Media Ethics

Catalog description

This course surveys the core philosophical questions connected with mass media: What is newsworthy? What is the whole story, and what makes it true? How ought media's form influence the power of its content? What authorizes journalists to interpret the facts? How much does individual self-understanding and social organization depend on media images and tropes? Does it make sense to speak of "the media" as a unified phenomenon? As we work to formulate and answer these questions, students will acquire ethical understanding, media literacy, and an appreciation for the role media plays in the formation of cultural expectations about knowledge, values, and technology.