3/7/2010

1

Contradictions and the

political economy of ethics

Ethical Fault Lines

Fault Lines

� fault line: (geol.) a planar fracture in which the rock on one

side of the fracture has moved with respect to the rock on

the other side

� the term fault zone is used when referring to the zone of

complex deformation that is associated with the fault plane

� he creation and behaviour of faults is controlled by the

relative motion of rocks on either side of the fault surface

[wikipedia]

Fault Lines in Journalism

� fault line: (journ.) an ethical fracture in which the accepted

rule or action on one side is contradicted by an alternative

rule or action

� the term fault zone refers to the zone of complex

contradictions that is associated with the social relations of

journalism practice

� the creation and behaviour of ethical fault lines is controlled

by the relative motion of the ideas, ethics and practices of

the newsroom in constant friction with the surface of the

world around it

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2

New fault line:

Digital Dilemmas� Web 2.0 has created a

new set of ethical fault

lines:

� Existential questions

� Who is a journalist?

� What is news today?

� Applied questions

� How do you manage

Facebook and social

networking?

Digitalization represents a new

technical paradigm that

reorganizes in a wide

scale the Political Economy of

Communication Information and

Culture, as it allows a complex

convergence that makes

consolidated markets unstable,

contesting hegemonic

PositionsCėsar Bolano 2009

Arguments and Cases

� Ethical dilemmas can occur

in spectacular single

moments

� Watergate

� Jayson Blair

� Others take longer to

develop

� Responsible v. Free

� The ‘Information

Revolution’

Fault lines are the tremors that

often shake individual journalists

and/or their organisations to their

core as they grapple with ethical

dilemmas

Hirst & Patching (2007, p.3)

Dialectic: paradox, conflict

contradiction & change

� The dialectic – as a way of thinking:� To ‘make sense of the connection between the

material world and consciousness’

� The dialectic – as the trajectory of change:� The ‘mutual constitution’ of social, economic,

cultural and political forces

� The ‘disintegration and reintegration of the

modern world’ (Mosco 1996, p.5)

� ‘Flux is king in journalism.

Dynamic thinking and dialogue is essential to

journalistic progress’ (Merrill 1989, p.8)

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The movement of the dialectic

action

Thesisaction

Antithesis

action

Synthesis

action

Antithesis

action

Synthesis

Ideas and social forces are

in constant motion

– a moment of balance is

not stasis –

there is constant

disequilibrium

Merrill talks of a

“triadic movement”

– the dialectic in

journalism

A thesis is

challenged by its

opposite

(antinome or

antithesis)

The struggle is

momentarily

resolved, but

then erupts

again

Each new

thesis

(synthesis) is

challenged in

turn

Change is

caused by the

actions of

people

reacting to

the world

around them

Institutions and

structures

contain

competing social

forces

Why political economy?

� If, to consider ethics we need to

understand:� ideas and social forces

� the actions of people

� institutions and structures …

� How do we know which ideas, people,

social forces, institutions and structures

are important?

� How do we understand their interactions

– mutual constitution?

Mutual Constitution

POLITICAL ECONOMY

…the study of the social relations

particularly the power relations,

that mutually constitute the

production, distribution, and

exchange of resources, such as

communication.

(Mosco 2004, p.6)

MUTUAL CONSTITUTION

individuals (journalists), institutions

(media firms, civil society), structures

(law, economics) and processes (news

gathering, regulation) are in constantly

evolving relationships.

(Mosco 1996, pp6-9)

COMBINED & UNEVEN DEVELOPMENT

The dialectic is not a smooth one-to-one operation.

Power relationships are unequal and subject to ebbs and flows

Thus, the process of mutual constitution – the impact of one event or action on

another social actor – is uneven.

For example: legal and ethical approaches to a particular dilemma or paradox do

not necessarily occur at the same time, nor do they necessarily match-up

THE ETHICO-LEGAL PARADOX

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Manufacturing Consent

"...a way of coming to understand

the world without illusion.“James Peck, The Chomsky Reader

The propaganda model

The mass media serve as a system for

communicating messages and symbols to the

general populace.

It is their function to amuse, entertain, and

inform, and to inculcate individuals with the

values, beliefs, and codes of behaviour that

will integrate them into the institutional

structures of the larger society.

In a world of concentrated wealth and major

conflicts of class interest, to fulfil this role

requires systematic propaganda.

Propaganda must be an ethical issue

Is it conscious, or unconscious?

Mosco’s political economy

� historical analysis, the

present arises out of the

past

� understanding the broader

social system

� a moral philosophy and a

study of social values

� intervention and action in

the world (praxis)

What political economy

believes

� Media systems are social structures

� The media system is an important

factor in social systems

� Media systems help to create and

reproduce systems of belief

� Structure and policy impacts on the

types of content produced

� Systems are shaped by market

structures, technologies, government

policies and the culture of news work

(what journalists do; how and why)

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The problem of journalism

� Separation of editorial and

commercial functions

� How real is it in practice?

� The incorporation of “certain key

values” into codes of ethics

� Which values?

� Are they the right ones?

� Dependence on official sources

� stenographic journalism

� compromise with power

� susceptible to spin

� Soft news over hard

How a society can construct a

media system that will generate

something approximating

democratic journalism is a

fundamental problem for a free

society.

(McChesney 2008, p.25)

The limit of media freedom

No credible scholarly analysis of

journalism posits that journalists

have the decisive power to

determine what is and is not news

and how it should be covered.(McChesney 2008, p.58)

EPMU Code of ethics – Preamble

Respect for truth and the public's

right to information are over-riding

principles for all journalists. In

pursuance of these principles,

journalists commit themselves to

ethical and professional standards.

A code to overcome the

paradox?

� Self-censorship can be linked to

ownership and control

� Values are often those of the

systemic consensus

Censorship is largely self-censorship by

reporters who adjust to the climate of

practice at their media organisation.Tully, Intro (2008, p.5)

…values in the news are rarely explicit

…each story implicitly expresses a value

about what is desirable(Tully, Intro (2008, p.6)

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A code provides a set of

values for journalists

� report and interpret the news with

scrupulous honesty

� not allow personal interests to

influence them

� use fair and honest means to

obtain news

� identify themselves and their

employers

� respect private grief and personal

privacy

These are individual values – collectively applied – are they enough?

For this week’s tutorials

� Read Intro Ch1 – Tully on the values of

journalism

� Hirst & Patching (2007) Ch. 1 & Ch. 2

� The objectivity norm in American

journalism (Schudson, 2001)

� Professional confidence and situational

ethics (Berkowitz & Limor 2003)

Next week

� Lecture:

� codes of ethics and ethics case studies

� methods of ethical decision-making

� Reading:

� Price (2007) Ch. 23

� Hirst & Patching (2007) Ch. 10