Category: Media Ethics

Abstract

This paper focuses on the topic of ethics in media and entertainment. The aim of this paper is to examine the phenomenon of ethics in the entertainment media. Media ethics includes specific ethical principles and standards of media, including broadcast media, film, theatre, arts, print media, and many others. It invokes promoting and defending values such as a universal respect for life and rule of law and legality. The ethics of journalism is one of the most well-defined branches of media ethics. Journalistic ethics tend to dominate media ethics. There are several many sub-topics covered by journalism ethics like news manipulation, truth, conflicting with the law, etc. Ethics of entertainment media includes the depiction of violence and sex, the presence of strong language, fluff or “celebrity news”, product placement, advertising, tattoos or taste, etc. There are many issues in the ethics of media and entertainment which we are going to present in this paper. There are many problems which already had resolved but there are many more which still have to be resolved.

Introduction

The aim and purpose of this paper are to examine problems in the field of media ethics, in order to possibly increase the awareness of the effects of this problem. Research and publications in the field of information ethics have been produced since the 1980s. Life was simple before the 1980s or television came about. People either worked or talked. Families and friends would gather around and tell stories or talk about daily events. At times, they would find entertainment from print media. Many people relied on radios when it was introduced and newspapers for information. However, this form of communication was not the best solution when one was trying to quickly obtain news. For example, one may have just heard about an earthquake held in California when it actually happened days before. The difficulty of it all changed once media entertainment came into the process. Today, the entertainment industry offers us more possibilities than ever before to fill our leisure time: Books, music, films, and games, which are available any time, any place which makes thanks to the wonders of digitization. But on the same side, it has many disadvantages too.

This paper involves Ethics which reflects a society’s notions about the rightness or wrongness of an act and the distinctions between virtue and vice. It is often defined as a set of principles or a code of moral conduct. Ethical judgments are like that no matter who makes them, they are not often easy, and they are almost certain to strike some of us as perfectly proper while others regard them as wrong-headed, stupid, unfair, and possibly as evidence of intellectual and/or moral decay. Ethics in media communication is one small contribution to this pursuit of ethical knowledge. It offers a systematic approach to moral reasoning by combining ethical theory with the practice of ethics by media professions.

There are many Controversies in Media Ethics that develop multiple perspectives on media ethics issues presenting vast ‘grey areas. It includes a wide range of subjects and demonstrates a willingness to tackle the problems raised by new technologies, new media, new politics, and new economics. Media ethics concerns right and wrong, good and bad, better and worse actions taken by people working in the field of journalism and mass communication. Media themselves, of course, cannot be ethical or unethical-only workers in the media can. When we deal with media ethics, we are really concerned with the standards, media people have and the kinds of actions they take.

It is generally concerned with the Issues of moral principles and values as applied to the conduct, roles, and content of the mass media, in particular, journalism ethics and standards and marketing ethics; also the field of study. In relation to news coverage, it includes issues such as impartiality, objectivity, balance, bias, privacy, and the public interest. More generally, it also includes stereotyping, taste and decency, obscenity, freedom of speech, advertising practices such as product placement, and legal issues such as defamation. On an institutional level, it includes debates over media ownership and control, commercialization, accountability, the relation of the media to the political system, issues arising from regulation (e.g. censorship), and deregulation.

Over the years, print media has been dying out so journalists began to report on what is referred to as “Celebrity News”. As more outlets adopt this topic to report on, people become dependent on them. According to Alden Weight, most people know not to completely trust these outlets due to ethical discrepancies, but the issue arises when people who are not as mature or educated find these reports to be completely true. Their ethics are misguided by the media. Entertainment media often questions our values for artistic and entertainment purposes. Normative ethics is often about moral values, and what kinds should be enforced and protected. In media ethics, these two sides come into conflict. In the name of art, media may deliberately attempt to break with existing norms and shock the audience.

The people of our country are witnesses of a large number of tabloids that publish a variety of lies about public figures, for the sake of exclusive stories and good sales. Advertising and entertainment media often make heavy use of stereotypes. Stereotypes may negatively affect people’s perceptions of themselves or promote socially undesirable behavior. The stereotypical portrayals of men, affluence, and ethnic groups are examples of major areas of debate. Entertainment media often exploits female bodies by objectifying and de-humanizing them. By doing so, the concept of female bodies being bought and sold becomes common. Media outlets usually use either images or imagery of female bodies to counter negative news that is provided throughout the day.

“Seeing is Believing” but techniques influence perception and a picture is always an interpretation of reality, not reality itself. For example, the Photojournalists who cover war and disasters confront situations that may shock the sensitivities of their audiences. Moreover, human remains are rarely seen but the ethical issue is how far one risks shocking an audience’s sensitivities in order to correctly show and fully report the truth. Journalistic ethics may conflict with the law over issues such as the protection of confidential news sources. There is also the question of the extent to which it is ethically acceptable to break the law in order to obtain news.’Using today’s high digital technology, a journalist shapes reality and sells it as a product to users, i.e. public opinion, on the market.

Literature survey

According to Article 33, The Public Information Act of the Republic of Croatia, any private information or personal written record (letters, diaries, notes, digital recording and the like), a figure record (photograph, drawing, film, video, digital, etc.) and voice recording (tape, gramophone, digital, etc.) cannot be published without the consent of the person to whom the information relates or the person whose words, figure or voice it includes.

According to Article 3, The Code of Ethics for Electronic Media states that broadcasters must avoid stereotypes and biases when reporting about a community. They should oppose the interlocutors who express stereotypes and prejudices in interviews and discussions. Local media do not oppose the stereotypes and prejudices, they encourage them.

The special edition of Ecquid Novi (1989) dealt with press freedom in South Africa – or rather the lack thereof. Five years later the country has its first fully democratically elected government; media restrictions imposed under the Emergency Regulations of the mid-1980s have been removed, and media deregulation has become a reality. The question of media ethics, however, has stayed on the back burner. This article explores some of the basic tenets and questions in media ethics that might become part of a public agenda on the topic of responsible media policies and decision-making.

Case studies

Let us consider the first example. Most journalistic code of ethics comprises the principle of “limitation of harm”. This involves the withholding of certain details from news reports like the names of minor children, crime victims, or information not relevant to particular news reports, the release of which might harm someone’s reputation or life or impede the function of the administration. The Aarushi murder case that set off a media frenzy is a case in point. A teenage girl named Aarushi Talwar was murdered along with a domestic servant of her house in a posh Delhi locality in 2008. The double murder case came under intense media scrutiny with the manner and grammar of the coverage triggering a debate on the limits of the media. The media pronounced guilt and innocence without proper corroboration by the concerned authority. The media’s constant pressure forced the investigating agency (the CBI) to take the help of the Supreme Court which passed a restraining order barring the media from any scandalous or sensational reporting on the case. Justice Altamas Kabir stated “We are asking the press not to sensationalize something which affects reputations.” But the broadcast media and the press cannot be unilaterally blamed. The news was in circulation on the internet too and the television channels and newspapers used the technique of “reconstruction” of the crime scene and incident to accentuate the hype and interest of the audience/readers in the issue. The need to sensationalize the news emerged from the need to remain relevant and crucial in the public domain.

The coverage of the 26/11 attacks by the television channels in India came under severe criticism for turning a blind eye to the safety of the hostages, the security of the rescuers, and above all the national interest. While all the other attack points were freed from terrorists by the 28thmorning, the Taj Hotel remained under the control of the terrorists. The television coverage helped the terrorists by showing everything in their live coverage from the vantage point of the rescuers to the possible strategies and measures to be adopted by the National Security Guards in the “Operation Black Tornado” without bothering about the impact it would have on the security concerns and delaying the rescue process. The sensationalism of live coverage of a rescue mission assisted a buoyant viewership which perhaps goaded the news channels to plan their telecast in the said manner. Neelamalar, Chitra, and Darwin (2009)8 concluded that the newspaper’s coverage of the 26/11 terror attacks was more balanced and ethical than that of electronic media. But this can be attributed to the nature of the print medium which had time to verify and present the relevant facts and stories, unlike the television channels which had to rush with their reports and had to always concentrate on ‘being the first in the race’. Neelamalar, Chitra, and Darwin (2009)9stated that there was strong opposition to the way the electronic media sensationalized the attacks, and a necessity to regulate media content during emergencies was felt.

Analysis

The ethical norms and legal standards make a clear distinction between “in the public interest” and “interest to the public”. While the first regards the issues relating to the benefit of the public, the second concerns issues which the public may find interesting. The news items which belong to the second category should be carefully chosen and judiciously presented so that it does not intrude upon the privacy of subjects or impair their reputation. Mass media, being easily available and highly accessible, need to be vigilant and differentiate clearly between what and how much the general public needs to know. The issues that “interest the public” can become at times become a grave threat to the security of individuals and nations. The television channels can claim that the live feeds were available on the social networking sites and the internet but there is no doubt that the television was a more prominent presence and the pictures telecast by the TV cameras were uploaded by the social networking sites. The commercial viability of the transmission in terms of popularity and advertisement sponsorship muted ethical principles.

Conclusion

This paper concludes that people are generally dissatisfied with the media and their specific content (which is not ethical), it can be concluded that people believe that there are many incompetent people working in media. Don’t deceive an audience that expects your pictures to be accurate representations of a particular quality of reality. The imperative allows exceptions, depending on audience expectations. But: “While art may be manipulative, information may not.”

Permissible is an act when: the photographer’s intent is to merely make the photo more aesthetically pleasing and not to deceive, and the intended audience recognizes the difference, or the difference does not make audience members think or act in a manner in which they might not otherwise have thought or acted. We can undoubtedly conclude that journalism in this country is interpreted as a major problem, and both media presenters and media consumers are aware of it. We could say that the media life where we all live is ruled by anarchy instead of democracy and that the codes and laws are obeyed and sanctioned rarely. On the one hand, media have ‘no mercy’ in presenting and publishing anything that they stumble upon, persistently and successfully escaping from ethics, driven by the desire for wealth and fame. When morality and good taste are balanced against the first amendment rights of freedom of speech and the Spector of censorship, protection of the young is invoked to tip the balance toward limiting what is broadcast. While in some countries a government department decides on how content should be rated, in the United States the Rating Board decides for whom the content is suitable.

Journalists have to act independently not only for the sake of maintaining ethical standards but for zealously guarding their freedom and their constitutional rights. Journalists everywhere play a vital role in providing the public with knowledge and understanding. They must therefore remain sensitive to issues such as fairness, accountability, and accuracy. The journalistic code of ethics calling on the accuracy of facts, minimizing harm to sources and subjects, resolve to act independently and freely whatever the circumstances and determination to remain transparent would be the mast-bearer for the conventional media. The high standards of Indian journalism in the past and the acceptability and availability of the mass media at present would ensure the existence of ethical principles in the Indian news media.

This paper will appreciate the thesis about the issues involved in media ethics – and examine these issues from a social, professional, and cultural perspective, with an emphasis on media practice in Nigeria; However, before presenting the main arguments in favor of this thesis, I will have to deal with the main consideration that just as there is a positive aspect of the conflict – conflict is like having a serious disagreement with someone or something. when you see a conflict, it can be a challenge and if you are unable to overcome the challenge but you are able to overcome the problem then you will basically become stronger, smarter or there is an improvement or advancement in your life, and I will give brief background about Nigeria as a nation and Nigerian media structure, this research will also discuss the Code of Ethics for Nigeria Journalist. Relating to this thesis, it is like you appreciate what those issues actually help develop in yourself.

Before going straight into the issues, I would like for you to know what media ethics means and its concepts. Ethics are “moral standards” and also a “system of morals.” If you noticed I used “morals” twice – morals can be defined as “of or dealing with right or wrong.” Similarly, media ethics are moral standards that are applied to the media. An example of this is the Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics[footnoteRef:1], a standardized list of the items used as a guide by SPJ members in their efforts to be effective journalists. Similarly, media professionals sometimes use their code of ethics as a tool to protect themselves against attacks that are often carried out by people who are not satisfied with the work of a journalist. Just as ethics codes are used in various ways, so does the definition of media ethics. [1: Code of Ethics- Society of Professional Journalists]

I believe it is important that our publication identifies all the sources we used for our information. This is because the public has the right to as much information as possible about the reliability and identity of the sources. By giving the identity of sources, we take every possible step to report the truth and to prevent people from using anonymity as a mask for their own partial purposes. Along with changing this standard, I also changed the following standard which reads, “Question the motives of the sources always before promising anonymity. Clarify the conditions attached to any promises made in exchange for information.” I will never promise anonymity in my new code, so I change the standard to read: “Always question the motives of sources. Clarify the conditions involved in the exchange of information.” The sixth SPJ standard[footnoteRef:2], which states that photos or videos of new content should never be distorted is effective, but not sufficiently specific. Our group believed that our publication should never alter an image, not even flip a picture to make it more aesthetically pleasing. [2: Code of Ethics- Society of Professional Journalists Media Ethics – Media Ethics Meaning]

In the introduction, I said that I will touch on Nigeria as a nation and Nigeria’s Media structure. Nigeria, is the most populous country in Africa and the eighth-most populous country in the world with a population of over 150 million according to the 2006 census, and in 2014 the Nigerian population according to World Bank is 160.8 million and the estimated population in 2014 is over 170 million, therefore, making it the most populous black country in the world[footnoteRef:3]. In Nigeria’s media landscape, there are public (governmental) and private media houses in Nigeria. Nigeria has 233 state-owned radio and television stations. Government stations are owned either by the Nigeria Television Authority(NTA) or by the governments of 36 states. NTA belongs to the Federal Government and was established by retroactive decree on the 1st of April 1976. [3: World Bank Report: 2014]

The printing, television, and radio once held a three-way hold on the Nigerian public. The print typically attracted elitist audiences- scholars, politicians, power movers, corporate leaders, and the rest of the educated class with a distinctive affinity for pretty English. In the contest, the radio attracted its largest audiences from the opposite group – alphabets who, with a small, battery-powered transistor, were able to catch up with events in their place, but sometimes in the rest of the world. The radio elites tuned at home and drove to the office mostly in the mornings. Like radio, TV attracted its audience from all directions; but because of its dependence on electricity – and electricity has always been a major problem in Nigeria – regular access to TV depends on social status, on the ability to supply power. Print, online, and television were thus fairly dominant in Nigeria’s media landscape.

In Nigerian media organizations, politics remains a dominant theme today. The Nation, one of the leading newspapers, was founded in 2006 by Bola Tinubu, then an opposition politic who helped build the All ProgressCongress(APC) in the following years to compete with the ruling People’s Democratic Party(PDP) and finally topple it in 2015. In 2001, two years after becoming the Governor of Abia State, the Sun, another major daily in the world, was founded by Orji Uzor Kalu. Kalu launched a sister daily, New Telegraph, one year before the 2015 presidential election.

The main consequence of the interconnection between journalism and politics is that the media is sometimes obliged to cover politics in particular and society in general objectively. The public now views the content of media with skepticism and often sees the news to distinguish between the story and the interest of a paper in this respect. The media – the watchdog- is therefore sometimes the ‘watched dog’. The Alliance for Political Journalism has limited journalists’ ability to develop their careers regardless of political influence. The spread of journalism with politics has so greatly increased that the journalist is tomorrow’s policymaker and the next minute will be returned to journalism.

In the rest of this paper, I shall concentrate on the issue of media ethics that I() appreciate. Examine this issue with an emphasis on media practice in Nigeria from a social, professional, and cultural perspective. The ethical principles governing the media have always been the definition of media ethics. In order to understand the issues of media ethics in Nigeria accurately, we must understand the consequences of not following the ethics of the media and the codes of ethics. I will try to understand this by looking at the media’s and its people’s capacities.

Truth as a guiding principle, professional journalism stands on the foundation of “truth”, journalists have a professional responsibility to stick to the truth and to maintain the truth by means of a professional code. The truth, however, rests on the integrity of an individual in this case the journalist.

Truth, society has confidence that the journalist(s) will not betray or get dishonest, but that this confidence is sometimes betrayed by humanity, it is why all occupations have trust infringement mechanisms, which are laid down in the “codes of conduct” designed to provide some sort of supervision, reporting, punishment or rehabilitation for those who are wrong. The elders use to say that “If there is no town or an organization, that does not have rules or law”. In relation to this adage, Nigerian media don’t follow some of the rules, but instead, they try to tweak them to their own advantage, that’s what the media and the politicians to the people, Not everything we see or hear is the truth but we have to live through that particular situation.

Ethical Codes, a code is a set of principles that guide professional conduct or behavior. All occupations have codes, just as rules and laws exist in a country. A statement of principles supported by the SPJ Code of Ethics with explanations and documentation on changing journalistic approaches. It does not constitute a set of rules, but rather encourages journalists to assume responsibility for the information they provide, regardless of the medium. Ethical journalism should be precise and only. Journalists should be honest and courageous in gathering, reporting, and interpreting information.

Core ethical issues in the codes and journalism practice involve daily meetings with a number of issues that constitute ethical dilemmas for journalists who face proper ethical decisions. Since you don’t move into the field with textbooks, the ethical principles help you decide what you ought to and should not do. Professional journalists should respect, adhere to and respect the principles set out in the following codes, issues, and my expectations of them from social, professional, and cultural perspectives.

Dealing with advertisers is the first issue I’m going to talk about and the reasons behind why I’m talking about this issue. The heart and soul of the media business are advertising. Nevertheless, uncontrolled publicity power can be difficult in journalism. Adverting was not coordinated and regulated at the start of ad activities in Nigeria. Manta advertisers tried to organize behavioral standards, but the law failed. Sadly, their efforts have not been effective. The Advertising Practitioners’ Association of Nigeria (AAPN) and the Nigerian Advertising Council (ACON) were also established in 1977. During this period, the bulk of consumer goods and services promoted in Nigeria had and were of insignificant foreign origin. The goods announced were for elite consumption, not for the mass market. In Nigeria, some companies have been knocked out of the game while others have won customers and gained more advertising. Substantial consumption is also responsible for these companies. With the in-depth of dealing with advertisers, keep in mind the following questions, because I will be using them to examine this issue from social, professional, and cultural perspectives. There are; What are some of the evils of advertising? How do they affect journalistic autonomy in the era of commercialized media? How do we work around this?

With the first question, what are some of the evils of advertising? – The more I watch TV, listen to the radio or read magazines the more I find myself bombarded with ludicrous advertisements. Our lives are consistently enriched by someone who tries to sell us a new – top gadget that one day we might need or a ridiculous magic soap that makes our clothing look new! I’m going to argue in this paper about banning all adverts. First of all, adverts are designed to give the consumer a feeling of need to buy a targeted product. Advertising agencies are renowned for capturing their audience through sensory manipulation and need creation. Secondly, children or adolescents use the best commercials. Often “children” promotes hot products and therefore create the feeling that they want to be like them. The most vulnerable target group is young consumers including teenagers and children. Often they watch television and are always on the lookout for new or “cool” things. They are also the least expensive in our society, therefore, their parents are being put under a lot of pressure. Last but not least, I believe that it is totally corrupt that celebrities should be used to advertise the product. Regardless of the quality of the advertising product, we worship all our heroes. We want to share a piece, in other words, too. Whatever they advertise, we want it too and often at all costs. It’s what the media do most about manipulation. They use many strategies to achieve their objectives and thus make consumers believe in their needs. The advertising world has been designed to ensure that consumers don’t have money.

I believe that we must boycott advertising in order to help society to live an ethical life rather than a life based on self-created needs which will only allow us to be consumption-dependent. The advertisements manipulate young children teens parents and adults as is the golden age, marketing agencies are aware of how the media can come to invade us in our own homes directly. They harass us with announcements that eventually bombard us with futile gizmos and force us to buy them for the money we do not have. Finally, in all forms or in any way, I strongly condemn publicity. In our society, the government should ban any advertising that uses children or young people, as it is the biggest vulnerable target group. School of education reduces the use of advertising by celebrities who sell costly brand names. The creation of needs that only trick us doesn’t have to constantly put our society under extreme pressure.

Although the efforts of journalists over the decades have involved the realization of professional values like ethics, autonomy, and jurisdiction, the management logic has recently given rise to other directions and values. In our second research question, we examine the extent to which managerialism in the newsroom is affecting the autonomy of the profession. Autonomy is a core value and the prerequisite for the exercise and maintenance of other professional attributes. Thank you

Dealing with photography, The old journalist’s adage is like a good picture is worth a thousand words; However, photographs can have many ethical questions. This section will address some of the photojournalism challenges.

The ethics of photojournalism, this section will specifically address the following:

• The Intrusion of photographs into privacy and privacy
• Picture of minors and people at risk.
• Uncovering reporters ‘ techniques
• Lying photographs and digital editing’s ethical dilemma
• In the era of terrorism ethical imaging

Cultural Interpretation, engages people in the close analysis and interpretation of cultural representations to learn how people make sense of themselves and their world.

Abstract

The various and competitive nature of the media industry brings so many diverse people and ideas together that a need for standardization and normality must be applied. The media industry has faced a very big increase in recent times, which is very good, and here are some of the factors that caused this increase:

• Globalization: This is when information goes viral and can be seen or heard from different places around the globe.
• Commercialization: advertisements are a huge source of income for the media industry which is why in recent times, we see a lot of adverts in shows, news breaks, and other forms of entertainment.
• Convergence: This is when types of media merge to come together to make a new one; for instance, newspapers and the internet converge to give us online newspapers which can be viewed by anyone with a data subscription or access to a smart device (Pachico).
• This semester’s paper aims at identifying the major issues in media ethics from different perspectives in the Nigerian scene and also it involves identifying the key bodies involved in this regulation and some categorical issues they may come across.

Introduction

Firstly, what is media?

Media is one of the major means of communication, particularly mass communication. It is used to describe a means or channel of reaching multiple people; it includes traditional means like Television, radio, print (newspapers, magazines), and online media (Internet). The media includes news, educational content, art, and other various forms of information. Online or Digital media which is basically made up of a large portion of modern communications is made up of some encoded signals which are transmitted over different forms of physical and virtual media such as fiber optic cables and computer networks.

What are ethics?

Ethics are values or norms that serve as a guideline to help an individual’s behavioral pattern or to help the individual in carrying out different activities. These activities could be daily, weekly, or monthly. It is also a branch of philosophy that involves systemizing, defending, and recommending concepts or views of right and wrong conduct. Ethics instruct the right thing, the good, and the way of doing things purposefully. Ethics are controllers. Ethics cannot be said to be codes of conduct, ethics is not just a matter of subjective opinion (Smith, 2016).

Ethics in media, just like any other line of work, is very important as it is concerned with equipping a media practitioner (a trained individual, who professionally writes, edits, or transmits news and information to the public) with the ability to make rational decisions as well as sensible and correct moral decisions in daily media practices. Free will and freedom of choice are extremely important for sound moral decisions. A reference to this can be seen in the class exercise given to us by Professor Josef Bel-Molokwu “As the Editorial Board of a highly rated online converged media organization, you are confronted with this scenario: The minister in charge of regulating online media is involved in a case of stealing from public funds. He appeals to you to black out the news, in exchange for upgrading your operational license. How will you handle this matter?” For you not to accept the bribe is very ethical but at the same time not releasing news like this to the public will be unethical, because the masses need to know and if the media houses or journalists are hiding sensitive information from them, who can the people put their trust and faith into? The masses should feel at home with the journalists and not be afraid of the media houses.

Media practitioners are expected to observe a very high professional ethical standard so as to earn and retain the trust needed in the media industry. In schools like Pan-Atlantic University, Babcock, or Covenant for example the ethical things to do will involve obeying laws regarding punctuality, drugs policy, and exam conduct; while ethical practices in other industries let’s say the banking and finance industry will revolve around honesty and self-control due to the amount of money they see daily, the government; fairness and equality (Wardle, 2011).

Media ethics deals with ethical principles and standards of the media, which help to tackle the theoretical, cultural, and practical ethical issues in the media industry. Media ethics is such that there is a certain level of ethical standard that has to be attained to ensure that a media house is reliable and well respected in society. This standard is constantly displayed through criteria like veracity, objectivity, impartiality, balance, etc.

Ethical issues in the media are the defects or shortcomings facing media professionals in relation to ethics, ethical practices, and ethical standards. It ranges from the invasion of privacy to defamation to mention a few. Regulatory bodies, as discussed below, check some of these issues in Nigeria.

Different Media Ethics groups and platforms in Nigeria

1. The National Broadcasting Commission (journalism content) – is a body that regulates everything that involves broadcasting, i.e. assignments of frequencies, programming, etc.
2. The Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (media advertising content) – is a regulatory body that approves, and set rules and regulations for advertising practitioners to follow. There are sanctions for those that default. Their main aim is to register people to exercise advertising.
3. The National Association of Women Journalists – (NAWOJ) is a professional association that helps women practice journalism and increase access and leadership in the media industry for women.
4. The Broadcasting Organizations of Nigeria (journalism content) – administrator organizations in the broadcasting field.
5. The Nigerian Press Council – was set up to regulate journalism practice, and serves as a defense line between the Press and the public. According to their webpage “presscouncil.gov.ng, they maintain “the duty to enquire into complaints against the Press from the Public and also into Complaints from the Press about the conduct of persons or organizations towards the Press”.
6. The Nigerian Union of Journalists – is a professional association founded for the welfare of journalists. It is both a labor union and a professional union that is they promote levels of ethics and practice and it deals with welfare, wages, etc.
7. The Nigerian Guild of Editors – a professional association for editors
8. Correspondents Chapel –chapters of NUJ. Correspondents are reporters based in various places, while a chapter is a branch of a union. All the people, whose media houses are not based in Lagos, the headquarter, form the correspondent chapters, meaning that they are the chapter in their states.
9. The Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (media PR content) – is a body responsible for public relations practice. They possess the power to register members, regulate the practice/development of the PR Profession and monitor professional conduct.
10. The Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria (journalism content) – newspapers and magazines.

Some professional issues facing the media

1. Plagiarism

This is the stealing and publishing of another author’s ideas, languages, or expressions and portraying them as one’s own work. Plagiarism is one of the major ethical issues facing the media industry nowadays, and this is mainly due to media practitioners approaching their jobs with a negligent or careless attitude. Plagiarism is a big issue as it shows that the media practitioner is very incompetent, and while they might get away with it for some time, the moment they are caught, there are huge consequences that will follow, like loss of credibility, damage to reputation and career, and jail time (in some areas) (Bock, 2017).

2. Defamation

Libel and slander; Defamation is damaging an individual’s reputation in the form of libel (written defamation) or slander (oral defamation). Libel is a published false statement that is damaging to a person’s reputation; while Slander is making a false spoken statement damaging to a person’s reputation. Libel is often expressed in media publications through printed words and images, while slander can be through tunes on radio/Television.

3. Licencing

These are documents that allow a body to operate legally, it is normal for media houses or outlets to have papers, licenses, and other formal and some other official documents that legitimize their operations. There is a lot of importance attached to these documents as they verify a body and its operations as a whole as well as verifying activities that can be carried out. Some of these documents are not gotten with the right process or are forged and this can lead to scandals and incompetence of the media practitioners

Some social issues facing the media

1. Death threats

In times of desperation, death threats are used and intended to terrify victims and bully them so they can manipulate the victim’s actions and behavior in order to manipulate their behavior.

2. Femininity in Media

Generally, when women want to actively get involved in the media industry they usually get called all sorts of names like weak, incapable, overly emotional, and a whole lot more. This happens because the men believe they are superior to women, they believe women should just be mere housewives even if she has more degrees or qualifications than their male counterparts. Women should be given equal roles that men get because anything a man can do a woman can also do because they are both humans and they both possess the capacity to carry out those actions (Wardle, 2011).

3. Sexual Content in Publications

Media houses nowadays sexualize a lot of things because they know it is one of the easiest ways of getting an audience’s attention. Take for instance a perfume brand advertising a bottle of perfume going through the lengths of showing a woman in skimpy attire with a lot of cleavage showing then proceeding to use the perfume which would not show till the end of the commercial when they know they’ve gotten your attention properly.

Some cultural issues facing the media

1. Nepotism

This is a practice by people in high positions. They use the power and authority to favor those close to them, it could be friends or family or friends of the family. In this case, rewards are not based on merits; rather, the rewards are based on family and friendship. Those deserving of posts do not get what they deserve or have earned.

2. Tribalism

This is a strong feeling of hate towards other members of other tribes for example an Igbo man who would rather not do business than do it with a northerner (Hausa). This is bad in the media industry because people in power favor their tribe or as they call them their “brothers and sisters”. The people in power would rather put their own who are not qualified enough for the position than put someone from another tribe which they see as lesser beings.

Summary & Conclusion

To be frank as a nation and as an industry we are moving in the wrong direction and we should be able to practice what we preach. We have so many regulatory bodies but still, we do not have the proper ethical behavior and at this rate, we will achieve nothing and there will be fewer ones with a clear conscience and mind. The only solutions are to lead by example and punish the perpetrators who are caught and make them scapegoats for society and industry.

Bibliography

1. Bock, M. (2017, February 09). Journalism Ethics and Social Media. Retrieved December 10, 2018, from https://mediaethicsinitiative.org/2016/12/19/journalism-ethics-and-social-media/
2. Inflibnetacin. (2018). Inflibnetacin. Retrieved January 21, 2019, from http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/9427/6/06_chapter 3.pdf
3. Wardle, C. (2011, September 21). Journalism ethics in a social media world. Retrieved December 29, 2018, from https://clairewardle.com/2011/09/21/journalism-ethics-in-a-social-media-world/
4. Pachico, E. (n.d.). IJNet. Retrieved January 20, 2019, from https://ijnet.org/en/blog/top-3-ethical-challenges-journalists-will-face-2017
5. Smith, S. (2016, December 30). IMediaEthics’ Top 10 Media Ethics Issues of 2016. Retrieved December 20, 2018, from https://www.imediaethics.org/imediaethics-top-10-media-ethics-issues-2016/
6. (https://www.techopedia.com/definition/1098/media, 2016)

Introduction

In this report, I plan to delve into the concept of media ethics, and its application in Nigerian media practice. After that, I would then proceed to place judgment on the level of ethical practices in Nigeria. Let me start by describing what I mean by media, and then I will describe what ethics are and how they are swiftly molding our online interactions and our communities.

The word media describes any channel of communication. These are the channels in which data, education, entertainment, news, or advertisements are dispersed. Media ranges from every narrowcasting and broadcasting medium such as social media, the internet, newspapers, fax, telephone, magazines, radio, television, billboard, and electronic mail. Depending on the intentions, the word media can embody a singular or plural verb.

Ethics, which is also known as moral philosophy, is a part of philosophy concerned with what is morally right and wrong. Ethics defends, recommends, and systemizes concepts of good or bad conduct. It is gotten from the Greek word ἠθικός ethos, which is gotten from the word ἦθος ethos, which means habit or custom.

After breaking down the two words, we can then move on to defining media ethics. Media Ethics is a branch of ethics that deals with the principles and standards of media channels, including the internet, film, theater, art, and other channels. Media ethics deals with several controversial topics. Journalist Leo Laporte, founder and owner of TWiT Network persuasively writes in the forward to the book; The Art of Community – Building The New Age of Participation by Jono Bacon. ‘Community building is in the nature of all living things, from ants to anteaters, bees to beekeepers, the community, is a fundamental part of our life on the planet. ‘

New media has brought about connectivity, and with that, our community has become more globalized than ever, bringing about moral, cultural, and ethical problems. The media community is a member of society, so the default obligation is that their contributions to society are morally just. They have the power to influence and guide the masses; that is why the information being spread by base parts of the media, such as journalists, must be true to its core because if not.

Ethics of Journalism

How do journalists choose when to print national insider facts? How do they choose what news to compose every day? The responses to these inquiries are educated by journalistic morals, ethics, and codes, which control journalists and editors to sort for the truth and act with honesty. Journalistic ethics are qualities that guide journalists. They spread out the commitments that writers, editors, and others working in the area of journalism ought to pursue to execute their work mindfully.

Over time, the ethics of journalism has evolved. News and media companies have developed several codes of conduct, charters, and statements that outline the principles that a media journalist is meant to abide by. When they go against it, credibility is lost. There are critical moral and ethical benchmarks that show up in worldwide news associations. At the most advanced level, they approach journalists to look for the truth, defend the interest of the public, and limit the harm done to the community.

Journalists are obliged to seek accurate and truthful reports and efficiently hand them out to the masses. They have to be extremely diligent. They have to make a proper endeavor to look for all the specific points that are relevant to a scoop. Journalists also have to authenticate and run their stories with multiple sources to make sure it is true.

Journalists should shy away from having sides in politics, and they should not play the game on account of groups with particular interests. Affiliation with politics that might cause a clash with the person or group they are writing about should be said to their readers or their editors. Journalists should always be on the side of the public interest and should act accordingly. The most popular corrupt practice in the Nigerian media is the acceptance of monetary inducement from top government officials and even other individuals who may be affected by the work of the journalist. It is perhaps the most popular source of corruption in the media.

Asides from being independent, news reporters should perform no act of partiality and should never lean on one party in favor of another. Journalists should always capture the two sides of a story as they almost always tend to have more than one. Opinion writing is an exception, in any case.

Companies that are new with news dispersions such as Thisday or The Punch Nigeria are expected to listen to their audience. Journalists should always accept responsibility for their words, which enables the public to hold them responsible. They have to offer rectifications when errors are put out.

Finally, harm minimization is not every fact that should go out. If it can potentially destroy private individuals, young kids, especially, as a result of release goes past the good that it would do to the public, then news companies might choose not to release it. It is up for less consideration with public figures but huge in situations of national security when human lives could be caught in the crossfires. For example, false rumors being spread about a minister in Nigeria should not be done as this can damage their personal life and reputation.

In our current age, everyone has a say in spreading news and information due to social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and Nairaland. While it does not mean that they are journalists, they should still endeavor to practice these codes of conduct. Any individual who has a presence on social media should endeavor to spread the truth and shy away from causing harm to individuals.

The Internet

New media such as the internet, which is a global extensive area network that connects computer systems across the world, has made ethical practices difficult. It is easy to access, therefore making it easy to influence public affairs. Online journalism in Nigeria came up in the early 21st century sites like Sahara Reporters. Blogs such as YNaija.com, Eagle Online, Linda Ikeji, and Bella Naija are examples of other internet sites that allow individuals to spread the news across the country.

Social media sites like Twitter allows individuals to speak their mind freely without verification. The recent rumor about Buhari dying and being replaced by a body double caused an uproar in the Nigerian community. It even led to President Muhammadu Buhari coming out to deny these rumors. Situations like this show how easy it is for rumors to scale up in today’s world.

Apart from news companies’ websites, bloggers are probably the most trusted online source of information. Therefore they are expected to abide by the earlier mentioned principles of journalism. Most bloggers prefer clicks to authenticity; this allows them to spread false information. Back in 2017, Kemi Olunloyo called out Linda Ikeji, after she engaged in promoting fake Kylie Jenner products. A claim that even Kylie Jenner denied. This kind of news could have led to the loss of the reputation of Kylie Jenner. This Linda Ikeji instance is one of the many instances in which fake news has gone viral online. Bloggers like Linda Ikeji must realize the amount of power they hold, and with high power comes great responsibility.

Currently, Nigeria is gearing up legislation that could see individuals facing the death penalty for anyone that indulges in hate speech. The governing body is also thinking of new media laws, and the governing body in Nigeria is being criticized for trying to deny the human right to free speech.

Media Ethics in Nigeria

Nigerian media has come a long way since Rev. Henry Townsend published Iwe Iroyin in 1859. Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and Chief Obafemi Awolowo even provided their news outlets to boost their political interest, which was a significant topic of discussion back in the late twentieth century. It was learned that the Nigerian newspapers from then on contributed to Nigeria gaining independence. Unlike today, where individuals want to throw information around for clicks and likes.

Back then, the spirit of patriotism and loyalty to the country spread around, and the concerns of the individuals were in focus. The people knew this, so trust in these media houses was high. Nigerian press played a large part in battling bad government policies from inception, especially during the several military rule experiences the country had. For example, the oppression during the reign of individuals like Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo, and the Late Gen. Sani Abacha. Famously, the late Dele Giwa lost his life fighting for his country with his truthful pen as his only weapon. This occurrence shows the level of principal ethical values Nigeria once held.

Individuals like these should be emulated across every mass media platform in Nigeria and across. Champions of their work. Death always takes us by surprise, and it is surprising that Dele Giwa lost his life but even more surprising that he kept the values and ethics of his job. It should not be surprising, but that is the world we live in today. People like Dele Giwa wore the cape of journalism done right. Although it cost him his life, individuals in Nigeria should endeavor to carry out ethical media practices, especially in this current age of social media, where there are no checks on what is said. Media power today lies with social media, no longer print, and broadcast. In today’s world, bloggers and even individuals must carry out the teachings of media ethics as information spreads faster than ever. Although it has many advantages, the current state of social media and blogging is ethically poor. This ethically poor state is because there is no qualification needed to carry out social media use, and this problem we face needs to change. Setting comprehensive standards, clarifying those standards, and putting in place a no-tolerance policy for policy infringements are among the most effective ways to start this change.

Media ethics is the subdivision of applied ethics which deals with the specific ethical principles and standards of media, including broadcast media, film, theatre, the arts, print media, and the internet. The field covers many varied and highly controversial topics, ranging from war journalism to Benetton ad campaigns. The duty of the media is to inform, educate and at the same time, entertain but in doing so, the media is to ensure that the standard of the profession is being met. In order to truly understand and grasp the true meaning of media ethics, one must first familiarise themselves with the meaning of ethics. Ethics are principles that serve as a guide for an individual’s moral behavior. Ethics play a very big part in our everyday behaviors. When making decisions, whether it is ethically wrong or right should be at the forefront of our minds. We must question the morality of an action before we go ahead to act.

Ethics can be regarded as objective due to the fact that humans all have a sense of what is right and wrong, although it is subjective in application because not all humans carry out what way me morally right or wrong in the same way. These are the complexities of human beings. There are various principles that govern ethics that can be applied in the media profession. Therefore, when classifying mass media these ethical expectations may sometimes overlap. For example, the ethical principle of “NO INTENTIONAL HARM” can also be applied in the media profession. When reporting a story, it is important for the media professional to restrain from putting out pictures that can be harmful to the victim or their family. If a person dies, the picture of the scene of their death should not be posted as it could be triggering to the family and the public. Another example is the issue of slander. We should not put out untrue statements about an individual with the aim to hurt them or their image.

Media ethics is concerned with the promotion and the defense of values such as a universal respect for life and the rule of law and legality. Media Ethics involves issues such as how to use texts, pictures, and videos provided by the citizens in the best and most respectful way possible. Media ethics is centered on a set of essential ethical concepts and covers a wide range of issues that fall under the practice of the mass media. These elements are to be put into consideration and used as a check on the content that media professionals desire to put out for the public. These are issues of accountability, truth and accuracy, humanity, decency, fairness and impartiality, objectivity, privacy, and even democracy. These ethical aspects pertaining to the quality of information that is being sent out to the public. Truth and accuracy are as a cardinal aspect of media ethics. In reporting and dissemination of news, it is important that the process of fact-checking is carried out.

Media professionals should ensure the source of whatever story they put out there for the public is accurate as this promotes the reliability of the news source or agency. Accountability is another aspect of media ethics which professionals should be familiar with. The media industry is a very sensitive industry. One untrue statement of misinformation could blow up into something big. As media professionals, if a mistake has been made on our part, we should take accountability for that mistake and correct it immediately. In doing so, we must not be cynical but express sincerity in our apology to the public.

Decency is an aspect of media ethics which professionals’ should take seriously. One must not put out content that is of poor taste and is indecent as it may be tagged as offensive to individuals and may not be suitable for little children. One must properly censor whatever needs to be censored in order for the public not to take offense to whatever is being put out there. Fairness and Impartiality: When media professionals are talking about an issue, it is important for their opinions to be put to the side.

As media professionals, we must be mindful of the content we put out there. There should not be any form of intentional harm caused to anybody as a result of the information we are putting out there. What we publish may be hurtful and harmful to some individuals, which is why we must be cautious of what we put out for the public. Television broadcasting is a media type that deals with audio-visual content. I would be using television broadcasting to make a judgment on the level of ethical practice in the media profession. To ensure that various media platforms are keeping to the set standards of the profession, there are various regulatory bodies that are put in place. In television broadcasting, The National Broadcast Commission is in charge of approving, processing, and receiving applications for the establishment, ownership or operations or radio and television stations including cable television services, direct satellite broadcast, and any other medium of broadcasting; radio and television stations owned, established or operated by the federal, state and local government; and stations run under private ownership.

Fake news is a social ill that comes thick and fast in the Philippines. Containing false and misleading information, fake news, categorized into two: misinformation and disinformation, can manipulate public opinion and can influence political outcomes. The former contains unintentional inaccurate information, which is in direct contrast with the latter, which is an act of deception to convince an audience of something. Disinformation is intended to mislead people, while misinformation is not. In the Philippines, the problem of disinformation is systematic and deeply rooted in the cultural aspect of society. Behind the disinformation, a production is an invisible machine: modern in its degree and association, strategic in its outlook and skill, and exploitative in its morality and ethics. The ones operating this machine are the main purveyors of disinformation, and cover-up on display while the public’s moral panics and trolling are directed elsewhere (Ong & Cabañes, 2018, p. 10).

In this sense, the relevance of communication and media ethics is a longer-term problem. As misinformation continues to prevail, the role of communication and media practitioners in integrating the principles of ethics in the field is crucial. The prevalence of misinformation simply implies that communication and media ethics is becoming a utopia, not being practiced and applied well in the field. Because of this, some legitimate media organizations are often declined of public trust and misidentified by the people as the source of “disinformation.” As information sources, the media should also educate the public on the difference between misinformation and disinformation. Nevertheless, to combat misinformation, media practitioners should always bear in mind the importance of fact-checking and editing. The principles of truth-telling, fairness, freedom, humaneness, and stewardship must always be in practice to maintain public trust.

On the other hand, merely imposing communication and media ethics might not be enough to combat disinformation. Because disinformation in the Philippines is networked or organized production of political deception which distributes responsibilities in interconnected groups of paid digital workers. This kind of system seems hard to eliminate as the initiative of disseminating disinformation comes from those in power. The efforts of fact-checking and blacklisting may not fully address the causes of disinformation. What is needed to address are the professionalized work structures and financial incentives that normalize and reward “paid troll” work.

Ong & Cabañes (2018) said in their study entitled Architects of Networked Distribution: Behind the Scenes of Troll Accounts and Fake News Production in the Philippines that the allocation of responsibilities to produce disinformation in the Philippines starts with the political clients who pay for elite advertising and PR strategists to set campaign objectives. From those campaign messages, anonymous influencers and key opinion leaders make viral posts. These viral posts will be amplified when the community-level fake account operators create illusions of engagement. More engagements in the posts are expected as politicians’ fan page moderators, unpaid opinion leaders, and the like share the said posts to mislead the public. All of these disinformation purveyors are paid except for the politician’s fan page moderators, unpaid opinion leaders, and the like.

In March 2019, Nic Gabunada, former head of President Rodrigo Duterte’s social media team on the 2016 presidential campaigns and now an executive director of communications and media company was linked to a bunch of 200 pages turned down by Facebook for “coordinated inauthentic behavior.” This kind of charge is usually imposed on foreign influence and troll campaigns. Currently, Gabunada is the only individual to have been named by Facebook as the coordinator of such an activity.

However, this charge imposed on Gabunada by Facebook even reinforced the dirty methods of politics in the Philippines, where troll hubs continue to produce disinformation, making positive branding to the government and attacking opposition figures instead of being punished.

These realities of disinformation production in the Philippines called for the improvement of communication and media ethics. To expose the “political clients” and “elite advertising and PR strategists” who seemingly are the leaders in making campaign objectives that promote disinformation, a stronger code of ethics should be enforced on the internet. The anonymity is the strength of these disinformation purveyors. That is why the Internet and Mobile Marketing Association of the Philippines (IMMAP) Code of Ethics established in 2008 should include transparency and accountability in political marketing which requires disclosure of political consultancies. Thus, making digital political campaigns more easily traceable and identifiable. In this way, professionalized work structures of disinformation dissemination in the Philippines might, little by little, be revealed.

While working as a Media Education Intern in Brooklyn, New York, I came across various projects related to filmmaking and Photography. One of the earliest projects of these projects was street photography, in which I was provided with a task to take pictures of random places and random people (of course once they have given their consent). The whole idea of this project was that interns can get to know the town better, get comfortable in taking pictures of random people, and also learn how to deal with the idea of rejection (if someone does not give their consent for taking a picture). Once I have taken a specific amount of pictures, I was told to edit them (work on exposure, discard the blur ones, etc.), and then submit them to the supervisor. While I was editing, I came across a picture of the street, taken at Linden Blvd in Brownsville, Brooklyn. This picture had trash on the left side of the road and I just decided to crop it out of the picture. My supervisor asked me not to do so as I was purposely hiding something from the audience and portraying a place better than it is in reality. I realized that how easily a picture can be manipulated and be portrayed as what is not to an audience. Another aspect of this project made me realize that is it ethical to take all types of pictures of people in the public sphere. In the USA, it is perfectly legal to take pictures of anyone as long as the person is in a public place, but since some people did not allow me to take their picture, I began to think about the moral and ethical values I hold as a photographer.

To further expand on these two aspects of my project, this paper will dig in deep about how photography and ethics go hand in hand. This paper will show how images can be manipulated in accomplishing different objectives and why ethics play an important role in street photography. These two objectives are directly related to what I have experienced as Media Education Production Intern.

“There are a hundred reasons not to trust mass-media photography, and yet we do. Or at least we used to. Despite our knowing that cameras can lie, that some photos— even famous ones— were faked in one way or another, for more than a century we have nevertheless bestowed upon photography a remarkable measure of trustworthiness. Now, however, we are inundated with photorealistic yet patently false images. These imposters are so pervasive that authentic photos may soon be looked upon as the exceptions, mere throwbacks to a more naive, pre-cyber era.” (Wheeler, Thomas H. Wheeler. Phototruth or Photofiction? Ethics and Media Imagery in the Digital Age, Routledge, 2002.)

Photo manipulation is basically the transformation of an image to convey what one wants rather than what the actual image actually is. In today’s world, with the development and advancement of technologies, an image can be easily altered in a matter of few clicks, to gain desirable results.

However, Photo manipulation has been around long before the rapid advancement of technology and media in the last two decades or so. All type of pictures has been believed in as long as they have had some sort of link to reality. “Rather a photography can be true in a way a sentence can be true. Viewers will believe in its truth as long as long as it corresponds in a meaningful way to reality”. Earlier photographers, main artists in the 19th century looked forward to photoing manipulation to depict different kinds of imaginary scenes and they did not want to deceive the audience. “In fact, documenting reality was the furthest thing from the minds of many early photographers. Some were interested in using the miraculous new process to conjure dreams, nightmares, erotic flights of fancy, idyllic utopias, or other imaginary scenes”. (Wheeler, Thomas H. Wheeler. Phototruth or Photofiction? Ethics and Media Imagery in the Digital Age, Routledge, 2002.) The objective was not always to mislead people at the time. This is because no such thing as objective photojournalism existed at the time. “For example, John Moran’s remarkably detailed albumen print “The Wissahickon Creek near Philadelphia,” from about 1865, was delicately retouched to remove the corner of a building that had intruded upon the scene” (Wheeler, Thomas H. Wheeler. Phototruth or Photofiction? Ethics and Media Imagery in the Digital Age, Routledge, 2002.) This can be mirrored with when I cropped out a portion of trash in the street, but in today’s world the notion of photojournalism exists and perhaps this act of manipulation is not anymore accepted as much as it was more than a century ago. Highly imposed pictures became more common with time and as we entered the 20th century the manipulation of pictures was sadly use to deceive people. For instance, dictators use altered photos to create propaganda. “Most or all of the 20th century’s political dictatorships faked photos for propaganda purposes, portraying leaders as more youthful, athletic, benevolent or popular than they really were, or eliminating officials who had fallen out of favor. For instance, Leon Trotsky and other principals in the Bolshevik Revolution were painted out of a November 1919 photo of Vladimir Lenin in Red Square”. (Wheeler, Thomas H. Wheeler. Phototruth or Photofiction? Ethics and Media Imagery in the Digital Age, Routledge, 2002.) However, the dictatorship was not the only reason pictures were being manipulated so commonly in the 20th century. Tabloids, magazines, newspapers, and articles all emerged using photo manipulation in the last century for different purposes. Even Kodak’s 1996, famous slogan reads, the photograph is no longer a photograph, “it is whatever you want it to be” (Wheeler, Thomas H. Wheeler. Phototruth or Photofiction? Ethics and Media Imagery in the Digital Age, Routledge, 2002.) With the ever-growing field of media and technology, the whole dynamic of photo manipulation has advanced, considerably.

Basic assumptions and postulations of the social responsibility theory

This theory, considered a western theory incorporates a part of the libertarian principle and introduces some new elements as well. The underlying principle of the social responsibility theory of the press is that the press should be free to perform the functions that the libertarian theory granted it the freedom to perform, but that this freedom should be exercised with responsibility (Okunna & Omenugha, 2012). If the media fail to satisfy their responsibilities to society, the social responsibility theory holds that the govt should encourage the media to comply by way of controlling them. Bittner (1989) has the theory held that a press has the right to criticize government and institutions but also has certain basic responsibilities to maintain the steadiness of society. within the same vein, but from a slightly different angle, Dominick (2009) writes that This approach holds that the press features a right to criticize the government and other institutions, but it also features a responsibility to preserve democracy by properly informing the public and by responding to society`s needs and interests. The press doesn’t have the liberty to try to because it pleases; it’s obligated to reply to society`s requirements.

The Commission on Freedom of the Press which formulated the Social Responsibility theory while noting that the press does not fulfill her basic societal roles of providing information, enlightenment, serving as a watchdog, advertising, entertainment, and self-sufficiency, called on the media to provide a truthful, comprehensive and intelligent account of the day`s event during a context which provides them meaning. Serve as a forum for the exchange of comments and criticism Project a representative picture of the constituent groups in society Be liable for the presentation and clarification of the goals and values of the society. Provide full access to the day`s intelligence. These goals consistent with Peterson and Wilkins (2005) were troublesome to journalists who think that these goals are ambiguous and unattainable at the time. How should the forums operate? Whose values should be presented and clarified? How could they supply intelligent discourse about the day`s events during a nightly newscast of but 23 minutes? And on and on the confusion went. Perhaps this is often one weakness inherent within the theory at the earliest stages. From the foregoing, it is palpable that the fundamental principles of the social responsibility theory might be summarized thus: be self-regulated, practice responsibly, or the govt will control you. In other words, freedom should be exercised with the utmost responsibility to societal interest.

Social responsibility theory: A theory of media ethics?

Without question, the social responsibility theory of the press bothers on journalistic ethics. Its introduction was what gave rise to professional journalistic associations that have self-formulated codes of ethics and official journalistic standards designed to encourage responsible behavior by their members. As Moemeka (1991) acknowledged this theory places due emphasis on the moral and social responsibilities of persons who, and institutions that, operate the mass media. Let us remember that its 4

provision for self-regulation revolves around the concept of ethics. Ethics generally is the ethics concerned with the standards of excellent and bad conduct, the rightness or wrongness of an action. Toeing this line, Okunna (2003) emphasizes that ethics is self-legislation as opposed to official or government legislation through outside compulsion, which is characteristic of law. McQuail (1987, p. 117) cited in Okunna & Omenugha (2012) gave an inventory of basic tenets guiding this theory and which further drive home this ethical dimension of the social responsibility principle, to incorporate accepting and carrying out certain societal duties; setting high professional standards of truth, accuracy, objectivity, balance, and informativeness; regulating itself in accordance with the law; having media pluralism multiplicity of voices to represent divergent viewpoints; accountability to society, their medium, and others; which people have the proper to expect them to perform creditably. The media are entrusted to discharge certain public-interest functions essential to a democratic society and, by conferring this trust, society is entitled to judge whether it is being honored. In Western liberal democracies, the media enter into an inherent compact with the societies they serve. Under this compact, the media promise that reciprocally for the liberty to publish, they’re going to meet certain core functional obligations: the terms of this compact are embodied within the Social Responsibility theory of the press as earlier argued. they’ll be thought of as ethical or soft obligations, not enforceable by law, as against hard obligations. The soft obligations require attention to be paid to issues that are central to recurring controversies about media performance: bias, invasion of privacy, dishonest or careless presentation of information, violations of standards of public taste, suppression of fabric which it’s not within the publisher`s interest to publish, and incapacity to penetrate public-relations spin. Indeed, there are no other better thanks to then summarize this theory in reference to media ethics, because the argument has shown, than the words of Bittner (1989) which affirm that within the framework of open and free press criticism, codes of ethics or government regulation, and guidelines for responsible action on the part of members of the press, lies the Social Responsibility Theory.

Social responsibility theory today

With the spread of modern-day democracy, the Social Responsibility theory of media ethics has become the norm now. This theory inspires self-control by the media, for the great of society. But the question is: how have the media practitioners and journalists delayed this theory? How ethical have they proven to be, professionally? Recent research I administered on sensationalism, social responsibility, and media ethics, revealed that today, a century later, the media is seen to be reverting back to the bad old days of practicing freedom devoid of responsibility. The in-thing is now what scholars have come to term as market-driven media (Yadav, 2011, Kleemans & 6 Hendricks, 2009, Omenugha & Oji, 2008, Sparks and Tulloch, 2000). This commercial journalism gives priority to trivial news items alongside certain sorts of layout, headline sizes, photo enhancements, flashy colors, and irrelevant and lurid photos that attract mass audiences like entertainment while downplaying information, beating desperate bids to sell. This may be manifestly due to many pressures from various fronts including the competitive media landscape of this age, businesses, and advertisers as well as modern and selfish motives, social and cultural interests. as an example, a review of some major national dailies in Nigeria between January through March 2011, show a shocking dose of sensational major front page headlines. Such headlines, the editors of those newspapers might believe, will sufficiently whet the appetite of the general public to require to try to do the one thing that’s most important: grab a copy! Both print and electronic media are complicit during this, as they’re over-anxious with exhibitionism or obscene pictures even when they are in no way connected with news items published or broadcast.

Introduction

The purpose of this paper is to observe the phenomenon of ethics in the media. It basically presents the possible problems in ethics. The tasks of this article are about examining the social dilemmas, social behavior, and attitudes in sexuality in TV series. In order to examine the topic, the first seasons of native and foreign versions of the same Tv series were used. “Shameless” which was created by John Wells(2011) and its Turkish spin-off version “Bizim Hikaye” which was created by Fatih Aksoy(2017) was used to observe the ethical dilemmas in different cultural environments. Shameless which is the genre of comedy-drama series was shot in the South of Chicago. It is about the Irish American family, Gallagher’s, dealing with their alcoholic father Frank. The eldest daughter of the family, Fiona, takes the responsibility as a parent of five children and her father. The story of Fiona and other characters was settled as creating the balance with their daily life problems. Bizim Hikaye, the Turkish spin-off version of Shameless, basically covers the same topic as Shameless. Although the topic of the series is almost the same in every perspective, it is completely different in sexual scenes. This situation clearly reflects the sexual boundaries between cultures. The main idea of the discussion is focused on if it is proper to restrict sexual content in the given examples. Moreover, the selected TV series are analyzed in order to understand how does it affect society, to what extent they should be limited, censored, or restricted in terms of ethical perspective. Furthermore, should it be limited, restricted, or censored at all? This case was discussed a lot in societies nowadays, and it is believed that it is significant to understand the ethical issues existing in such TV series. In order to understand the ethical issues, we should focus on different perspectives. The given TV series will be analyzed in terms of nudity, sexual intercourses, gestures, and expressions which could be seen as sexual, cultural differences in terms of sexuality, and perception of homosexual relationships. In the Turkish spin-off version of Shameless, Bizim Hikaye, it is easily observed that sexual content is obviously restricted or limited. The perspective of sexuality will be questioned through different cultures.

Analyses of Sexual Content

Sexual content in television is examined through the following concepts: nudity, sexual intercourses, sexual gestures and expressions, and perception of homosexual relationships. Nudity or nakedness could be expressed as wearing no clothes. “Partial or full nudity accounted for almost half (41%) of all sexual content, and one-quarter centered on relationships, including crushes, dating, marriage, and divorce. As other studies of sexual content in the media have found (Pardun, 2002), almost three-fourths (76%) of the content depicting relationships were with non-married people.” Taken together, these two models of outcomes (i.e., the Significant relationship between sexual media restrictions and sexual behavior and the homogeneity of sexual content in different environments) suggest that this is not the degree of sexual content, but the degree of impact of sexual behavior. It’s the content that is most important for understanding the role of the media in adolescent sexual activity and intentions. Furthermore, communication through gestures and facial expressions can be expressed as the transfer of ideas, messages without using words. This type of communication is expressed by hand gestures, body language, and facial expressions. It is observed that communication through gestures and expressions are seen obviously more in sexual behavior since it is easier to express yourself comparing to using words. “Behaviors were categorized on a four-point scale, with the first level comprised of physical flirting. This category is coded when a character uses his/her own body in a way that is meant to arouse or promote sexual interest in another. This type of action accounts for 18% of all the sexual behavior observed in the study.” The study of four-point scale sexual behavior consists of four different types of content which express sexual behavior. Those four scales include passionate kissing, sexual intercourse, intimate touching, and physical flirting including gestures and expressions. In addition to that, same-sex relationships also have an important role in sexual content in media. A homosexual relationship could be described as a sexual relationship between people of the same sex. The perception of homosexuality in different cultures could differ significantly, in some cultures, even it could be observed as an unethical situation. However, in terms of screening of homosexual or bisexual relationships in the media should not be limited at all. In the following observations, the importance of ethical issues in sexual content is discussed. Furthermore, those concepts are closely related to each other.

Nudity and Nakedness

There is a gap between cultures in terms of the existence of nudity in media. For example in the opening scene of Shameless, first season – first episode, Fiona is partly naked, running inside the house to wake up her sisters and brothers. Comparing with Bizim Hikaye, Filiz is running inside the house to wake up the children but she is wearing clothes. Moreover, in the third episode, Kevin is lying in the bed completely naked, this scene was shown without any censorship, then he stands up and walks through the room in complete nudity while Ian, teenage brother of Fiona, was in the room. Compering this scene with its spin-off edition in Turkey, there is no nudity at all, moreover, their clothes are more conservative. As observed, there is a significant gap between cultures in terms of the existence of nudity in media. In Turkey, it is seen that nudity in Turkish television does not exist at all. However, there are new sources of media for TV series in the country, such as Puhu TV and Blu TV. In these types of online media sources, it is also examined that there is a slight difference in the existence of nudity compared to Turkish television. It is possible to see partial nudity in online media channels in the country. Turkish-owned online streaming services have also come forward. In 2012, Doğuş Media Group launched its online streaming service ‘puhutv’, and there was fervor a year ago when the channel demonstrated its first Fi series based on the bestseller of Turkish writer Azra Kohen. The series quickly became a sensation, largely due to scenes showing nudity and sexual intercourse. “Turkey’s watchdogs took notice. In March parliament passed a law that expands the powers of Turkey’s Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK), including blocking internet broadcasts. With the new law, the state hopes to have some degree of control over online content that it considers dangerous.” In brief, nudity is shown in American television in a significant count compared to Turkish television. It is critical to understand the boundaries between nudity and restrictions of Turkey’s Radio and Television Supreme Council. Namely, the exigence of sexual content in a country may lead the broadcasters to go online in order to deal with the restrictions on television.

Sexual Gestures and Expressions

The four-point scale model includes sexual gestures and expressions as a part of physical flirting. Communication through gestures and expressions are seen clearly more in sexual behavior since it is easier to express sexual ideas comparing to using words. For example, in Shameless, when Fiona meets with a guy for coffee, she exhibits her emotions by her gestures and mimics. For example, she bites her lips and smiles slightly while she is talking with the guy. It is compared to the Turkish TV series, gestures and mimics are used as the same with foreign TV series. However, sexual content is quite different between both of them because the difference in sexual intimacy can be seen clearly in both of them. “At the second level on the four-point scale of sexual behavior is intimate touching of another’s body in a way that is meant to be sexually arousing. Intimate touching accounted for 6% of all observed cases of sexual behavior.” In season 1, Lip who is the oldest brother of Fiona gets into sexual intercourse with his friend Karen while they were studying. The important thing which was observed in this scene was that there was almost no verbal communication at all. They started the sexual intercourse by expressing their sexual desire with gestures and facial expressions. In Bizim Hikaye, while Rahmet was helping Müjde with studying, a similar sexual behavior occurs as the girl’s gestures and facial expressions imitate her sexual desire. However they end up with a kiss on the cheek, and this shows the significant difference between the two series. “The majority of sexual behavior (56%) portrayed on television consists of passionate kissing. This type of act was coded only in cases where the kiss conveyed a sense of sexual intimacy between two partners. Kissing is one of two behaviors that represent the second step or level in the four-point scale of sexual behavior.” In the following episodes of Bizim Hikaye, the relationship of Rahmet and Müjde progressed, and they had passionate kissing. It is an interesting situation because as observed in the Turkish version there is no sexual intercourse at all between Rahmet and Müjde. Moreover, they choose to express sexual behavior by kissing. It is concluded that Turkish culture and Turkish television prefer to express sexual behavior without using sexual intercourse scenes. Although the American version seems to have more intimate scenes, the basic idea of sexual behavior could be given with different expressions such as kissing or touching in the same way as seen in the Turkish version. The intimacy of sexual activity should not be limited to sexual intercourse, the same level of intimacy could be felt in the other third of the four-point scale, which is physical flirting including gestures, passionate kissing, and intimate touching.

Same-sex Relationships

The perception of homosexual relationships is another huge difference between Turkish TV series and foreign TV series because it is shown and respected in American media. However, Turkish media does not include these relationships like homosexual and bisexual. Cameron Monaghan plays a role as a homosexual young boy with the name Ian in Shameless. Even if it is not ordinary for his family and friends, he is respected by others. And also, it is settled as one of the topics in this TV series. It is compared to spin-off ‘Bizim Hikaye’, it is possible to say it is not shown at all. Turkish version of the Shameless alters the story as a heterosexual relationship. In Bizim Hikaye, the actor is Hikmet has a relationship between a girl rather than a boy. Therefore, it gives us the example of the media-tic differences depending on their cultures. Whether these restrictions are ethical or not according to their cultures is a controversial issue because audiences all around the world should have the same right. However, it is a certain thing which restrictions depend on the culture. In that context, it creates a vision to consider LGBT rights in Turkey because it is not respected in the society. They are the personal preferences and every individual has a right to sustain their lives whatever they want if it does not create a problem for society. As a result of this, they should have their right to be visible in the media just as their right to live as respected in society. Here comes another ethical issue, is it ethical to ban LGBT content in Turkish media? Of course, it is not ethical, “With these bans, neither societal peace nor public order can be attained. Public space cannot be under the monopoly of a ‘sensitive fraction’ as has been pointed out by the governor’s office! It should not be forgotten that the equal citizenship demand cannot be banned on the basis of anyone’s sexual orientation, gender identity, and sexual identity!”. In terms of media ethics, Turkish television should not be afraid to broadcast this kind of content. As media is the most important communication tool in society, media ethics directly affects the perception of ethical behaviors in the community. An ethical environment should exist where ethics is based on well-founded standards of right and wrong that prescribe what humans ought to do, usually in terms of rights, obligations, benefits to society, fairness, or specific virtues. Unfortunately, culture is very significant when deciding about what should be limited or restricted to be shown in the media, however, in such a situation like that media should take action to take down this apprehension in the Turkish society.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the existence of sexual content in the American TV series, Shameless, and its comparison with its Turkish spin-off, Bizim Hikaye, is examined in this article. Whether the restrictions of sexual content in TV series are necessary or not is discussed in terms of nudity, sexual behavior, and homosexuality. It is clearly shown sexual content and its restrictions are identified according to different cultures. However, we were also able to come up with the idea where the restrictions do not mean it is ethical or unethical in media for most cases because it is possible to make the audience feel the same sexual meaning in the media content by different approaches. Those different approaches demonstrate that a passionate kissing scene could be as powerful as a sexual intercourse scene or nudity. Considering the Turkish society, it could be right to restrict sexual content in some of the four-point scales, because the sexual content can still be given with the other third of four-point scales where the society is already adapted to see. However in terms of screening of homosexual or bisexual relationships in the media should not be limited at all, so that every person living in the same society could have the same rights of living freely. Although the LGBT group is very small and excluded in Turkey, it is the media’s responsibility to take down this perception of Turkish society.

Learning MIL is a must for everyone. It tells things that are and that are not to be done when it comes to media and information. Without studying MIL, it would be hard to know the things that one should do or avoid. Also, MIL makes one literate, or in other words, knowing. When one is knowing of the things to and to not do on media Learning MIL is a must for everyone. It tells things that are and that are not to be done when it comes to media and information. Without studying MIL, it would be hard to know the things that one should do or avoid. Also, MIL makes one literate, or in other words, knowing. When one is knowing of the things to and to not do about media and information, he/she would not be clueless and he/she could also prevent mistakes when it comes to Media and gathering information. According to UNESCO, MIL is very important when it comes to gathering information and also in communication. MIL talks about bringing discipline to students, thus, by being disciplined in information, one would be able to gather data that are reliable because he/she knows the necessary steps when VERIFYING gathered information. Also, teachers play an important role in MIL. They are the ones on which students gather information about media ethics. Without the guidance and proper teaching of teachers about MIL, students might commit mistakes that might have serious consequences for them in the future.

This paper aims to explain the benefits of studying MIL and its consequences when one becomes ignorant about the subject. Students nowadays are not knowing about media and information gathering. Many commit mistakes that are avoidable if they just know and studied MIL. Most of the time, ignorance is the main problem in committing mistakes. Some students consider MIL as not a core subject, thus they will not take it seriously making them clueless about the subject. Later would the students know that disregarding such a subject is like not giving importance to guidelines in life that would prevent them from committing mistakes that may have a serious effect on their lives? Gathering information is very important to students. They gather information for many things related to their education. MIL teaches students on how to gather necessary information that would make their gathered data valid. Avoiding such subjects would result in failing grades that would sometimes ruin their educational career.

There are a lot of negative things that might occur when one would not take MIL seriously or would not knowledgeable of MIL at all. First, in the field of education. Research is a very essential subject or activity for students. If a student is not knowing about MIL, he/she would not know how to verify the gathered information that would be used for his/her research. Thus, this makes the research of the student unacceptable or in other words invalid. If the research would not be accepted, it would affect the education of the student because it might cause him/her to have a hard time graduating or completing his/her clearance. Another negative effect of not taking the MIL subject seriously or ignoring it is that one might get arrested for violating media rules and regulations. Social media is also related to MIL. MIL is a subject that is connected to teaching social media ethics. In order to prevent possible accidents that might have serious consequences, one should study and apply the things that are to be taught in MIL in their Lives.

There are many positive effects of studying MIL. But there will just be some that would be discussed in this paper. First, MIL is a subject that when one understands fully and applies to his/her life would make him/her literate or in other words, knowing. Being knowledgeable is always an advantage because you would know the things that are and that are not to be done. This would prevent further accidents, such as what I stated earlier, problems when it comes to social media. It would not be a problem for a person who is knowing about MIL because he/she already has brief background on the dos and don’ts of social media. Second is that when one takes MIL seriously and applies it to his/ her life, that person could serve as an example that would influence others to know and study MIL. Another is that one can also teach others about what he/she has learned in MIL. He/she could enlighten others on the things that he/she has learned. By doing so, further accidents that might be committed by other people might be prevented.

In conclusion to this paper, MIL should never be ignored by students. Ignoring such a subject is like ignoring guidelines that just aim to guide students to a better, accident-free media and information-gathering life. Nowadays, students do not consider MIL as a subject to be serious about because they consider it as a minor subject that can be disregarded. But most of the students who do that do not know that MIL is a subject that serves as instructions in order to prevent accidents with serious consequences. This paper aims to show students or readers the importance of MIL. This would also serve as an eye opener for people who do not know or understand the MIL subject. There was one old saying that states that “knowledge is power”. Disregarding MIL may be compared to foolishness because it is like rejecting knowledge. My intention for this paper was to open the eyes of everyone about MIL and its importance. That it should not be put aside because it is a lesson that requires life application that is crucial, especially in this generation where media is used widely and serious mistakes are committed because of the lack of knowledge about media ethics and rules.

1. UNESCO (2019) Understanding Media and Information Literacy -An Orientationhttps://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Funesco.mil-for-teachers.unaoc.org%2Fmodules%2Fmodule-1%2Funit-1%2F%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR1GiyGj19VXL6PFrPLFOsjJoUstqmQULUiBDAjo8a2Ud-2Rb_XiMUV1cH8&h=AT0OSsDg4vOaz-gRgufeRHH4Z-62P-QBr7f36JtSGi9vWWp_rcIGPFVH0SDDipFF7o_ZghdiZBnKb3380MgwzLwmtxNOG3hYQ7jkk65tAewa-O_PJKXtzgAsu9jyFnW3eA0