Books
Clifford G. Christians, Mark Fackler, Kathy Britain Mckee, Peggy J. Kreshel, and Robert H. Woods, Media Ethics: Cases and Moral Reasoning, 8th ed. revised (Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 2008). Excellent explanations of ethical principles are juxtaposed with interesting extended examples. The result is a critical-thinking approach to professional ethical behavior.
Jack Fuller, News Values: Ideas for an Information Age (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997) Nine essays by the publisher of the Chicago Tribune, who says, "The crucial thing for journalists to recognize is that their trade does not exempt them from the basic moral imperatives that guide all other human relationships. If they depart from the general standard, they must have a good and precise reason to do so. Pursuit of truth is not a license to be a jerk."
Ron F. Smith, Groping for Ethics in Journalism, 5th ed. (Ames, Iowa: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, 2003) Outlines seven basic principles as the basis of a new ethics for the media. Contains separate chapters on conflicts of interest, sources, deception, privacy, and compassion.
Films, Videos, DVDs
The Popular Culture: Who's to Blame? (PBS Documentary, 1998) David Steinberg, comic and political satirist, visits with leading Hollywood creative talents, actors, politicians, and media watchdogs to examine the ethics of popular culture.
Natural Born Killers (1994, rated R) Story by Quentin Tarantino, starring Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis as the depraved couple who kill more than 50 people on their honeymoon. This film is interesting to us here on two levels. First, the movie is so full of gore and gruesome images that many critics find its very existence to be an ethical fault on the part of its director, Oliver Stone. On another level, however, the movie is an indictment of the relationship between violence and media celebrity.
The Front (1976, rated PG) this film was written and directed by, as well as acted in by several artists who were blacklisted during the McCarthy era witch hunts. Featuring Woody Allen as Howard, a cashier and bookie, who becomes a "front" for blacklisted TV writer Alfred, so he can continue to sell his work. The hitch comes when congressional investigators claim to find communist ties in Howard's past.
Wag the Dog (1997, rated R) Before an election, a spin doctor (Robert DeNiro) and a Hollywood producer (Dustin Hoffman) join efforts to fabricate a war to cover up a presidential sex scandal. The movie satirizes both Hollywood and Washington PR.
Quiz Show (1994, rated PG-13) Directed by Robert Redford, starring Ralph Fiennes as Charles Van Doren of the 1950's scandal. The audience thought it was an honest contest. The producers - who were also the sponsors - thought it was a show. What was at first an ethical quandary became a clear-cut case of deception. The film itself was criticized as unethical because of minor liberties it took with the truth- giving too much prominence to a single investigator, for example, to give the story a strong lead character.
Medium Cool (1969, unrated) Against the real life background of racial tensions in Chicago, during the 1968 Democratic convention, director Hal Wexler mingles his fictional narrative and actors with real events. The story shows a reporter covering unrest in the black ghettos of Chicago, who finds out that the FBI may be conspiring with his own network.
