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College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications

Accountability

Publication Year

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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

The Aims Of Public Scholarship In Media Law And Ethics, Erik Ugland Jan 2009

The Aims Of Public Scholarship In Media Law And Ethics, Erik Ugland

College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications

This essay urges scholars in media law and ethics to reevaluate the extent and utility of their public-scholar efforts and to consider ways that they can transfer research-based knowledge to public audiences while also playing a more deliberate role in holding media and government institutions accountable. It suggests that the devolution of standards in mass communication, the increasing encroachments on media autonomy, and the broader collapse of power into fewer hands make this a particularly urgent moment for scholars to reengage the public and to abandon their feckless neutrality on public issues. The overarching aim of public scholars ought to …


The Legitimacy And Moral Authority Of The National News Council (Usa), Erik Ugland Jun 2008

The Legitimacy And Moral Authority Of The National News Council (Usa), Erik Ugland

College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications

As an institution designed to resolve disputes between the public and the American news media and to assess the ethical standards of the mainstream media, the National News Council (1973-84) was, at least in the USA, a ground-breaking institution. This study suggests, however, that the Council's work was anything but revolutionary, and that it probably did more to entrench the received tenets of American journalism than to either validate or refashion them. By applying a conventional set of ethical standards in its resolution of disputes, by repeatedly emphasizing the First Amendment rights of the media respondents, by violating its by-laws …