Global Media Ethics and the Digital Revolution

Abstract

This edited book aims at responding to the challenges posed by the speedy developments in satellite TV and digital technologies. It attempts at addressing media ethics from a global perspective and discusses how we can understand journalism practice in its cultural contexts. The unprecedented widespread use of social media as tools of communication and reporting news have raised serious issues relating to the codes of ethics and the regulatory frameworks that should govern that environment. These new challenges have also brought to the fore the debate about freedom of speech and social responsibility. Which leads to questioning whether there are ways to develop a common understanding of media ethics among media practitioners in various contexts? In the introductory chapters of this volume, contributors discuss the philosophical origins of ethics and the tension that exists between media institutions, the media market and political/ideological influencers. The subsequent chapters unveil the discrepancies among international journalists in abiding by the ethics of the profession and the extent to which media ethics are understood and applied in their local context/environment. As a whole, in this book we argue that ethics earn its legitimacy not from the definition per se, but from the extent to which it leads to social good. This we ague should be the media’s raison d'être to abide by globally accepted ethical norms in order to serve the common good.