MCS2522 SOCIOLOGY AND ETHICS OF JOURNALISM
Course Content
The course examines the proffesion of journalism in its relations to other socio-economic and political actors and discusses the key ethical issues confronting media professionals,journalists. The relationship between media atmosphere (which consists of the level of democratic development, characteristics of state and government in a given country),nature of the media ownership and civil society ,and the practice of journalism will be discussed.The course argues that media ethics cannot be understood without refering to such socilogical dimensions of the proffession.Topics to be covered include: what are the critical ethical considerations to which journalists need to be sensetive during the practice of reporting. What is ethics and professional ethics.Is there an ethics for journalists .What is the relationship between media and democracy .Ethical dilemmas in war and election reporting.Privacy,sexism,plagiarism and reporting on minorities.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.
