Lexington Books
Pages: 258
•
Trim: 6⅜ x 9⅜
978-1-7936-0100-1 • Hardback • November 2019 • $117.00 • (£90.00)
978-1-7936-0101-8 • eBook • November 2019 • $111.00 • (£85.00)
Gwyneth Mellinger is director of the School of Media Arts & Design at James Madison University.
John P. Ferré is professor of communication at the University of Louisville.
Introduction: Journalism’s Ethical Progression
Gwyneth Mellinger
Chapter 1: The Progressive Era’s Social Awakening and the Soul of the News
Ronald R. Rodgers
Chapter 2: A “Failure to Take Itself Seriously”: The Canons of Journalism and the Model of Inaction
Ken J. Ward
Chapter 3: The Lippmann-Dewey “Debate”: Roles and Responsibilities of Journalists in a Democratic Society
Tim Klein and Elisabeth Fondren
Chapter 4: Francis Biddle and the Jennings Case in 1934-35: A Labor Union, the First Amendment, and Government Oversight
Patrick S. Washburn and Michael S. Sweeney
Chapter 5: Dorothy Day and The Catholic Worker’s Legacy of Pacifism
Bailey Dick
Chapter 6: War Correspondents, Women’s Interests, and World War II
Carolyn M. Edy
Chapter 7: Conflicts of Interest in Journalism: Debating a Post-Hutchins Ethical Self-Consciousness
Gwyneth Mellinger
Chapter 8: Ethical Duty and the Right to Know: Sam Ragan’s Crusades to Provide the Public with Access to Information
Erin K. Coyle
Chapter 9: “Blackening Up Journalism”: An Ethical Imperative for Newsroom Diversity
Gwyneth Mellinger and Erin K. Coyle
Conclusion: Journalism Ethics Now and Then
John P. Ferré
This sterling book is a showcase of quality scholarship, with a readability index of ten. Contrary to the anthology genre, every chapter without exception is rigorous and path-breaking. Its cohesion is marvelous, the result of prior collaborations, and the masterpiece essays of introduction and conclusion. Journalism's Ethical Progression: A Twentieth-Century Journey demonstrates its thesis that the ideas and strategies from critical junctures in history enable our understanding of the complicated issues today.
— Clifford G. Christians, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
This is an enlightening book that helps illustrate how contemporary concepts of media ethics evolved, from the development of ethics codes through the debate over the professionalization of the media industry. The book chronicles how the profession came to understand its own ideals, particularly within the rise and fall of the corporate, non-partisan press. Authors draw from historic trade news articles, company reports, and journalism society records to document creation of ethical standards and the definition of “journalist.”
— Ginny Whitehouse, Eastern Kentucky University