1. Ethics in Media/key principles
CF301 Communication Ethics and Rights.
Fall, 2012.
Instructor: Ayten Gorgun Smith Teaching assitant: Sabina Jafarova
Kadir Has University Grad. Stud. Kadir Has University
Faculty of Communications Faculty of Communications
Department of Public Department of New Media
Relations and Information

2. Definition of Ethics.
• The way people behave based on how their
beliefs about what is right and wrong influence
behavior (www.ethics.org/resource/definitions-
values).
• ‘Ethics’ comes from the Greek ‘Ethos’, meaning
character, or what a good person is or does to
have a good character (Jay Black and Chris
Roberts Doing Ethics in Media, pp. 17).

3. Doing ethics we consider…
• Which values take precedence?
• What would my moral heroes and sheroes do?
• To whom do we owe something?
• Why ought we behave in particular way?
• What are the consequences of our behaviors?
Source: Jay Black and Chris Roberts Doing Ethics in Media, pp. 23

4. Ethics in Journalism
• Society of Professional Journalists’ code of
ethics has 4 main tenants:
Seek truth and report it!
Minimize harm
Act independently
Be accountable
Source: http://spj.org/ethicscode.asp

5. Key Principles of Ethics in Media.
‘It is about the journey, not destination!’
Key thinkers about Ethics

6. Aristotle:
‘Emotion and desire have
roles to play in decision
making.’
Photo courtesy:www.britannica.com

7. Immanuel Kant:
‘People are owed respect not
because of what they do or
who they are, but because they
are human beings with a
capacity for reason.’
Photo courtesy: http://en.wikipedia.org

8. John Stuart Mill:
‘All actions, then, must be
evaluated on the basis of
how much overall pleasure
they produce.’
Photo courtesy: http://en.wikipedia.org

9. W.D.Ross:
‘Rightness and goodness are
objective features of the world
in just the way that shape, size,
and mass are objective
feature.’
Photo courtesy: http://ethicsinpr.wikispaces.com

10. John Rawls:
‘Principle of justice is the
foundation of social order.’
Photo courtesy: http://www.britannica.com

11. Key Principles of Ethics in Media.
• Idealism-how strongly we feel about the pursuit of
humanitarian goals.
• Relativism-belief that the only way we can decide
what’s ethical and what’s not is to rely on our own
experiences and internal moral ‘compass’.
Source: Patrick Lee Plaisance Media Ethics; Key Principles for Responsible Practice pp.13

12. Readings:
 Jay Black and Chris Roberts Doing Ethics in
Media; Theories and Practical Applications,
‘Ethics and Moral Reasoning’, London:
Routledge, 2011 pp.17-37.
Patrick Lee Plaisance Media Ethics; Key
Principles for Responsible Practice, ‘Ethics
theory and overview’, London: SAGE
publications, 2009 pp.1-22.