Media Ethics for Journalists A Philosophical Perspective

Abstract

Today, media ethics has become a controversial topic in the world. It comes under applied ethics dealing with the specific ethical principles and standards of media, including broadcast media, film, theatre, the arts, print media and the internet. Ethics also known as moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that involves systematizing, defending and recommending concepts of right and wrong conduct. The term “Ethics” comes from the Greek word ‘ethos’ meaning ‘custom ’or ‘usage ‘or ‘character’. Ethics seeks to resolve questions dealing with human morality-concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, virtue and vice, justice and crime. In philosophy, ethics studies the moral behavior in humans and how one should act. It plays a vital role in media because they create guidelines for journalists to follow that help people from feeling unequal or outcasted. But the question is whether, they use this code of ethics efficiently and effectively. The intention of this paper is to know what is ethics and how it affects media. It further examines to find out the code of ethics for journalists in Sri Lanka Press Council. Research methodology used in this study was largely based on the qualitative approach that facilitates the analysis of the relevant documentary sources from books, journals and web sites relating to this area. Finally, it was investigated whether ethics have been defined variedly by researchers. Moreover, the study revealed that ethics based journalism with objectivity, accountability, fairness and truth as the key elements are vital for responsible media practice. Therefore, it can be concluded that media ethics should be addressed very clearly and immediate actions should be taken to overcome practices that are corrupt.

Keywords: Media Ethics, Journalists, Ethics, Philosophy, Media