Morals and the Media: Ethics in Canadian Journalism

Vincent di Norcia is an associate professor of philosophy and business
ethics at Laurentian University.

In this balanced and comprehensive study of ethics in the Canadian
information media, Nick Russell applies a simple set of tests to the
classic ethical questions of journalism. He terms his tests “the 5 Ws
of ethics,” a nice play on the W5 of journalism: Who benefits/loses?
What does the story do for our credibility? When/where should the story
be published? Why run/not run the story? How well was the material
gathered? Russell applies the 5 Ws to such issues as the infotainment
and hype that have come to characterize TV “news” programs,
chequebook journalism, the preference for bad over good news, pack
journalism, bias in presenting stories and information, sensationalism
and violation of privacy, the use of unnamed sources, conflict of
interest, and concentrated media ownership. This well-structured
approach allows Russell to avoid the straw man of objectivity and focus
on such key ethical norms as accuracy, balance, openness, research, and
confirmation. This book should become a core text for media ethics
courses across North America.