
As immigration, technological change, and globalization reshape the world, journalism plays a central role in shaping how the public adjusts to moral and material upheaval. This, in turn, raises the ethical stakes for journalism. In short, reporters have a choice in the way they tell these stories: They can spread panic and discontent or encourage adaptation and reconciliation. In Murder in Our Midst, Romayne Smith Fullerton and Maggie Jones Patterson compare journalists' crime coverage decisions in North America and select Western European countries as a key to examine culturally constructed concepts like privacy, public, public right to know, and justice. Drawing from sample news coverage, national and international codes of ethics and style guides, and close to 200 personal interviews with news professionals and academics, they highlight differences in crime news reporting practices and emphasize how crime stories both reflect and shape each nation's attitudes in unique ways. Murder in Our Midst is both an empirical look at varying journalistic styles and an ethical evaluation of whether particular story-telling approaches do or do not serve the practice of democracy.
This book investigates how journalistic practices regarding crime coverage reflect and influence cultural attitudes toward justice, privacy, and the public interest in North America and Western Europe. Authors Maggie Jones Patterson and Romayne Smith Fullerton, both established scholars in media ethics and journalism, utilize a comparative framework to analyze how news organizations navigate the moral complexities of reporting on crime. By contrasting different national approaches, the authors argue that the storytelling methods employed by journalists serve as a critical indicator of a society's commitment to democratic values and social reconciliation.
What You Will Find
Scope Limits
Experts highlight this work as a significant contribution to the study of comparative media ethics and the sociology of news. Readers frequently note the academic rigor of the research and the clarity with which the authors connect specific reporting styles to broader societal outcomes.
Page Count:
309
Publication Date:
2020-01-01
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
ISBN-10:
0190863560
ISBN-13:
9780190863562
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