Taylor Moore
Hamilton Cobb
Mass Communication
Chapter 13
2,4,5,7,12
What are the drawbacks of the informational model of journalism? With all of the access we have today, we may be producing too much information, and society is developing an “information glut”. This, according to social critic Neil Postman is transforming news and information into “a form of garbage” that adds to the problems and anxieties of everyday life. We have too much information and too many channels. News comes too late for people to act. This causes stress, public alienation, public passivity. The mass of information provided by the media also has not had much impact on improving public or political life, and has in some cases made people feel more cut off from major institutions, including journalism. Some see it as allowing only one voice (that of the media), and are looking to renew a democracy in which many voices participate by bringing back more public conversations and civic debates.
How do issues such as deception and privacy present ethical problems for journalists?
When trying to get the story, journalist sometimes employ deceptive practices—like Nellie Bly pretending to be insane to infiltrate and report on conditions in a NY asylum—but some question if this is ethical, wondering if the “end justify the means”. Two major positions (stands taken) on this are absolutist ethics and situational ethics. Absolutist ethics says that everyone, including journalist, should follow the