MCS506 ETHICAL ISSUES IN JOURNALISM
Course Content
The course examines the key ethical issues confronting media professionals, journalists. What are the critical ethical considerations to which journalists need to be sensitive during the practice of reporting? is the major question of the course. Topics to be covered include: What is ethics and professional ethics? Is there an ethics for journalists? Are un-ethical practices due to personal or structural reasons? What is the relationship between media and democracy? Ethical dimensions of infotainment. Ethical dilemmas in war and election reporting. Privacy, sexism, plagiarism and reporting on minorities. Ethical responsibilities in medical reports. Duty-based ethics versus virtue based ethics. Rights and responsibilities of journalists. Codes of conduct in different countries. Emerging ethical concerns in the new electronic media, etc. The course will emphasize discussion, debate and analysis of specific concrete cases from the international and Turkish practice of journalism.
