MEDIA ETHICS

FORUM: Andrew Billings, “Ethical Decisions in Olympic Media”

**There are 5 questions that need to be assessed in 2 pages single spaced**

Please write out a 2 page (single spaced APA style) research paper.

Please work on the following:
-Grammar Usage
-Organizing the sections to make it research paper oriented. (Provide Headings and Sub-headings)
-Improve word choice and writing style
-In text citations (APA)
-Flow of my reasoning and concepts

*Avoid Generalizations. Writing should be precise and simple.
I have researched and provided some direct and indirect quotes. DO NOT use the entire quote to fill up space. Choose part of the quote that you find relevant when writing the paper. Research further to fully assess the question.
MODIFY THE OUTLINE AND PRESENT IT IN A RESEARCH PAPER FORMAT.
Go through the entire outline and make every sentence relevant to the next. If a sentence doesn’t make sense delete it. Make ideas relevant to each other and flow well. Also, whenever you make a claim you have to back it up with evidence (find sources).
***Make sure the ideas in the paper flow well. Avoid writing a choppy essay with just a bunch of facts. The paper has to be 2pages single spaced maximum***

Below are the grading criteria from the instructor (He’s a really stringent grader):

The following criteria will be followed in grading papers:
Strong papers will demonstrate superior: (l) precision in addressing the assignment, (2) writing style & usage, (3) organization, (4) understanding and application of theories of ethical reasoning, (5) research and application of primary scholarly sources and sound journalism, (6) citation of reference sources, and (7) use of the APA reference style.
*Always use the five major theories of ethical reasoning to assess any ethical breeches.
1. Utility: Utility focuses on ends-based thinking, where one focuses on the consequences of an action. Utilitarianism is a theory that is based on a two-pronged principle. John Mill’s principle of utility aims to “seek the greatest happiness for the greatest number”
2. Care: focusing on empathy and compassion to others. care promotes the spread of compassion between people. All major religions agree on a golden rule that one should love and treat his or her neighbor as they would to themselves
3. Virtue: Finding a middle state or a fair compromise. a righteous person’s character lies between two extremes
4. Justice: social contact, treating all people the same. It is based on fairness. social contract is a great concept that establishes a fundamental law between people. In order to be completely fair, one must eliminate arbitrary distinctions while focusing on the greater good
5. Duty: duty is considered as a non-consequential ethical theory. The theory embraces the idea of present choices turning into universal laws

1. Briefly explain the basic tenets of each of the five major theories of ethical reasoning (you may have to go back to review your notes from week 2, early chapters in Kieran’s text Media Ethics, and the Christians et al. handout chapter on “Ethical Foundations and Perspectives”).

I have already written about this part before, so just edit the following. Also, use the explanations of the ethical theories below to assess questions 2, 3, and 4.
Five major theories of ethical and moral reasoning have already been formulated to guide one’s thought process as well as to evaluate decisions making. Utility focuses on ends-based thinking, where one focuses on the consequences of an action. Utilitarianism is a theory that is based on a two-pronged principle. John Mill’s principle of utility aims to “seek the greatest happiness for the greatest number” (Christians, 2005, p.17). The theory promotes goodness for all while discouraging pragmatism. Utility is used by policy makers as a moral reasoning mechanism to legislate policies for the public. In comparison to utility, duty is considered as a non-consequential ethical theory. The German philosopher, Immanuel Kant, was known for the categorical imperatives which were unconditional principles that worked regardless of the consequences. Kant believed there were higher truths superior to people’s reasoning and physical world. The deontological theory embraces the idea of present choices turning into universal laws. While the theory of duty helps convert universal laws into actions, some duties have greater values than others. For example, the acts of killing or lying are on opposite sides of the universal scale. Another theory is the theory of virtue of which traces its roots to Confucius’ Golden Mean. Virtue is based on one’s ability to compromise. In Aristotle’s philosophy, a righteous person’s character lies between two extremes which he called the middle state. Resolving competing problems is a great quality in the theory of virtue, yet finding a fair middle state is difficult. The theological based theory of care promotes the spread of compassion between people. All major religions agree on a golden rule that one should love and treat his or her neighbor as they would to themselves. Overall, loving god and humans creates a supreme moral obligation over people to convey good moral reasoning. The fifth theory of ethical and moral reasoning is based on justice. John Locke’s social contract is a great concept that establishes a fundamental law between people. In order to be completely fair, one must eliminate arbitrary distinctions while focusing on the greater good. The theory is centered on a broad scene as opposed to care based theory. In modern times, the justice theory is used as a basis for the affirmative action policy that attempts to resolve inequities. Given these points, the five theories of moral reasoning should be persistently used to resolve ethical dilemmas.

2. How might research findings and considerations presented by Dr. Andrew Billings in his presentation on “Ethical Decisions in Olympic Media’”‘ be viewed as an ethical assessment from the perspective of each of the five major theories of ethical reasoning?

3. What findings from Dr. Billings’ presentation do you find most problematic and demonstrative of ethical breaches? Explain your reasoning and the nature of harm involved in those ethical breaches.
Make sure to make ethical assessments based on each of the ethical theories. If one theory does not apply make sure to explain why. Also, make sure to provide a source for all of your claims.
– “International sporting events such as the Olympic Games provide society with opportunities to increase cultural understanding, but sport has also provided nations with the opportunity to demonstrate athletic achievement and development” (Li, Stokowski, Dittmore, & Scott, 2016, p. 81)
Notes on FORUM: Andrew Billings
-Around the world, the common denominator that most people share is the support and devotion to sports. Sports also, represent different parts of society.
-most people have access to different types of sports media
– currently, sports media are more than just on TV, people now watch sports anywhere they want.
-the audience became the producer, through the use of social media.
-The Olympics is now considered as a “giga” event with 4.8 Billion viewers
-Due to the diversified content consumed by people on Sports media, such images have great impacts
-sports views are increasing
-people are not aware of sports media and their power in impacting society

Ethical Decisions with in the Cult of Distraction:

-Coverage of woman and men in Olympics are different.
-who decides what is” fair” and equitable between men and women coverage in Olympics sports media

-people’s depiction matter, where men more likely to receive strength Comments when succeeding, while women receive inexperience Comments. Found a source: “in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, the commentary regarding American athletes was related to success, while commentary regarding non-American athletes was more likely to be associated with failure and lack of competitiveness” (Angelini, Billings, & Macarthur, 2012)

-sexualized images of women are always apparent in sports media, but, whose responsible for these images? (audience or networks?)

-American coverage in Olympics is 58% for U.S. However, only 11% of the medalists are American
-It’s the role of networks to determine whether people should say “we” or “us” (pronouns) when talking about a sports team. Is it ethical?
-Three are specific events that became “The Olympics” on TV networks, because these are the events that are usually won by U.S. athletes.

-Sports Networks should find a middle ground when deciding on the proportion of men and women coverage. Ultimately, networks want to make profits.
-smugness, nationalism, and patriotism are qualities that are evident within the people mainly due to Sports media. However, internationalism was not high in scale
-cultivated nationalism: should network, control society. Do they Cause damage?
-So, the question is does sports media breed nationalism or reflect them.
-In general, it is useful to understand the role of sports media on society.

4. Using two or more studies from different scholarly journals, compare and contrast social science findings about ethical breaches, harms, and problematic effects of sport, most particularly with regard to gender issues and nationalism, as represented in popular media.
I provided direct quotes from scholarly peer reviewed articles. You have to use two or more studies from different scholarly journals. When writing the paper, try limiting the use of direct quotes. Instead, explain the quote in your own words.
– “In its contemporary hypercommodified form, the ideological contours and ethical sensibilities of the mediasportscape dominate the cultural meanings that are associated with sport. As it fulfills its market roles, mediasport strategically reaches out to us to narrate understandings of sport in the context of broader social relations” (Wenner, 2013, pp. 83-84).
– “Mediasport may exercise unique ideologically force because it blends two celebratory ISA systems—media and sport—each powerful in their own right. Their fusion, particularly in sport-centered consumption narratives that strategically hail us, can mask powers of geometric proportions as they port ideology through pleasurable associations” (Wenner, 2013, p. 84).
– “Historically, sport has been a male practice and continues ideologically as a male domain” (Wenner, 2013, p. 85).
– “It should not be surprising that such privileging through sport continues to create narrative spaces in media that are unduly reliant on the conspicuous absence or “symbolic annihilation” of women” (Wenner, 2013, p. 86).
– “Sport’s gender-drawn lines are reinforced as natural and this eases interpellation in service of market goals” (Wenner, 2013, p. 86).
– “sport fans are both idealized as consumers and have become commodities themselves. As a consequence, sport fans, in both real life “lived experience” and in their idealized narrative imaginings, have their agency increasingly defined and confined by the commodity context while cognizant of their own commodity value” (Wenner, 2013, p. 88).

– “Sport provides an outlet for the public to express national values, pride, and identity.” (Li, Stokowski, Dittmore, & Scott, 2016, p. 80).
– “Team sports, in particular, help promote national identity, building and uniting communities, cities, states, and countries” (Li, Stokowski, Dittmore, & Scott, 2016, p. 80).
– “Agenda setting and framing are two of the most common tools used by the media to associate sport with national identity to influence readers’ perspectives. Initially focused on political communication, agenda setting refers to how the discussion of public events can be shaped and affected by the power of the mass media. Thus, the media not only tell people what to think but also essentially what to think about” (Li, Stokowski, Dittmore, & Scott, 2016, p. 80). Explain how the use of these tools are considered ethical breaches.
– “Sports news and broadcasts have also defined sport media’s agenda setting (McCombs, 2005). For instance, the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the National Football League (NFL) spread brand awareness and increase media exposure by assisting media outlets in selecting the content that will have the largest impact on fan perception” (Li, Stokowski, Dittmore, & Scott, 2016, p. 80).
– “Sport, and particularly the Olympics, has frequently been used to promote macro narratives about national values and ideals, with the result often being a media representation imbued with home-nation interests” (Billings et al., 2013, p. 914)
– “Scholars have found that viewers are more likely to watch if the home nation is overrepresented and that telecasts are more likely to feature favorable comments about athletes from the home team/presumed ‘‘in-group.” This practice causes a high degree of nationalized emotion from the viewing audience” (Billings et al., 2013, p. 915)

5. Suggest realistic strategies for how ethical problems in mediated sports might be improved through policy, market controls, and/or education.
Research Further to suggest how ethical problems might be improved
– “This is not to say that we should be blamed for the state of affairs that is regularly invoked in the mediasport interpellation and more broadly in the tales that encompass our lives in commodity culture. It is merely to say that we are part of the problem. In that gray area between cooptation and consent, we play a role in enabling narrative hegemony” (Wenner, 2013, p. 99).
– “This study illuminates a relatively sophisticated matrix of issues that can relate to nationalism— including Olympic success, overall population, political system, and the form of broadcast network offering the Games” (Billings et al., 2013, p. 929)
– “Media consumption clearly influences all of these attitudes [patriotism, nationalism, internationalism, and smugness], yet subsequent research should continue to interrogate whether this relationship is primary or secondary regarding other conceptions of nation and nationalism” (Billings et al., 2013, p. 929)