No media ethics in discussion of what’s legal in advertising
Advertising Age reminds its readers of “Nine Things You Can’t Do in Advertising if You Want to Stay on the Right Side of the Law,” which turns into a reminder that there’s a legal distinction between puffery and a false claim. (Summary: Lie and the government will smack you down. BS all you want.) The […]
Is it ethical for journalists to keep interviewing Charlie Sheen?
Jeff Jarvis of Buzzville asks whether it’s right for journalists to continue interviewing actor Charlie Sheen, calling him a mentally ill man who doesn’t need the attention: What Sheen does may be news. What his network didn’t do is also news — when he abused women, they kept him on the air to keep the […]
A meta-analysis of “When entertainment trumps morality”
The AV Club asked its contributors and readers a question that’s worth asking yourself: What mass media and/or practitioners do you like despite your moral qualms? Answers to “When entertainment trumps morality” boiled down to categories of: fare produced by actors, musicians, and athletes with questionable ethics. individual movies, shows, or songs with overtones of […]
How student editors use ethics codes
Newly published research shows that the value of ethics codes “seems to be lost on student journalists.” Penn State’s Kirstie E. Hettinga and Marie Hardin, writing in Media Ethics magazine, compare codes of ethics hanging on college newsroom walls to signs that point to fire exits: “It’s there if they need it, but it’s not […]
I wouldn’t eat that if I were you
Why does that hamburger on TV not look like the one you just bought? National Public Radio tells the story of how “food stylists” do their magic to make food look appetizing in video and photography. It’s an art, complete with plenty of books on the subject. Below the story, several people at the NPR […]
An ethical PR response to research?
There’s a saying among lawyers: “When you have the law on your side, pound the law. When you have the facts on your side, pound the facts. When you have neither, pound the table.” With that in mind, consider the late 2010 study that said people who watch TV news were were more likely to […]
Dutch reporter oversteps boundaries when interviewing 9-year-old orphan
Nov. 20, 2010 Ruben van Assouw, a 9-year-old boy and the only survivor of a plane crash in Libya, was interviewed from his hospital bed by the the Dutch daily newspaper, De Telegraaf. This is the original piece, and here is the translated copy. It was reported that Assouw couldn’t remember anything from the accident. […]
Video of teen’s beating sheds light on gang violence in Chicago
Nov. 20, 2010 In 2009, 16-year-old honor student Derrion Albert was beaten to death two blocks from his high school in one of Chicago’s roughest neighborhoods. Albert appeared to have been at the wrong place at the wrong time and gotten caught in between two fighting rival gangs. The next day, a reporter from Chicago’s […]
Favre’s “sexting” scandal: Worth paying for?
Nov. 20, 2010 What’s your problem? Deadspin website editor A.J. Daulerio paid an unnamed person an undisclosed amount of money to receive materials connecting Minnesota Vikings quarterback Brett Favre to former New York Jets game day hostess Jenn Sterger. The materials included voicemails allegedly left on Sterger’s cell phone, which Favre has since confirmed, and […]