Good News Social Ethics and the Press

Mass media ethics and the classical liberal ideal of the autonomous individual are historically linked and professionally dominant--yet the authors of this work feel this is intrinsically flawed. They show how recent research in philosophy and social science--together with a longer tradition in theological inquiry--insist that community, mutuality, and relationship are fundamental to a full concept of personhood. The authors argue that "persons-in-community" provides a more defensible grounding for journalists' professional moral decision-making in crucial areas such as truthtelling, privacy, organizational culture, and balanced coverage. With numerous examples drawn from life as well as from theory, this book will interest journalists, editors, and professionals in media management as well as students and scholars of media ethics, reporting, and media law.

Clifford G. Christians is a Research Professor of Communications at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, where he directs the Doctoral Program in Communications John P. Ferre is Associate Professor of Communication at the University of Louisville P. Mark Fackler is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Communications at Wheaton College