At its best, media ethics scholarship enriches contemporary debates by illuminating philosophical assumptions and interrogating habits. The articles in this issue accomplish precisely this, on a range of important issues. Such as this: When are a corporation’s gestures toward corporate social responsibility policies “real,” and when should they be judged cynical and only self-serving? And can a company be simultaneously self-interested and genuinely CSR-focused? Senyo Ofori-Parku reconsiders the philosophical underpinnings of CSR claims, and suggests an “integrated” framework to more methodically assess corporate decisions when private interests and social obligations collide.
The next two articles move into the realm of journalism practice. How are arguments about restricting forms of hate speech framed by opinion journalists – ostensibly a group with an important stake in the topic? After an analysis of hundreds of editorials and essays on the topic, Brett Johnson, Ryan Thomas and Kim Kelling conclude that writers regularly present the debate in oversimplistic terms that make absolutist assumptions about free speech and fall short of journalists’ ethical duties as democratic agents. A very different analysis takes on the dominant narratives used in the media to discuss and frame climate change. They reflect Western individualistic assumptions, and as a result may be ineffective in engaging precisely the publics that may have the most at stake in the issue. Dominic Okoliko and Martin de Wit challenge this Western framing and articulate an Afro-relationality framework that arguably would better engage African communities.
Finally, we turn to ethics education for public relations students. Ethics continues to be a central concern in the public relations industry, but what exactly should PR students be taught in preparation to become responsible practitioners? Marlene Neill offers a range of responses to that question, from the mouths of PR veterans. She also adds to the burgeoning media ethics scholarship that advocates for a virtue ethics framework.