Book by UW–Madison professor explores new media ethics

A new book on media ethics by University of Wisconsin–Madison professor Stephen J. A. Ward explores the leading issues in global, online media.

The book, “Ethics and the Media: An Introduction” was just published by Cambridge University Press.

This book is a comprehensive introduction to media ethics and an exploration of how it must change to adapt to today’s media revolution.

Using an ethical framework for the new “mixed media” ethics – taking in the global, interactive media produced by both citizens and professionals – Ward discusses the ethical issues which occur in both mainstream and non-mainstream media, from newspapers and broadcast to social media users and bloggers.

In the book, Ward re-defines traditional conceptions of journalistic truth-seeking, objectivity and minimizing harm, and examines the responsible use of images in an image-saturated public sphere.

He also draws the contours of a future media ethics for the “new mainstream media” and puts forward cosmopolitan principles for a global media ethics.