relativism: It’s not ethics. No roadmap like the others bc there’s no telling what is ethical or not.
Egoism: Selfish. Not even close to being an ethical approach.
Feminist: Creates a battle of the sexes. More friction bc sometimes seen as more aggressive.
Data Mining
Companies can collect data about our individual lives, preferences, and tastes to have those companies fashion messages for particular target audiences.
Deontological
Duty-Based Ethics.
Deon-duty.
John Dewey
Relativism.
American philosopher known for wanting to improve education in the 1900s.
Diversity Spectrum
Friendly to Diversity Interests: Feminist, care-based, duty-based
Middle: Virtue and relativism
Potentially Hostile to Diversity Interests: Social contract, utilitarianism, egoism.
“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”
Care-Based Ethics.
Docudramas
The dramatic blending of facts and fiction as a credible TV format for communicating historical events. The producer’s goal is to create an interesting story. Docudramas frequently alter or distort historical facts.
Duty-Based Ethics
Begins during 1700s in Germany with philosopher Kant.
Focus: As human beings, we have certain duties to abide by.
Maxims/universal laws, absolute truths, categorical imperatives
“the ends do not justify the means”
Non-consequentialist/deon(duty)tological- it’s not about the consequence, it’s about the initial action.
Egalitarian
Relating to or believing in the principle that all people are equal and deserve equal rights and opportunities.
“Ends justify the means”
Utilitarianism.
“Ends do not justify the means”
Duty-Based Ethics.
Ethics, Laws, and Morals
Ethics-what we should do. A set of principles or a code of moral conduct.
Laws-what we’re allowed to do or prohibited from doing.
Morals-way of life/conduct.
Ethics and morals are synonymous.
Explicit
Stated clearly and in detail, leaving no room for confusion or doubt.
Implicit
Implied though not plainly expressed.
Feminist Ethics
Focus: A rationale way of life includes reason, but infuses some thought process into that (emotions). The analytical way to life isn’t the whole picture.
Emphasis on relationships, nurturing, connectedness.
“Think with your heart as well as your head.”
Like care-based, but not religious overtones.
FCC
Federal Communications Commission.
Virtue Ethics.
Developed Safe Harbor compromise for tv to air explicit things during 10 pm to 6 am.
FTC
Federal Trade Commission.
Provided with new powers to oversee deceptive and unfair advertising practices in 1938 by Congress.
Golden Mean
Virtue Ethics.
Middle road.
Golden Rule
Care-Based Ethics
Love thy neighbor as thyself and do unto others as you do unto yourself.
“Greatest good for the greatest number”
Utilitarianism.