Overview

"This book combines the insights of a seasoned journalist with those of a philosopher to provide a penetrating and comprehensive guide to the ethics of news reporting. Drawing on a wealth of real-life cases, The Virtuous Journalist melds for the first time a conceptual analysis of the critical moral problems in journalism with a solid understanding of the constraints and possibilities faced by the print and electronic media. The authors are not First Amendment absolutists but believe nonetheless that, in a democracy, the media should be subjected to minimal legal restraint. They also argue that freedom from legal restraint requires increased moral responsibility. Among the specific topics treated in the book are notions of morality and fairness, journalistic competence, standards of objectivity and accuracy, avoiding bias, avoiding harm, notions of public service, and maintaining public trust. Specific cases discussed include the controversy surrounding the CBS documentary ""The Uncounted Enemy"" and recent reporting on the AIDS epidemic. This is essential reading for anyone interested in the role the press plays in influencing social, economic, and political choices in modern life."

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9780195056884

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Reviews

Nicely organized and clearly written. Covers the critical issues in contemporary journalism very well. I will be using starting summer 1995. Great introductory text! --Diane Penrod, Rowan College Excellent work for study of ethics in journalism. --Francis Ward, Syracuse University A provocative, thoughtful addition to a small, but expanding shelf on the important matter of modern ethics, dedicated to the proposition that journalism and virtue are not, as some argue, inherently incompatible concepts. --Robert D. Reid, University of Illinois It is not afraid to take on the ethical issues journalists must face....Well documented and has good background information. --David L. White, Maranatha Baptist Bible College Exciting.... Solid, detailed comment on the ethics of stories still fresh in our minds, the kind of analysis that could set the standard for the news council [the authors] envision. --Columbia Journalism Review Readable and reflective account of ethics in journalism. It stays close to concrete examples [and] manages to avoid both the convolutions one might expect from academic philosophy and the defensiveness one might fear from journalists....Lifts the discussion of journalism ethics to a new level of rigor. --Michael Schudson, The Philadelphia Inquirer Many books on the ethics of journalism present cases and reports on what various people have said about those cases....Klaidman and Beauchamp have done it differently, and better. They give us reasoned analysis and argument about what reasonable people might agree ought to have been done. Their writing...provides a rational base and framework upon which we can build some better rules of conduct than those provided by journalistic custom. This is their strength....They have succeeded well in speaking...in fresh, informed, and analytic ways. --Journal of Mass Media Ethics A practitioner's book, worthy in its scholarship, documentation, and philosophical rigor. --Religious Studies Review Evenhanded and engrossing....[The authors'] sage diagnosis of and prescriptions for what ails the fourth estate make for a compelling [book]. --Kirkus Reviews An impressive guide to where philosophy can improve media criticism. --Library Journal Excellent manner of organization. --E. Strothers, California State University, Los Angeles

Author Information

Stephen Klaidman is a Senior Research Fellow at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics, Georgetown University, and has been a journalist for the International Herald Tribune, The Washington Post, and The New York Times. Tom L. Beauchamp is Professor of Philosophy and Senior Research Scholar at the Kennedy Institute and author or co-author of such books as Principles of Biomedical Ethics, Philosophical Ethics, and Hume and the Problem of Causation.

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