Billboards, magazines, commercials, bus stops, radio, online, newspapers - advertising is everywhere and issues focusing on the ethical and moral position of such advertisements will always be thrust into the media spotlight. Lecture 8 focused on this issue.
After being shown several advertisements, students were asked to grade each sample as ethical or unethical, and good taste or poor taste. It was obvious that the student opinion was divided. The ethical standing and tastefulness of each ad was rated by each student based upon their own personal opinion. This variable guarantees a range of responses.
The lecture discussed three ethics theories - deontology, consequentialism, and virtue ethics. Deontology focuses on the place of rules, principles, and duties (all ethics codes are deontological) and the idea that ethical issues are generally a matter of choosing the lesser of two evils. Consequentialism is the idea that getting a 'good' or 'right' outcome is all that matters, regardless of how it is achieved (the end may justify the means). Finally, virtue ethics centre around the belief that goodness (or happiness) comes from good dispositions or habits of character. These habits are 'virtues' such as couragem justice, temperance, and prudence, and are the 'golden mean' of behaviour.
The lecture opened students up to the world of ethics in the media and allowed us to understand the thought, beliefs, and control behind everyday advertisements.
I quite enjoyed the examples that were shown during the lecture and found myself revisiting my own initial impressions of the advertisements when I was exposed to them upon release. It was interesting to see how my opinion weighed up against that of my cohort and the official board responsible for reviewing such media.
The ninth lecture focused on news values.
It was explained that news values are not constant across different cultures and countries and often relate to such structures as the 'inverted pyramid'.
"If it bleeds, it leads."
This news value is exceptionally popular in major news outlets. Violence, death, and human tragedy will always 'sell' faster than positive stories, and it is unlikely that this trend will ever fade.
The darling Professor Johan Galtung penned what he perceived to be the 12 (plus) factors of news worthiness. The list consisted of the following:
- Negativity
- Closeness to home (proximity)
- Recency
- Currency
- Continuity
- Uniqueness
- Simplicity
- Personality
- Expectedness (predictability)
- Elite nations or people
- Exclusivity
- Size
A fabulous list, no doubt. Personally, the list seems like more of an ingredients list for a News Cake - the ingredients (on their own) are tasty, but boring. The right combination of ingredients? A Masterchef quality cuisine. Delish.
