Entertaining Ethics: Lessons in Media Ethics from Popular Culture

"The play's the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king..." Shakespeare was repeating what the ancient Greeks had pioneered--if you want to tell a moral lesson and have it remembered, then make it entertaining. Chad Painter and Lee Wilkins explore how popular culture explains media ethics and the philosophy that is key to solid ethical thinking. Each chapter focuses on a key ethical concept, anchors the discussion of that concept in a contemporary or classic accessible film, analyzes decisions made in that film with other popular culture artifacts, and grounds the analysis in appropriate philosophical thought. The book focuses on core philosophical concepts of media ethics--truth telling, loyalty, privacy, public service, media economics, social justice, advocacy, and accountability--as they are examined through the lens of narrative film, television, and music. Discussion questions and online instructor materials further course applicability while the popular culture examples make ethical theory accessible and exciting for students and professors from a variety of academic backgrounds.

Author: Chad Painter, Lee Wilkins
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Published: 03/11/2021
Pages: 198
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.96lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.50d
ISBN: 9781538138199


Review Citation(s):
Choice 10/01/2022

About the Author
Chad Painter is assistant professor of Communication at the University of Dayton, where he teaches journalism and mass communication courses. He studies media ethics with emphases on the depiction of journalists in popular culture, the alternative press, and diversity studies. He is the co-author Media Ethics: Issues and Cases. Currently, he serves as the teaching chair the AEJMC Media Ethics Division. Prior to academia, he worked as an editor and reporter for the Columbus, Ohio, alternative newsweekly The Other Paper, and in corporate communications for JPMorgan Chase. Lee Wilkins is Professor Emerita at Wayne State University in Detroit and the University of Missouri School of Journalism. At Wayne State, she chaired the Department of Communication. She taught at the University of Missouri for 23 years, winning the campus' highest teaching award and then being named a Curator's Distinguished Teaching Professor. During her time at Missouri, she was a weekly panelist and later host of Views of the News, a program that examined the news media, which aired on public radio station KBIA. She has also worked as a newspaper reporter and editor.