doi.org/10.15178/va.2017.139.95-96

REPORT

ETHICS IN THE MEDIA: PRESS, RADIO, TV AND CINEMA

María del Mar López Talavera. Editorial UOC, Barcelona, 2016

Graciela Padilla Castillo¹ Profesora de Ética y Deontología en Periodismo y Publicidad en la Facultad de Ciencias de la Información, Departamento de Periodismo III, Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Doctora en Comunicación y Licenciada en Periodismo y Comunicación Audiovisual

¹University Complutense of Madrid. Spain

Correspondence: Graciela Padilla Castillo. gracielp@ucm.es

According to the author of this monograph, to speak of ethics in the media, in a historical moment of moral crisis of values like the present, is not a simple task. For this reason, it is considered essential to underline the importance and timeliness of Deontology in this area. Students and professionals of Information Sciences are faced with ethical problems that require making decisions from the moral point of view. This is what the Anglo-Saxons call “making ethical decision”.
To this end, this book provides fundamental contents and reflections for a correct solution of ethical dilemmas in the professional practice of Journalism and Audiovisual Communication.
Current issues and practical application are addressed, such as, among others, the ethical treatment of information on violence and terrorism; misleading advertising and subliminal information; ethics of television commercials; the influence of television on children; ethics of the photographer in the press and the paparazzi; deontology of the radio circle; the importance of the quality of television content; trash TV and the social responsibility of the filmmaker.
The first chapters are introductory. In the first place, the reader dips in the historical approaches of the concept of Ethos, understanding its importance. The second chapter delves into ethics applied to the field of professions and the difference between Ethics and Professional Deontology. The third chapter lands on the ethics of the journalist and audiovisual communicator.
From the fourth chapter on, we leave aside the conceptual definitions and enter into an eminently practical and action-oriented field, which is how Professional Deontology must be conceived and taught. Ethics, like any other science, requires not only technical and theoretical learning, but also, and above all, practical learning, to provide the person with integral training.
In this respect, chapter four breaks down - one by one - the doctrinal content of each of the general principles of Journalistic Ethics and Audiovisual Communication and culminates with a wide repertoire of practical cases, all referring to this list of deontological principles, Useful for debate, reflection and solution in the classroom.
The fifth chapter deals with ethics in photography and ends with practical cases applied to this subject. The sixth, seventh and eighth chapters study specific deontology on radio, television and cinema, respectively, with specific practical cases in these areas, while the last chapter is based on the codes of ethics applied to the press, radio, television and cinema.
In short, an original current and essential manual, for the Communication classrooms and for researchers in the fields of Ethics and Deontology.