1st Edition
Media Accountability Who Will Watch the Watchdog in the Twitter Age?
A small collection of well-honed tools has been employed for some time by media practitioners and the public to help maintain and improve the credibility of journalism and the mass media. These media accountability tools have included ethics codes, media critics, news councils, ombudsmen, journalism reviews and pubic/civic journalism initiatives. Now, in the 21st Century, the mass media are increasingly being buffeted by a perfect storm of declining subscribers and audience share, dwindling advertising revenue, changing corporate demands, unpredictable audiences and new-media competition. If journalism and the mass media are to stay afloat and be credible, the media accountability toolbox needs to contain suitable tools for the job, which begs the question: Who will Watch the Watchdog in the Twitter Age? This book contains answers to this question from the perspective of 17 media ethics experts from around the globe. Their answers will help shape and define for years to come the tools in the media ethics toolbox.
This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Mass Media Ethics.
1. Mocking the News: How The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Holds Traditional Broadcast News Accountable Chad Painter, University of Missouri School of Journalism, USA and Louis Hodges, Washington and Lee University, USA
2. Towards an Open Ethics: Implications of New Media Platforms for Global Ethics Discourse Stephen J.A. Ward, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA and Herman Wasserman, Rhodes University, South Africa
3. Recommendations for Hosting Audience Comments Based on Discourse Ethics Mark Cenite, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore and Yu Zhang, Rutgers University, USA
4. Newsgathering and Privacy: Expanding Ethics Codes to Reflect Change in the Digital Media Age Ginny Whitehouse, Whitworth University, USA
5. Social Audits as Media Watchdogging Walter B. Jaehnig and Uche Onyebadi, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, USA
6. Ethical Implications of Anonymous Comments Posted to Online News Stories Laura Hlavach and William H. Freivogel, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, USA
7. The Ethics Examiner and Media Councils: Improving Ombudsmanship and News Councils for True Citizen Journalism Rick Kenney, Hampton University, USA and Kerem Ozkan, New College of Florida, USA
8. "I Am Eating a Sandwich Now": Intent and Foresight in the Twitter Age Stacy Elizabeth Stevenson, Kent State University, USA and Lee Anne Peck, University of Northern Colorado, USA
9. Ethics and Eloquence in Journalism: An Approach to Press Accountability Theodore L. Glasser and James S. Ettema
Biography
William A. Babcock is senior scholar/professor of media ethics at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, USA; deputy director of SIUC’s School of Journalism; and editor of Gateway Journalism Review. Dr. Babcock has worked at the Christian Science Monitor as senior international news editor and writing coach, directed the University of Minnesota’s Silha Center for the Study of Media Ethics and Law, and was founding chairman of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication’s Media Ethics Division.
