MediaSpace Wiki

Roles And Responsibilities In Media

When we think about ethical responsibilities in media
- we most often focus about the creators of messages in mass media
  - newspapers
  - television
  - radio
  - magazines
  - movies
- or the critical responsibilities of consumers of messages
  - readers
  - audiences
  - viewers
  - listeners
Ethical responsibilities of creators often form around such issues as
- Social Responsibility
- Censorship
  - Attempts to bar some kinds of materials altogether
    - Pornography
  - Attempts to protect children from materials
    - Film, Record, and Videogame Rating systems
    - The V-Chip and television
    - Zoning against x-rated establishments
These attempts usually fail
Ethical responsibilities of consumers is perhaps best explicated by Baudrilliard
- Human needs, in today's world, are driven by the media
  - accumulation of goods
  - a consumption society
  - our media ensure that consumption does not equal satisfaction
- We substitute the false for the real in creating such hyperrealities as
  - Disneyland
  - Mouthwash
  - The Television Family
  - The Nuclear Family
  - Neighborhoods that are absent of the old, the handicapped, and the poor.
  - Wars that masquerade as reality entertainment
- Baudrilliard recommends that pick the least manipulative and intrusive path as one that most closely represents reality
But this doesn't work either
- it depends on education
- that isn't overwhelmed by the media it attempts to educate about
Focusing on creators and consumers of messages ignores the reality of media
- Messages are enabled by many routine participants in media
  1. Publisher/producers
  2. Financial management
  3. Investors
  4. Content Integrators
  5. Production support
  6. Content Editing
  7. Advertisers
  8. Reproducers
  9. Directors
  10. Performers
  11. Selector/gatekeepers
  12. Critics
  13. Representatives
  14. Collectors
  15. Retailers
  16. Distributor/Carriers
  17. Transcriber/Recorders
  18. Regulators
- All have an ethical responsibilities in media
- And the power to change media for the better
Consider, for instance, the case of the live broadcast of a suicide in California
- interrupting afternoon children's television
  - acted like a person who would jump off bridge
  - like he was going to shoot himself
  - finally set himself on fire
- who could have prevented this, besides the reporter
  - the camera person, by simply pointing the camera somewhere else
  - advertisers, by making it clear that they would pull advertizing when such things are done, even if ratings improve
  - regulators that make it known that such broadcasting is not in keeping with the public service obligation of the station
  - investors who predicate investments on ethical behavior
  - financial management that makes it clear that ratings are not the only objective, and that jobs are on the line
This panel features the best of a number of papers where students have asked this kind of question about various media:
- Damali L-Elie on magazines
- Kari Redmond on Parent-Teacher Conferences
- Kathryn O'Herron on Newspapers
- Marie Lang on Televised Advertising

-- Last edited March 6, 2013

Unless otherwise noted, the contents of this page were written by participants on the Media Space Wiki, operated by Davis Foulger, and should be cited accordingly. For example (APA):
Foulger, D. and other participants. (March 6, 2013). Roles And Responsibilities In Media. MediaSpaceWiki. Retrieved on from http://evolutionarymedia.com/wiki.htm?RolesAndResponsibilitiesInMedia. azitromicina canadian pharmacy viagra viagra cialis cheap generic viagra Canadian pharmacy acheter une pharmacie pharmacie en ligne Canadian pharmacy viagra ed pills buy zithromax buy cymbalta pharmacie viagra staxyn avanafil pharmacien en ligne viagra online ed meds generic viagra viagra vs cialis xenical online cialis vs viagra ed drugs pharmacy en ligne buy nexium viagra cialis