Academic literature on the topic 'Mass media Moral and ethical aspects Australia'

Media is the collective communication outlets or tools that are used to store and deliver information or data. Media means technology that is intended to reach a mass audience. Ethics is the branch of knowledge that tests with moral principles. Ethics is a system of the ethics is concerned with what is good for individuals and society and is also described as moral philosophy. Media ethics are a complex topic because they deal with an institution that must do things that generally people in ordinary circumstances would not do, those communication ethics focuses on moral characters, social values related to the women protection the significant segment of the society. Women play on important role in reforming the society. The media has a critical role to play in shaping people’s opinion and perceptions through the way it reports the news of women issues. There are some important ethical considerations which the media should take into account before reporting on women’s problems. The media also needs to focus on different aspects of the society at large to gradually bring awareness regarding the status of women and change orthodox mindsets which are based against women. This article discusses ethical consideration of media regarding women issues.

Abstract The Western world, communication technology and mass media, have a big hand in building and establishing the moral principles of society. Internet media in particular, have a major role in introducing new norms of society. For the Islamic Ummah it is necessary to strengthen the missionary motivation which takes up so much time and attention of the majority Muslim community. Even now the technological means have been dubbed by the people of various terms for example, as a corona screen, a magic box, a window to the world and so on. The rapid introduction of new norms was made possible because the media moved with the principle of freedom of expression without preaching motivation, so that these principles were often used as a pretext for pursuing worldly interests. Unfortunately, many developing countries, including those claiming to be Muslim countries, follow this trend. As a result, Muslims around the world have been trapped in a foreign conceptual framework, which resulted in a media invasion of their value system, ethical perceptions, moral standards, sociocultural views, and even their religious beliefs. Therefore, Islam needs to set a da'wah strategy in all aspects of life through communication systems, especially electronic media that affect many people. This should not be ignored, and must be directed in accordance with Islamic perinsif which covers all aspects of life through the da'wah strategy. Technological development cannot be dammed. The role of Muslim communicators must defend the truth so that justice remains upheld. Justice cannot possibly be upheld without safeguarding the truth and this is the main task for the Islamic Ummah to carry out scientific charity including one of which is the application user in the mass media. Keywords ; Da'wah, technology, mass media

Of the goal of this study is to Educate the abstract concept as : Post-truth and Post modernism. Post-truth as a social phenomenon has put scientific discourse into polemic discussions in connection with an acute public request for the restoration of the Truth. Postmodernism, the previous era that gave rise to the problems of moral devaluation, is regarded as a cynical environment that produced these problems. Postmodernism has softened up the ground for radical openness of the public to the requests for the Truth, which can no longer be ignored in the last decade. The research considers modern sources of the formation of socio-ethical phenomena, which are the main life criteria in developed countries. Politics, media and culture are the core of any state and the entire global space. It is in the time of globalization, interstate interdependence, information wars and global warming that these aspects have attracted increased public interest. We provide a comparative argumentation of postmodernism and post-truth proving that the request for the Truth has become a new reality factor due to the mass public demand. The morality and ethics of the Truth have regained their classical forms and escaped from mass manipulation. Consequently, the issues of morality and values have become relevant. Ideologically, the world community demonstrates a genuine desire to restore the socio-ethical mission of the Truth. This statement is proved in our research.

The article deals with four aspects of the problem of truth in journalism of the Soviet era and their consequences in post-Soviet times: the problem of understanding the essence of the phenomenon, finding the truth in concrete situations, truth-telling by mass media to society, perception of the truth by the audience and social reflection. The methods, forms and means of the influence of Soviet journalism on the society are analyzed. The general scientific methods (analysis, deduction, induction, generalization) and the strategy of the substantiated theory are used. The results of the research have scientific and practical significance, they reveal the causes of certain social and communicative consequences of the controlled interaction of the society with the media, transformation of moral and ethical values and concepts, and provide research material on the methodology and technology of mass communication impacts. The author concludes about the need to return society as a whole, and journalism in particular, to understanding, perception of the essential meanings of the truth, in particular its metaphysical nature, and the formation of truth-centered socially responsible position of the journalist.

Mediatization is a relatively new approach to understanding the processes that take place in various spheres of human life. In media research, when studying this topic, politics, culture, and social practices are most often examined, but the sphere of economics is only mentioned and has rarely been explored. The purpose of the article is to determine new areas of research in the field of mediatization of the economy. The article examined traditional types of economic mass communication, provided an overview of modern economic communication practices (e-commerce, social networks, co-sharing companies, crowdfunding platforms, mobile applications, block chain and cryptocurrencies) that have arisen as a result of the digitalization of the economy. The author argues that the concept of economic communications in a digital society becomes expansive, and the digital economy can be called an economy via communications. In the digital world, there are economic interactions between the audience members themselves. It is proved that mediatization is not only a process that accompanies the functioning of the economy but the media themselves become a business environment. The mediatization of the economy triggers new and actualizes the existing threats to the livelihood of the audience ("economic power" of monopolies, "social engineering", scams on the Web, deception, etc.). We need a legal mechanism for regulating the digital economy, ethical codes. The intellectual potential of society created online should develop not only in the direction of the accumulation of new economic information and technologies for running online business, but also in the development of moral rules considering axiological and deontological aspects. In the context of mediatization the role of economic journalism is increasing, going beyond the scope of business journalism. The study of economic communications in the digital environment should become one of the current issues of modern journalism theory.

The purpose of the article is to study the theoretical aspects of the problem of mediatization of education. The article discusses the content and various interpretations of the concepts of “media” and “mediatization”. The main attention is paid to the peculiarities of the process of mediatization, both in the school education system and in the field of higher education. Mediatization in school education is considered in the context of all elements of the educational process. First of all, this is expressed in the organization of the educational process in remote mode. In addition, mediatization makes it possible to conduct lessons using information technology, students perform creative projects, gain access to information sources and collections of various libraries. The mediatization of education expands opportunities for obtaining and correspondence education in the mode of distance communication, as well as through various online courses for obtaining professional education. The article also highlights the main tasks of mediatization of education and methods of organizing the educational process using mass communication media. Among these tasks are the possibility of obtaining information, using the potential of mediatization of education for moral and ethical education and personal development, familiarization with the achievements of the development of mass media, explaining their role and significance for the educational process, practical training in media technologies, aesthetic education of students. The evolutionary possibilities and trends in the development of education in the context of its mediatization, as well as the risks and negative aspects of this process are shown. The increasing role of the mediatization of education is explained by the continuous nature of education, total digitalization, the demand and availability of online courses for a wide audience. On the other hand, the mediatization of education will also have negative consequences. Firstly, the process of socialization of students will be difficult, and secondly, the educational process will acquire a formal character, which will affect its quality. Comparing the positive and negative aspects of the mediatization of education, it seems that there should be no abandonment of educational technologies that have been tested for decades, and here the task is to find the necessary balance between old technologies and new ones, which mutually complement each other, will contribute to the improvement of the educational system so that it meets the challenges and requirements of modernity. Methodologically, the article is based on the theoretical developments of foreign and Russian researchers. The article is based on general philosophical and socio-humanitarian methods of analysis.

Son muchas las películas del llamado cine independiente que denuncian la era de la globalización, el consumismo, la irracionalidad de los nacionalismos exacerbados, el papel preponderante de los medios de comunicación, la xenofobia. Me he tenido que ceñir a tres películas que por su similitud me facilitan el estudio de los signos lingüísticos –cinematográficos– cuyos componentes semánticos tienen como finalidad la denuncia de estos aspectos que constituyen la llamada era de la globalización. Denuncia que no se realiza desde el compromiso ideológico sino desde el compromiso ético, como única vía de regeneración histórica. La estructura épico-lírica de estas películas, semejante a la del romance castellano, centra su atención en el héroe existencial enfrentado al destino adverso de un pueblo. Todos los elementos narratológicos –lenguaje, estructura, punto de vista– convergen en el determinismo histórico de los personajes, en la denuncia del drama histórico de los pueblos tercermundistas, y en el nihilismo desde el punto de vista filosófico. Frente a esta denuncia ideológica que se enmarca dentro de la estructura épica, aparece el compromiso ético de los personajes, tal vez del propio director, que confiere al texto el carácter lírico. La solidaridad de unos con otros rescata al hombre de la miseria moral en la que se ve inmerso tras siglos de lucha fratricida y de pobreza frente a la llamada sociedad de consumo, que sólo conoce esta situación a través de los medios de comunicación. There are many films from the so-called independent cinema that denounce the age of globalization, consumerism, the irrationality of the irritating nationalisms, the predominant role of mass media, xenophobia. I had to restrict myself to three films that due to their similarities helped me to study the linguistic film signs, whose semantic constituents aim to condemn these aspects that are part of the so-called age of globalization. The denunciation is not made from the ideological commitment but from the ethical commitment, as the only way towards historical regeneration. The epic and lyrical structure of these films, similar to the Castilian ballad, focuses on the existencial hero facins people’s bad fate. All the narrative elements – language, structura, point of view– are directed towards the historical determinism of the characters, towards the denunciation of the historical drama of the under-developed countries, and towards nihilism from a philosophical point of view. In front of this ideological denunciation, which is part of the epic existence, the ethical commitment of the characters appears, maybe from the director himself, and which gives the lyrical character to the text. The solidarity among each other rescues mankind from the moral poverty in which he is immersed from centuries of fratricidal fight and from poverty facing the so-called consumer society, which only knows this situation from mass media

Background: Abortion was legalized in Nepal in September 2002 by the amendment to the “Muluki Ain”. Legal, moral and ethical issues surrounding abortion make research on all aspects of abortion difficult to undertake. The objective of this study is to assess knowledge and attitude regarding abortion among women of reproductive age group (15-45 years). Methods: This study was a descriptive and conducted in Manipal Teaching Hospital (MTH), Pokhara, Nepal. The tools were demographic proforma, knowledge questionnaire and attitude scale on abortion. Data was collected by asking questions regarding abortion. The total sample was 100 and the sampling technique was purposive. The data were analyzed using Excel 2007, SPSS for Windows Version 16.0 Results: The majority (83%) of the participant were of age group 15-30years, most (70%) of them were married, most (82%) of them were Hindu. The majority of the participants (95%) had heard regarding Abortion. About half (55%) got information from mass media. Most (58%) of the women are having average knowledge regarding Abortion, and the remaining 4% is having poor knowledge. The majority (90%) of the women have a good attitude and no one is having an unfavorable attitude. There is a significant association between knowledge and level of education. There is a positive correlation between knowledge and attitude. Conclusion: Though the majority of the women had a good attitude regarding abortion, still few women i.e. 4% attending MTH don’t have good knowledge. Key Words: Abortion, Attitude, knowledge, Reproductive Age

Nowadays changes’ vector related to the information and technological novelties presently shifts: from technical, economic and legal fields - to the socio-cultural dimension. Following the production sectors, other areas of life became the objects of conscious and deliberate innovative activities, that allow us to fix the transition towards an innovative model of social and cultural development, and the corresponding increase in the value of Intellectual Property institutions in today’s post-industrial world. This is why the innovation has become one of the main types of nowadays practical activity with intellectual or creative content, and it’s perceived as an essential precondition for further civilized development. The intellectual property may be considered as a specific kind of original information, objectified in appropriate form. The core of any intellectual property object is innovation. The latter may even be understood as its inner substance. And the knowledge should be esteemed as a prelude to innovative or creative process. In the article, the main attention was focused on the dialectics of development of our Information reality that is changing gradually, but inevitably. The most controversial point is to keep the balance between the principle of Freedom of information (including free Internet, independent mass-media, privacy on the Web, anonymous sources for press and journalism activity), on the one hand, and the principle of informational safety and public security (i.e. the possibility of state power to resist an external informational aggression, to block disinformation attempts, to prevent manipulations with information that may be really dangerous or harmful to the society in different aspects), on the other hand. The general vision of today’s Information space evolution is expressed as an ambiguous process, which implies both the advantages and disadvantages of this new kind of reality. Eventually, this means the existence of the dark side of mentioned processes, and the bright one. It all depends on how people will actually use these technological tools. That’s why the state should always remain the sentinel of this fragile balance between the Freedom of Information in all possible ways, and the Censorship that may be expressed in soft or hard forms. The other matter is an Intellectual Property protection mechanism in this new information reality, including international and local legislation, judicial practice, as well as mental, moral and ethical, sociocultural, economic and even geopolitical aspects of IP protection. Everyone should respect the related Laws, and individual commercial & noncommercial rights of authors or possessors. But, simultaneously, this realm of social-economic and legal relations - called "intellectual property" - should be reconsidered deeply, as technological and sociocultural conditions have changed substantially. That’s why we consider the current global IP protection system as the olden one. It must be modernized, and this modernization should be definitely commenced by its liberalization.

On Wednesday 21 April the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts introduced a piece of legislation into the Australian Senate to regulate the way Australians use the Internet. This legislation is presented within Australia's existing system of content regulation, a scheme that the Minister describes is not censorship, but merely regulation (Alston 55). Underlying Senator Alston's rhetoric about the protection of children from snuff film makers, paedophiles, drug pushers and other criminals, this long anticipated bill is aimed at reducing the amount of pornographic materials available via computer networks, a censorship regime in an age when regulation and classification are the words we prefer to use when society draws the line under material we want to see, but dare not allow ourselves access to. Regardless of any noble aspirations expressed by free-speech organisations such as Electronic Frontiers Australia relating to the defence of personal liberty and freedom of expression, this legislation is about porn. Under the Bill, Australia would proscribe our citizens from accessing: explicit depictions of sexual acts between consenting adults; mild non-violent fetishes; depictions of sexual violence, coercion or non-consent of any kind; depictions of child sexual abuse, bestiality, sexual acts accompanied by offensive fetishes, or exploitative incest fantasies; unduly detailed and/or relished acts of extreme violence or cruelty; explicit or unjustifiable depictions of sexual violence against non-consenting persons; and detailed instruction or encouragement in matters of crime or violence or the abuse of proscribed drugs. (OFLC) The Australian public, as a whole, favour the availability of sexually explicit materials in some form, with OFLC data indicating a relatively high degree of public support for X rated videos, the "high end" of the porn market (Paterson et al.). In Australia strict regulation of X rated materials in conventional media has resulted in a larger illegal market for these materials than the legalised sex industries of the ACT and Northern Territory (while 1.2 million X rated videos are legally sold out of the territories, 2 million are sold illegally in other jurisdictions, according to Patten). In Australia, censorship of media content has traditionally been based on the principles of the protection of society from moral harm and individual degradation, with specific emphasis on the protection of innocents from material they are not old enough for, or mentally capable of dealing with (Joint Select Committee on Video Material). Even when governments distanced themselves from direct personal censorship (such as Don Chipp's approach to the censorship of films and books in the late 1960s and early 1970s) and shifted the rationale behind censorship from prohibition to classification, the publicly stated aims of these decisions have been the support of existing community standards, rather than the imposition of strict legalistic moral values upon an unwilling society. In the debates surrounding censorship, and especially the level of censorship applied (rather than censorship as a whole), the question "what is the community we are talking about here?" has been a recurring theme. The standards that are applied to the regulation of media content, both online and off, are often the focus of community debate (a pluralistic community that obviously lacks "standards" by definition of the word). In essence the problem of maintaining a single set of moral and ethical values for the treatment of media content is a true political dilemma: a problem that lacks any form of solution acceptable to all participants. Since the introduction of the Internet as a "mass" medium (or more appropriately, a "popular" one), government indecision about how best to treat this new technology has precluded any form or content regulation other than the ad hoc use of existing non-technologically specific law to deal with areas of criminal or legally sanctionable intent (such as the use of copyright law, or the powers under the Crimes Act relating to the improper use of telecommunications services). However, indecision in political life is often associated with political weakness, and in the face of pressure to act decisively (motivated again by "community concern"), the Federal government has decided to extend the role of the Australian Broadcasting Authority to regulate and impose a censorship regime on Australian access of morally harmful materials. It is important to note the government's intention to censor access, rather than content of the Internet. While material hosted in Australia (ignoring, of course, the "cyberspace" definitions of non-territorial existence of information stored in networks) will be censored (removed from Australia computers), the government, lacking extraterritorial powers to compel the owners of machines located offshore, intends to introduce of some form of refused access list to materials located in other nations. What is interesting to consider in this context is the way that slight shifts of definitional paradigm alter the way this legislation can be considered. If information flows (upon which late capitalism is becoming more dependent) were to be located within the context of international law governing the flow of waterways, does the decision to prevent travel of morally dubious material through Australia's informational waterways impinge upon the riparian rights of other nations (the doctrine of fair usage without impeding flow; Godana 50)? Similarly, if we take Smith's extended definition of community within electronic transactional spaces (the maintenance of members' commitment to the group, monitoring and sanctioning behaviour and the production and distribution of resources), then the current Bill proposes the regulation of the activities of one community by another (granted, a larger community that incorporates the former). Seen in this context, this legislation is the direct intervention in an established social order by a larger and less homogeneous group. It may be trite to quote the Prime Minister's view of community in this context, where he states ...It is free individuals, strong communities and the rule of law which are the best defence against the intrusive power of the state and against those who think they know what is best for everyone else. (Howard 21) possibly because the paradigm in which this new legislation is situated does not classify those Australians online (who number up to 3 million) as a community in their own right. In a way the Internet users of Australia have never identified themselves as a community, nor been asked to act in a communitarian manner. While discussions about the value of community models when applied to the Internet are still divided, there are those who argue that their use of networked services can be seen in this light (Worthington). What this new legislation does, however, is preclude the establishment of public communities in order to meet the desires of government for some limits to be placed on Internet content. The Bill does allow for the development of "restricted access systems" that would allow pluralistic communities to develop and engage in a limited amount of self-regulation. These systems include privately accessible Intranets, or sites that restrict access through passwords or some other form of age verification technique. Thus, ignoring the minimum standards that will be required for these communities to qualify for some measure of self-regulatory freedom, what is unspoken here is that specific subsections of the Internet population may exist, provided they keep well away from the public gaze. A ghetto without physical walls. Under the Bill, a co-regulatory approach is endorsed by the government, favouring the establishment of industry codes of practice by ISPs and (or) the establishment of a single code of practice by the content hosting industry (content developers are relegated to yet undetermined complementary state legislation). However, this section of the Bill, in mandating a range of minimum requirements for these codes of practice, and denying plurality to the content providers, places an administrative imperative above any communitarian spirit. That is, that the Internet should have no more than one community, it should be an entity bound by a single guiding set of principles and be therefore easier to administer by Australian censors. This administrative imperative re-encapsulates the dilemma faced by governments dealing with the Internet: that at heart, the broadcast and print press paradigms of existing censorship regimes face massive administrative problems when presented with a communications technology that allows for wholesale publication of materials by individuals. Whereas the limited numbers of broadcasters and publishers have allowed the development of Australia's system of classification of materials (on a sliding scale from G to RC classifications or the equivalent print press version), the new legislation introduced into the Senate uses the classification scheme simply as a censorship mechanism: Internet content is either "ok" or "not ok". From a public administration perspective, this allows government to drastically reduce the amount of work required by regulators and eases the burden of compliance costs by ISPs, by directing clear and unambiguous statements about the acceptability of existing materials placed online. However, as we have seen in other areas of social policy (such as the rationalisation of Social Security services or Health), administrative expedience is often antipathetic to small communities that have special needs, or cultural sensitivities outside of mainstream society. While it is not appropriate to argue that public administration creates negative social impacts through expedience, what can be presented is that, where expedience is a core aim of legislation, poor administration may result. For many Australian purveyors of pornography, my comments will be entirely unhelpful as they endeavour to find effective ways to spoof offshore hosts or bone up (no pun intended) on tunnelling techniques. Given the easy way in which material can be reconstituted and relocated on the Internet, it seems likely that some form of regulatory avoidance will occur by users determined not to have their content removed or blocked. For those regulators given the unenviable task of censoring Internet access it may be worthwhile quoting from Sexing the Cherry, in which Jeanette Winterson describes the town: whose inhabitants are so cunning that to escape the insistence of creditors they knock down their houses in a single night and rebuild them elsewhere. So the number of buildings in the city is always constant but they are never in the same place from one day to the next. (43) Thus, while Winterson saw this game as a "most fulfilling pastime", it is likely to present real administrative headaches to ABA regulators when attempting to enforce the Bill's anti-avoidance clauses. The Australian government, in adapting existing regulatory paradigms to the Internet, has overlooked the informal communities who live, work and play within the virtual world of cyberspace. In attempting to meet a perceived social need for regulation with political and administrative expedience, it has ignored the potentially cohesive role of government in developing self-regulating communities who need little government intervention to produce socially beneficial outcomes. In proscribing activity externally to the realm in which these communities reside, what we may see is a new type of community, one whose desire for a feast of flesh leads them to evade the activities of regulators who operate in the "meat" world. What this may show us is that in a virtual environment, the regulators' net is no match for a world wide web. References Alston, Richard. "Regulation is Not Censorship." The Australian 13 April 1999: 55. Paterson, K., et. al. Classification Issues: Film, Video and Television. Sydney: The Office of Film and Literature Classification, 1993. Patten, F. Personal interview. 9 Feb. 1999. Godana, B.A. Africa's Shared Water Resources: Legal and Institutional Aspects of the Nile, Niger and Senegal River Systems. London: Frances Pinter, 1985. Howard, John. The Australia I Believe In: The Values, Directions and Policy Priorities of a Coalition Government Outlined in 1995. Canberra: Liberal Party, 1995. Joint Select Committee On Video Material. Report of the Joint Select Committee On Video Material. Canberra: APGS, 1988. Office of Film and Literature Classification. Cinema & Video Ratings Guide. 1999. 1 May 1999 <http://www.oflc.gov.au/classinfo.php>. Smith, Marc A. "Voices from the WELL: The Logic of the Virtual Commons." 1998. 2 Mar. 1999 <http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/soc/csoc/papers/voices/Voices.htm>. Winterson, Jeanette. Sexing the Cherry. New York: Vintage Books. 1991. Worthington, T. Testimony before the Senate Select Committee on Information Technologies. Unpublished, 1999. Citation reference for this article MLA style: Peter Chen. "Community without Flesh: First Thoughts on the New Broadcasting Services Amendment (Online Services) Bill 1999." M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 2.3 (1999). [your date of access] <http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/9905/bill.php>. Chicago style: Peter Chen, "Community without Flesh: First Thoughts on the New Broadcasting Services Amendment (Online Services) Bill 1999," M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 2, no. 3 (1999), <http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/9905/bill.php> ([your date of access]). APA style: Author. (1999) Community without flesh: first thoughts on the new broadcasting services amendment (online services) bill 1999. M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 2(3). <http://www.uq.edu.au/mc/9905/bill.php> ([your date of access]).

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2004.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: According to recent research done in the field of media ethics, it seems that there is a need to complement studies on systematic normative ethics with more flexible theories such as those proposed by the field of Philosophy and Sociology. This assignment would like to prove that a more holistic model of moral reasoning should be considered based on the point of departure that the media and media practitioners find themselves in a postmodern world. The aim of this assignment is to examine the possibility of a postmodern ethics as a more authentic attempt by which the concept media ethics can be understood and applied. This assignment is a contribution towards the re-examination of media ethics in terms of a postmodern understanding of reality, truth and meaning, as well as an exploration of their practical implications in the context of a postmodern society such as South Africa and its media. According to the postmodern understanding of the concepts truth and meaning in relation to the postmodern understanding of reality, the postulated principles will define responsible journalism (media ethics) as journalistic action that takes into account how people (news consumers and sources of news) form their understanding of reality in a postmodern context. What purports to be reality in the news is inevitably a reconstruction of reality that fits the needs and requirements of journalistic practice. In this light, responsible journalism can be understood as journalistic action that creates a more holistic, authentic understanding of "reality" and how people understand themselves and others in the world they live in. Most people are informed by the media about themes such as the cloning of human beings, the war in Iraq, the attack on the World Trade Centre and genocide in Rwanda and not because of having been there themselves (direct experience). The way in which the media reports about events does influence the way in which media users make sense of the world in which they live.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Na aanleiding van onlangse navorsing gedoen in die gebied van media-etiek, blyk daar 'n behoefte te wees om sistematiese normatiewe etiek met meer omvattende teorieë aan te vul, soos voorgestel in die studie rigtings van Filosofie en Sosiologie. Hierdie werkopdrag wil bewys dat, indien in ag geneem word dat die perswese homself in 'n postmoderne wêreld bevind, 'n meer holistiese modeloorweeg kan word vir diskoerse in media-etiek. Die doel van die werkopdrag is om die moontlikheid van 'n postmoderne etiek te ondersoek as 'n meer outentieke benadering waarvolgens die konsep media-etiek verstaan en aangewend kan word. Die werkopdrag lewer 'n bydrae ten op sigte van 'n herevaluasie van media-etiek in terme van 'n postmodernistiese lees van realiteit, waarheid en betekenis. Die praktiese implikasies van 'n postmoderne media-etiek in die konteks van 'n postmoderne samelewing, soos dié van Suid-Afrika en die Suid-Afrikaanse media, salondersoek word. Na aanleiding van 'n postmoderne interpretasie van die konsepte waarheid, betekenis en realiteit, stel die werkopdrag 'n raamwerk voor waarbinne verantwoordelike joernalistiek op etiese wyse beoefen word en rekening hou met die postmoderne interpretasie van die samelewing. Dit is onvermydelik dat dit wat as werklikheid in die nuus daargestel word, 'n rekonstruksie van die werklikheid is om aan die behoeftes van joernalistieke praktyke te voldoen. In die lig van bogenoemde, kan verantwoordelike joernalistiek gedefinieer word as joernalistieke optrede wat 'n meer holistiese, outentieke interpretasie van die werklikheid en begrip van die leefwêreld oordra.

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2003.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: When South Africa's President, Thabo Mbeki, began doubting that HfV was the cause of AIDS in the late nineties, the debate he introduced in his country was not new; it had raged in the United States as far back as a decade ago. But, even prior to that, there had been numerous controversies pertaining to the discovery of the Ill-virus. This thesis argues that those contentions created such a heated atmosphere that the causal debates that were to follow, however incredible they were, were largely unavoidable. In its coverage of the epidemic, the media were immersed in its own politics. During the early eighties, the gay newspapers in the US felt a personal responsibility to find the cause of a disease that was rapidly killing many of its readers. But, in the process, the often promoted unscientific and dangerous approaches. By the time the AIDS dissident debate had unraveled in the US, the gay media was so suspicious of the anti-gay Reagan government that they frequently advanced dissident arguments. The mainstream and scientific media, on the other hand, were perceived as rigidly supporting government institutions, excluding critical voices. When the dissident debate reached South Africa ten years later, the South African media was completely unprepared. Most journalists had never heard of AIDS dissidents; some had not even heard of HfV or the anti-AIDS drug AZT, that the President had labeled toxic. Begin a new democracy, with a history of white oppression, the black and white media differed immensely on how to cover 'the President's debate'. Criticism of the newly elected ANC government's arguments were often branded racist and unpatriotic, with journalists suffering regular intimidation at the hands of state officials and governmentaligned editors. This thesis examines the development of the politics surrounding the science of AIDS, from the discovery of'HfV up until Thabo Mbeki's controversial contentions. To an equal extent, it looks at the news media's coverage of the process, focusing on the approaches to the debate of various media outlets and individual journalists. It also raises ethical issues, particularly in South Africa, that emerged during one of the most widely reported debates in the country's history. It in no way attempts to provide a quantitative analysis of media coverage and, in the case of the US media, draws heavily on analytical studies conducted at the time. NOTE: In the analysis of the South African media's coverage of the AIDS dissident debate in Part Three: B, issues pertaining to the country's public broadcaster, the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), were not discussed The reason was that the author was the Corporation's Health Correspondent at the time, and therefore too closely involved in the institution in order to provide an objective perspective.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Toe Suid-Afrika se president, Thabo Mbeki, in die laat jare negentig begin het om die oorsaak van VIGS in twyfel te trek, was die debat wat hy in sy land ingelei het, nie nuut nie; dit reeds 'n dekade tevore in die VSA gewoed. Maar, selfs voor daardie debat, was daar 'n hewige omstredenheid wat met die ontdekking van die MI-virus verband gehou het. Hierdie tesis argumenteer dat daardie omstredenheid so 'n driftige atmosfeer geskep het, dat die debat oor die oorsaak van VIGS wat sou volg, hoe ongeloofwaardig ook al, grootliks onvermydelik was. Met die dekking van die epidemie was die media in hul eie politiek gedompel. Tydens die vroeë jare tagtig het gay-koerante in die VSA 'n persoonlike verantwoordelikheid gevoel om die oorsaak te vind van 'n siekte wat baie van hulle lesers vinnig laat sterfhet. Maar, in die proses het hulle dikwels onwetenskaplike en gevaarlike benaderings bevorder. Teen die tyd dat die 'oorsaak-debat' in die VSA begin posvat het, was gay-koerante so agterdogtig oor die anti-gay Reagan-regering dat hulle dikwels 'afvallige' argumente aangemoedig het. Die hoofstroommedia en wetenskaplike joernale is aan die ander kant weer gesien as rigiede ondersteuners van regeringsorganisasies, wat kritiese stemme wou stilmaak. Toe die 'oorsaak-debat' Suid-Afrika tien jaar later bereik het, het dit die plaaslike media geheel en alonkant betrap. Die meeste joernaliste het toe nog nooit van 'VIGS-afvalliges' gehoor nie; party nie eens van MIV of die teenvigsmiddel AZT, wat die president as giftig geëtiketteer het nie. Daarby was die land 'n jong demokrasie met 'n geskiedenis van wit onderdrukking, wat meegebring het dat wit en swart media-instansies grotendeels verskil het oor hoe die 'president se debat' gedek moes word. Kritiek teen die nuut verkose ANC-regering se argumente is dikwels as rassisties of onpatrioties afgemaak, en regeringsamptenare of regeringsgesinde redakteurs het gereeld probeer om joernaliste te intimideer. Hierdie proefskrif ondersoek die ontwikkeling van die politiek rondom die wetenskap van VIGS, van die ontdekking van MIV tot en met Thabo Mbeki se omstrede argumente. Dit kyk ook na die nuusdekking van die proses, deur op die benaderings van verskeie media-instansies asook individuele joernalistse te fokus. Dit bespreek ook etiese kwessies wat tydens nuusdekking na vore gekom het, veral in Suid-Afrika, waar hierdie debat van die wydste nuusdekking óóit in die geskiedenis van die land geniet het. Dit poog geensins om 'n kwantitatiewe analise van mediadekking te verskaf nie, en waar die Amerikaanse media beskou word, word daar sterk gesteun op analitiese studies wat tydens die duur van die debat uitgevoer is. NOTA: In die analise van die Suid-Afrikaanse media se dekking van die 'oorsaak-debat' in Deel 3:B word kwessies wat met die nuusdekking van die land se openbare uitsaaier, die Suid-Afrikaanse Uitsaaikorporasie (SA UK), verband hou, nie bespreek nie. Die rede is dat die outeur die korporasie se gesondheidskorrespondent was, en was daarom te nou verbind aan die korporasie om 'n objektiewe perspektiefte verseker.

Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2005.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis focuses on the representation of women in media aimed at women. A critical examination of visual communication (magazines, advertising and visual story-telling1) will demonstrate that the media may be regarded as highly influential in the way women perceive their bodies, reproduction and sexuality. I begin by examining the presentation of the ‘ideal’ woman as an instance of the Pygmalion complex. This reading of the media’s formulation of the female ideal aims to demonstrate the psychological effects of the Pygmalion complex on women, and illustrates how the resultant striving for perfection drives production and consumption. I shall demonstrate how the image of the ‘ideal’ woman is increasingly more sophisticated and convincingly portrayed through the use of digital manipulation, plastic surgery, excessive dieting and exercise regimes. I propose that the average woman is left feeling inadequate and is undermined by the voice of her own cultural representation. This thesis also investigates the persistence of the virgin / whore binary in the media’s depiction of female sexuality. I propose that this is an essentialist and dualistic presentation of female sexuality as either ‘good’ (surrendered, submissive and conforming – i.e. the virgin); or ‘bad’ (transgressive, explicit, dangerous and destructive – i.e. the whore). I further suggest that this polarised appropriation of women’s sexuality deprives women of ownership of their own sexuality. I also propose that the media’s treatment of female sexuality presents women as being in competition within one another for male attention and approval and that this representation damages female solidarity. Finally I demonstrate that pornography has infiltrated all aspects of popular culture, from magazines to music videos. My hypothesis is that this use of pornographic conventions depicts the rape and abuse of women as normative, commonplace and even entertaining, and that this has a detrimental effect on both women’s and men’s sexual and social wellbeing.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis is gerig op hoe vroue in die media wat op vroue gerig is, verbeeld word. 'n Kritiese ondersoek van visuele kommunikasie (in tydskrifte, reklame en visuele verhaling2) sal toon hoe die media as uiters invloedryk beskou kan word ten opsigte van hoe vroue hul eie liggame, voortplanting en seksualiteit beskou. Ek begin deur die voorstelling van die 'ideale' vrou as 'n voorbeeld van die Pygmalionkompleks te ondersoek. Hierdie beskouing van die media se formulering van die ideaal van vrouwees is daarop gerig om die sielkundige effek van die Pygmalion-kompleks op vroue te demonstreer en illustreer hoe produksie en verbruik deur die strewe na perfeksie wat as gevolg van hierdie formulering ontstaan, aangedryf word. Ek sal toon hoe die beeld van die 'ideale' vrou, as meer en meer gesofistikeerd, oortuigend weergegee word deur middel van digitale manipulasie, plastiese snykunde, oormatige volg van diëte en oefenprogramme. Ek voer aan dat die gemiddelde vrou hierdeur met die gevoel gelaat word dat sy tekortskiet en ondermyn word deur die boodskap van die publikasies wat haar eie kulturele beeld verwoord. Hierdie tesis ondersoek ook die volhardendheid van die tweeledige voorstelling van vroulike seksualiteit in die beelding van maagd en hoer wat in die media aangebied word. Ek voer aan dat dit 'n wesenlike en dualistiese voorstelling van vroulike seksualiteit as óf 'goed' (uitgelewer, gedwee en konformerend – d.w.s. die maagd), óf 'sleg' (oortredend/sondig, eksplisiet, gevaarlik en vernietigend – d.w.s. die hoer) is. Ek stel verder voor dat hierdie gepolariseerde toe-eiening van die vrou se seksualiteit vrouens van eienaarskap van hul eie seksualiteit ontneem. Ek stel ook voor dat die voorstelling van die vrou se seksualiteit soos dit in die media aangebied word, suggereer dat vrouens ter wille van die aandag van 'n man en om goedkeuring te wen met mekaar kompeteer en dat hierdie voorstelling skade doen aan die gevoel van solidariteit tussen vroue. Ten slotte demonstreer ek hoe pornografie reeds alle aspekte van die populêre kultuur vanaf tydskrifte tot musiekvideos binnegedring het. My hipotese is dat hierdie gebruik van pornografiese konvensies die verkragting en mishandeling van vroue as normatief, alledaags en selfs vermaaklik uitbeeld en dat dit 'n nadelige effek het op die seksuele en die sosiale welsyn van mans sowel as vroue.

This research is premised on the understanding that media texts are discourses and that all discourses are functional, that is, they refer to things, issues and events, in meaningful and goal oriented ways. Nine articles are analysed to explicate the sorts of discourses that were promoted by The Chronicle during the Gukurahundi conflict in Zimbabwe between 1982 and 1986. It is argued that discourses in the news media are shaped by the role(s), the type(s) of journalism assumed by such media, and by the political environment in which the news media operate. The interplay between the roles, types of journalism practised, and the effect the political environment has on news discourses is assessed within the context of conflictual situations. This is done using insights from the theoretical position of peace journalism and its critique of professional or mainstream journalism as promoting war/violence journalism. Using the case of The Chronicle's reportage of the Gukurahundi conflict in Zimbabwe, it is concluded that, in performing the collaborative role, state owned/controlled media assume characteristics of war/violence journalism. On the other hand, it is concluded that The Chronicle developed practices consistent with peace journalism when it both espoused the facilitative role and journalistic objectivity. These findings undermine the conventional view among proponents of peace journalism that in times of conflict, the news media should be interventionist in favour of peace and that they should abandon the journalistic norm of objectivity which they argue, promotes war/violence journalism.

Thesis (MPhil) -- University of Stellenbosch, 2004.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The advancement of news technology in the last few decades has lead to an information explosion of an unprecedented scope. Twenty-four hour a day news channels, electronic publications, the Internet, and a proliferation of print publications feed this media explosion. Coupled with this has been the growth of a celebrity culture, where the lives of the rich and famous have been placed under intense scrutiny. Commercial interests also have to be taken into account. It is conventional wisdom that sensational news sells newspapers. This news is not limited to celebrity news, but encompasses crime reporting as well as high profile scandals affecting ordinary people. As the news becomes more ubiquitous, the competition becomes tougher and the pressure to print what sells grows. The other commercial pressure is that of the marketers of the entertainment industry who have a vested interest in having the stars of their movies, music and television shows enjoy a high media profile. This study aims to determine whether the South Africa media has shown a trend towards reporting a more sensational and celebrity based form of news. It seeks to discover whether the South African news has become tabloidised. This will be done by analysing the content and presentation of the front page of The Cape Times, a Cape Town based broadsheet, over the period of several years. This will be used as a measure to determine whether or not the content and form of the South African media is following a trend to tabloidisation.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die vooruitgang in mediategnologie aan die einde van die twintigste eeu het tot 'n oorvloed van inligting gelei. Nuuskanale wat vier-en-twintig uur per dag uitsaai, elektroniese publikasies, asook die Internet en die groei van die drukmedia het hierdie verskynselondersteun. Tegelykertyd het die media in die jongste dekades meer begin fokus op die lewens van beroemdes. Kommersiële faktore moet ook in ag geneem word. Met die groei van die media is meer druk geplaas op individuele nuusorganisasies om winste te maak. Dit is alombekend dat sensasionele nuus verkoop. Hierdie soort nuus is nie net gefokus op beroemdes nie, maar ook op misdaad en skandale deur gewone mense. Bemarkingsamptenare van die vermaaklikheidsbedryf moedig nuus oor beroemdes aan, want dit help om hul produkte te verkoop as hul sterre dekking kry. Hierdie studie wil vasstelof die media in Suid Afrika wel meer fokus op sensasionele nuus, ten koste van meer ernstige nuus. Dit wil vasstelof die Suid- Afrikaanse media die kenmerke van poniekoerante begin toon. The Cape Times, 'n Kaapse koerant, se voorblad is ontleed oor 'n tydperk van enkele jare. Die nuusinhoud asook voorkoms van die koerant is bestudeer om vas te stelof die koerant in 'n poniekoerant ontwikkel. Hierdie koerant is gebruik as 'n voorbeeld van die Suid-Afrikaanse media.

The thesis “When birthing makes the news: the depiction of women as a newsworthy item in Die Burger (Oos-Kaap)” analyses a common, yet complex news topic in the South African print media due to the sensitive, often sensationalised, nature of the topic. The private experience of birthing is featured more and more in the public domain of newspapers because of widespread service delivery problems within the South African health department. Focussing on the Eastern Cape, I examine the representation of birthing in Die Burger (Oos-Kaap) in texts printed between 2005 and 2007, and scrutinise the media’s monitorial role of a self-appointed public hero acting on behalf of the women, to expose the poor conditions at government hospitals, specifically in the Nelson Mandela Bay region. How the women and their bodies are reported on, creates a discursive tension between the negative portrayals of the birthing women and the monitorial role of the media. The news values of sensationalism and profit are achieved with visceral representations of the reproductive functions of the birthing women. A poststructuralist feminist theoretical framework reveals discourses that perpetuate race, class and gender inequalities in the apparently socially-concerned sample of texts. A Critical discourse analysis (CDA) provides an approach and method to inform a close textual analysis of both the lexical and visual elements of the texts. The discourses in the sample differed from text to text. Despite these differences, the monitorial role of the media is still achieved. My research argues that acting in the public interest with sensationalist copy is still acting in the public interest. I conclude that it is not easy for newspapers to separate sensationalism from accountability. Media practitioners should be aware of their role in constructing women’s identities and be particularly thoughtful when reporting on birthing. In doing so, this research aims to improve the manner in which women and their bodies are reported on within the news industry.

The media, through development communication and edutainment, plays a critical role in the transformation of societies. In line with this, this thesis discusses the extent to which commercially driven prosocial soap operas can provide a platform for public health messaging, in the context of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in South Africa, for antiretroviral treatment (ART) and for encouraging ART adherence to foster national development. Furthermore, this thesis examined the potential of celebrities as HIV/AIDS ambassadors and the potential of both fictional characters and ‘real-life’ celebrities to disseminate these health messages. Although the HIV/AIDS epidemic in South Africa is stabilising, this is not the time to relax the communication around the disease, particularly regarding adherence to ARVs, considering that South Africa has the largest ARV rollout in the world. The qualitative methodological approach taken for this thesis is a three-step approach examining the intended message, the text and the appropriated message by viewers. Firstly, a thematic content analysis of an episode of Isidingo, that illustrated Nandipha as HIV-positive and the side-effects that came with her ART adherence, and the 3Talk interview with Lesego Motsepe, where she announced that she was weaning herself off ART, was done in order to understand the intended health messaging in the soap opera and the health message disseminated by an HIV-positive actress with regards to ART. Thereafter interview responses by the production team as well as by HIV-positive viewers, using ARVs, were thematised. In addition media texts which provided commentary on the use of a celebrity as a HIV-positive role model were examined. In doing this, this thesis has offered up the meanings of how HIV-positive women taking ARVs and living in Makana experience and understand the media, particularly health messaging relating to ARVs. The findings of this study suggest that commercial soap operas are the perfect platform to address HIV/AIDS and that prosocial health messaging regarding ARV adherence is still necessary in this country. Soap operas have the potential to have an educational angle. Although, HIV-positive individuals serve as better role models as they are authentic; given human nature, fictional characters, such as Nandipha Matabane in Isidingo, may be more sustainable role models as their message can be scientifically-based and well-researched. Realistic characters serve as role models whose behaviour is to be emulated. Soap operas appeal to a wide audience and so storylines can be tailor-made according to the times and the needs in terms of health issues and messaging. Thus, soap operas are not a single platform but rather one which can be exploited to maximum advantage for public health messaging.