Chapter 6: Applying Four Classic Theories of Ethics
Overview of the Theories
Ancient Ethical Theory, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy,
Rule-based Thinking
Deontological Ethics, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy,
Rushworth M. Kidder, How Good People Make Tough Choices: Resolving the Dilemmas of Ethical Living (New York: HarperCollins, 1995), 24.
Louis A. Day, Ethics in Media Communications: Cases and Controversies, 5th Ed. (Belmont, Calif.: Thomson Wadsworth, 2006), 58.
John C. Merrill, Journalism Ethics: Philosophical Foundations for News Media (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1997), 62.
Ends-based Thinking
Utilitarianism and John Stuart Mill, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy,
Kidder, How Good People Make Tough Choices, 24.
Clifford G. Christians, Kim B. Rotzoll, Mark Fackler, Kathy Brittain McKee, and Robert H. Woods Jr., Media Ethics: Cases and Moral Reasoning, 7th Ed. (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2005), 16-17.
The Golden Rule
The Golden Rule, Professor Harry Gensler at JohnCarrollUniversity,
Kidder, How Good People Make Tough Choices, 25.
Aristotle’s Golden Mean
Aristotle’s Golden Mean, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy,
Kidder, How Good People Make Tough Choices, 70.
Day, Ethics in Media Communications, 64.
Christians et al, Media Ethics, 13-14.
The Pentagon Papers
Susan E. Tifft and Alex S. Jones, The Trust: The Private and Powerful Family Behind The New York Times (London: Little, Brown, 1999), 480-493.
Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel, The Elements of Journalism: What Newspeople Should Know and the Public Should Expect (New York: Crown Publishers, 2001), 113.
The New York Times, “Supreme Court, 6-3, upholds newspapers on publication of Pentagon report,” July 1, 1971. (Academic databases)
Max Frankel, “Top secret,” The New York Times, June 16, 1996. (Academic databases)
Geoffrey Cowan, “Top secret: The battle for the Pentagon Papers,” AnnenbergCenter on Communication Leadership, University of Southern California. This is the script of a play dramatizing the event.
2010: The WikiLeaks
In deciding how to handle the information supplied in 2010 by WikiLeaks, news organizations confronted a situation bearing similarities – and noteworthy dissimilarities – to the Pentagon Papers case. In July, Wikileaks published government documents relating to the Afghan war; in October, documents relating to the Iraq war; and in November, documents from US diplomats.
- Steve Coll, “Leaks,” The New Yorker, Nov. 8, 2010. Coll writes that the WikiLeaks archives are “much less significant than the Pentagon Papers were in their day.” He concludes that WikiLeaks “so far … lacks an ethical culture that is consonant with the ideals of a free press.”
The following deal with the publication of the leaked diplomatic documents:
- “A note to readers: The decision to publish diplomatic documents,” The New York Times, Nov. 26, 2010.
- Bill Keller, “Dealing with Assange and the secrets he spilled,” The New York Times, Jan. 26, 2011. The Times’ executive editor recounts the episode and explains his decisions.
- Joel Meares, “Wiki publishers face their readers: Times and Guardian answer questions on leaks,” Columbia Journalism Review, Nov. 29, 2010.