Moral Reasoning for Journalists: Cases and Commentary Book

	Preface
	A Note to Instructors
Pt. I	Locating Ethical Journalism in the Western Tradition	1
1	Introduction to Ethical Thinking	3
2	The Political Case for Moral Reasoning in Journalism	14
3	The Philosophical Case for Moral Reasoning in Journalism	23
4	The Economic Case for Moral Reasoning in Journalism	29
5	Objectivity: Is It Possible? Should We Still Try?	36
6	Privacy: How to Balance It against the Right to Know	50
7	How to Solve Moral Dilemmas: Balancing Competing Elements	59
Pt. II	Case Studies: Tough Calls from the Front Lines of Contemporary Journalism	63
8	The Suicide of Admiral Boorda: Did the Press Hound Him to His Death?	64
9	The Haunting Profile of Meir Kahane: Should Past Sins Be Emphasized?	69
10	A Candidate's Past: News, Political Manipulation or Mere Pandering?	74
11	Peeking at Tonya Harding's E-mail: Serious Invasion or Trivial Excess?	80
12	Central Park Assault Victim: We Know Everything but Who She Is	85
13	The Brilliant Student with the Dark Past: How Much Is Relevant?	89
14	Sex in an Elevator: Legitimate News or Sophomoric Titillation?	94
15	Suicide: Important News or a Grotesque Invasion of Privacy?	98
16	Unnamed Accusers: Sex, Abuse of Power, and an Election, Too	106
17	In Politics, How Far Back Is It Fair to Go?	111
18	When the Law Asks for Help: What Is an Independent Journalist to Do?	114
19	The Graffiti Artists: Turn 'Em In, Get the Story, or Both?	119
20	Connie Chung: Did She Sandbag the New Speaker's Mom?	124
21	Primary Authorship: Can You Lie about Your Other Job?	129
22	A Reporter with AIDS: Depth of Understanding or Obvious Bias?	134
23	How Close Is Too Close When the Subject Is a Scared Little Girl?	141
24	The Exploding Truck: If It Doesn't Have Pictures, It's Not Good TV	147
25	Should TV Cameras Record an Execution?	152
26	Tears on Tape: Why Must We Film Grief?	158
27	How Real Is the Wall between Advertising and the News Side?	162
28	The 'Revisionist' Ads on the Holocaust: What Should Student Editors Do?	166
29	Speaking Fees: Honest Moonlighting or an Invitation to Corruption?	172
30	Celebrity Interviews: Is There Real News amidst the Puff?	176
31	A Lorena Bobbitt Update: Paint My Nails, Answer My Questions	180
32	Ruth Snyder: Still Dead but Now Her Picture Is Mainstream	184
33	Composite Pictures: New Possibilities or Just More Credibility Trouble?	188
34	The Grisly War Photo: Powerful Information, but What about Taste?	194
35	Taking Journalism Hostage: Should We Print under Threats?	201
36	Can We Fix the Problems? Should We Try?	205
	Bibliography	210
	Index	213