Yes, free speech is not consequence-free
By Chris Roberts It’s hard to think that $1 billion will actually ever be paid to victims of Alex Jones’ libelous speech about the parents whose children died in mass shootings, but it’s easy to recognize that our First Amendment right to free speech does not mean speech has no consequences. Here’s the FoxNews.com story […]
It’s hard to ethically justify publishing photos of celebrity deaths
By Alley Paquin Media outlets use sensationalist headlines regularly to grab the attention of readers, encourage them to click on their website and read their stories. However, clickbait and sensationalist titles about celebrity suicides can have a disastrous effect. According to The Guardian, there was a 17 percent increase in suicides in the UK following […]
When is it right to break a law for a greater good?
British regulators are starting an inquiry into Sky News, which acknowledged that it hacked into email accounts in search of information about a canoeist who faked his own death and an alleged pedophile who later died in prison. As The Independent newspaper reported on April 13: John Ryley, head of Sky News, told the Leveson […]
Some celebrity dietary supplement endorsers won’t talk to Consumer Reports
Consumer Reports is a rarity among magazines: It accepts no advertising and generally buys the products it tests. Its credibility tends to demand the respect of the companies it writes about. Consider, then, the magazine’s March 2012 story about dietary supplements and the celebrities who endorse them. Noting that the Federal Trade Commission requires that […]
Poynter asks: What to do when the mayor says “asshole?”
Poynter’s Al Tompkins offers a real-live ethics question: When Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter says “asshole” during a TV interview about another shooting in his town, do you run it? Trim it? Do something different online? My extra credit: Why does The Daily Show bleep the “hole” and not the “ass?”
Eric Deggans discusses the humanity of ‘Celebrity Wife Swap,’ reality television
Eric Deggans, TV/media critic for Tampa Bay Times, started the new year by asking questions about Celebrity Wife Swap, the ABC “reality show” in which famous people swap partners while the cameras roll. In a Jan. 3 commentary for National Public Radio, he points out some practical and ethical concerns about the program. The show, […]
Do TV station owners have the ethical duty to not broadcast network programs they don’t think are ethical?
KSL-TV, the NBC affiliate in Salt Lake City, is owned by a corporation owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. But that doesn’t mean you’ll see all of NBC’s fare when you tune in. For years it has not shown Saturday Night Live — and this week it said it would not […]
Is it ethical to fool AP, news media to make a greater point?
A group opposed to what it calls “corporate tax cheats” and “unfair public service cuts” issued a fake press release under General Electric’s name, claiming GE the company would donate $3.2 billion to add jobs and aid the U.S. economy. It then issued its own press release, praising GE’s actions. The AP acknowledged its mistake, […]
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 […]