Creating a space for global media ethics

ABSTRACT

This article argues that, despite scepticism and many obstacles, a global media ethics can be realised to a significant degree. It can become a much needed and influential guide for responsible journalism in a global media world. After defining the term ‘global media ethics’, the paper provides a conception of the goals and structure of a plausible global media ethic. It concludes on a practical note, proposing a number of ways in which the project of global media ethics can be advanced so as to become a dominant approach to media ethics.

KEYWORDS:

• Ethics
• media ethics
• global media ethics
• journalism ethics
• global journalism
• digital journalism
• journalism
• digital journalism ethics
• media
• Fifth Estate

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. In this paper I focus on journalism and news media. I use ‘journalism’ and ‘media,’ and ‘journalism ethics’ and ‘media ethics’ interchangeably to refer to the social practice of journalism. I am aware of the blurring of distinctions between journalism and other media forms. I avoid entanglement in those issues in this paper. I address this ‘blurring’ in Ward (2015a).

2. I do not attribute this overly optimistic view to McLuhan but to some of his readers, including myself. McLuhan was aware of the complexities of the global village for communication and world politics. For example, see McLughan and Fiore (2003).

3. I argue for the moral priority of globalism over parochialism in ethics, and in media ethics, in Ward (2015c).

4. For a detailed analysis of these two daunting tasks, see Ward (2015a).

5. On ‘listening’ as a method for global media discourse see Ward and Wasserman (2015).

6. In Ward (2011), I explore the structures of ethical theory in history, for example, monistic versus holistic structures of propositions.

7. For an astute philosophical examination of the nature and limits of reasonable disagreement, see McMahon (2009).

8. My fullest discussion of content is the ethical framework I proposed for global journalism in Ward (2010).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Stephen J. A. Ward

Stephen J. A. Ward, PhD, is an internationally recognised media ethicist, author and educator, living in Canada. He is Distinguished Lecturer in Ethics at the University of British Columbia, founding director of the Center for Journalism Ethics at the University of Wisconsin, and, until recently, acting co-chair of the Ethics Committee of the Canadian Association of Journalists. He was a war correspondent, foreign reporter and newsroom manager for 14 years and has received a lifetime award for service to professional journalism in Canada. He is editor-in-chief of the forthcoming Springer Handbook for Global Media Ethics, and was associate editor of the Journal of Media Ethics.

Prof. Ward is the author of two award-winning books, Radical Media Ethics, and The Invention of Journalism Ethics, plus Global Journalism Ethics. Also, he is author of Ethics and the Media, and Global Media Ethics: Problems and Perspectives. He was a foreign reporter, war correspondent and newsroom bureau chief for 14 years.