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Mixed Media offers students of journalism, advertising, and public relations the tools for making ethical and moral decisions within their professional disciplines. Covering both ethical theory and its practical application to the media professions, Mixed Media serves as an indispensable starting point for those seeking to develop an ethical framework with regard to mass media. Each media industry is covered with specific attention paid to relevant ethical decision-making approaches involving primary concerns such as truth telling, constituent obligations, persuasion versus advocacy, and respect for the consumers of public communication. In addition, the book covers new media and how ethics affect such concepts as social media, word-of-mouth advertising, and the impact of the digital revolution. And, new to this edition, recent concerns in areas such as satire and the dilemma of free speech versus constraint are discussed, as well as the quandry of native advertising in journalism. Readers will come away with a greater appreciation for moral philosophy and theory as a foundation for decision making, and will develop a personal "yardstick" by which to measure their decisions.

Table of Contents

PART I: THE BASICS
Chapter 1: What Is Media Ethics
Ethics and the Act of Communication
Ethics or Morals?
The Media and Morality
Moral Excuses
Can Personal Ethics Become Professional Ethics?
Media Similarities: The Common Threads
Media Differences: A Coat of Many Colors
Forming Ethical Standards for the Mass Media
Can the Media be Ethical?

Chapter 2: Moral Claimants, Obligation, and Social Responsibility
Relationships among Media and Their Claimants
Functional versus Moral Obligation
The Nature of Obligation
The Libertarian Approach
The Social Responsibility Approach
What Does It All Mean?

Chapter 3: The Media and Professionalism
Central Features of Professionalism
Secondary Features of Professionalism
Are the Media Professions?
Service to Society
The Professional–Client Relationship
Ethics Codes
Profession versus Professionalism

PART II: THE THEORIES
Chapter 4: Introduction
Why Don’t We Just Act Ethically?
Why Can’t We All Be Right? The Dilemma of Relativism
Why We Reason the Way We Do
Social Contract Theory: The Debate Between the One and the Many

Chapter 5: The Argument over Means and Ends
Consequential Ethical Theories
Duty-Based Ethical Theories

Chapter 6: Virtue and Caring
Virtue Ethics
The Ethic of Care

Chapter 7: Free Speech
History of Free Speech in the United States
John Milton and the Marketplace of Ideas
The Liberty Theory
Free Speech and the Individual versus Society
Liberty-Limiting Principles
Satire and Freedom of Expression: A Special Case
What Does It All Mean?

Chapter 8: A Checklist for Ethical Decision Making
How to Choose Applicable Theories
Organizing Your Approach
The Checklist
An Example
What Does It All Mean?

PART III: ISSUES AND APPLICATIONS
Chapter 9: Ethical Issues Common across the Media
To Tell the Truth
Truth as a Legal Concept
Truth and the Act of Communication
Can We Tell Truth From Fiction?
Avoiding Harm
What Does It All Mean?

Chapter 10: Ethical Issues Common to Both Public Relations and Advertising
What’s the Difference between PR and Advertising?
Public Relations, Advertising, and the First Amendment
Ethics and Persuasion
Propaganda versus Persuasion
What Does It All Mean?

Chapter 11: Ethics and Public Relations
What Is Public Relations?
Ethical Approaches Specific to Public Relations
Special Issues in Public Relations Ethics
What Does It All Mean?

Chapter 12: Ethics and Advertising
What Is Advertising?
Ethical Approaches Specific to Advertising
Special Issues in Advertising Ethics
What Does It All Mean?

Chapter 13: Ethics in News Journalism
The Broad Issues in News Journalism
Ethical Approaches Specific to News Journalism
Special Issues in Journalism Ethics
What Does It All Mean?
Index