Media ethics

Media ethics is the subdivision of applied ethics dealing with the specific ethical principles and standards of media, including broadcast media, film, theatre, the arts, print media and the internet. The field covers many varied and highly controversial topics, ranging from war journalism to Benetton advertising.

Areas of media ethic

media ethics: Issues of moral principles and values as applied to the conduct, roles, and *content of the *mass media, in particular *journalistic ethics and *advertising ethics; also the field of study concerned with this topic. In relation to news coverage it includes issues such as *impartiality, *objectivity, *balance, *bias, privacy, and the *public interest. More generally, it also includes *stereotyping, *taste and decency, *obscenity, *freedom of speech, advertising practices such as *product placement, and legal issues such as *defamation. On an institutional level it includes debates over *media ownership and control, *commercialization, accountability, the relation of the media to the political system, issues arising from *regulation (e.g. *censorship) and *deregulation. (An asterisk (*) identifies that it is another entry in this dictionary.)