AHSS*1080 Study Guide - Winter 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - Categorical Imperative, Public Relations, Loyalties 1933 Film
AHSS*1080
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
Ethical Issues in the Media
Intro to Media Ethics
The Potter Box
Norway Terrorist Attack
- On July 22, 2011, a bomb exploded in a car outside the office of Prime Minister Jens
Stoltenberg in Regjeringskvartalet in central Oslo. The powerful blast killed eight people
and injured hundreds. The explosion in the small, and usually peaceful, nation came as
a shock to people around the world.
- As news of the blast spread, Anders Behring Breivik boarded a ferry to the island of
Utoya, 25 miles northwest of Oslo. Breivik was armed, and dressed in a police uniform.
Utoya was the location of a political youth summer cap organized by the Norwegian
Labor Party. Breivik went on a deadly shooting spree at the camp, killing 69 people,
mostly teens.
- Police arrested Breivik when they reached Utoya an hour & half after he commenced his
murderous rampage. Breivik admitted to the killings while being held in police custody
- Hours before the attacks, Breivik e-mailed a 1,500-page manifesto to 5,700 people, titled
2083 -A European Declaration of Independence. In the document Breivik attacks
multiculturalism and the "threat" of Muslim immigration to Norway, as well as Marxism
and the Norwegian Labor Party. Breivik copied large sections of the Unabomber
manifesto. Breivik writes that he is a "savior of Christianity," and claims to be part of an
order called the "Knight's Templar." Breivik was active on anti-Muslim websites.
- http://www.biography.com/people/anders-behring-breivik-20617893#conviction
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
The Potter Box-A Linked System or Organic
Whole
Benefits of the Potter Box
- Normally we make ethical judgments
based on an ‘evocative, expressive level’,
which means without any justifying
reasons (p. 2)
- A pattern of ethical deliberation should be explicitly outlined to demonstrate why a moral
judgment is justified (p. 2)
- also allows for future decisions to be made, perhaps by changing policies (p. 9)
- allows for ways to overcome conflicts between different values and moral principles that
would seem to prevent any action from taking place, or making it seem like there isn’t a
‘right’ answer
Using the Potter Box
a. Quadrant 1 - Definition - Summarize key details of the situation.
- For the Norway case, this meant the details of the attack, information on the
terrorist, the results of his trial
- There can be an excessive amount of information, so only include the most
relevant details that apply to the ethical issue (p. 5)
b. Quadrant 2 - Values
In Breivik case, the relevant values were:
1. legal value, obey and enforce the law
2. compassion for victims
3. social value, expecting public to stay peaceful and not retaliate
4. white-supremacy values of Breivik
5. professional values, the public’s right to know
- Often, media professionals stop at this stage and implement one of these values
- However, they often conflict and need to be put into context
- Good and bad values are competing with each other here
- no judgment can be properly made yet without the normativity of the next
quadrant
c. Quadrant 3 - Moral principles
In the Breivik case, two moral principles seem the most relevant here
1. telling the truth, and the Kantian Categorical Imperative (in all reporting on the
events, the trial and in the aftermath)
2. other-regarding care given the enormous tragedy its effects on the victims and
their friends and family
d. Quadrant 4 - Loyalties - Where do loyalties lie when making a final decision or to
adopt a particular policy?
- How should this situation be covered? Protect the victims? Air Breivik’s
manifesto?
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
