Compassion, Morality & the Media

by Keith Professor Tester, Tester

Overview

Why do the reports and representations of suffering and misery move us? What are we likely to do about it and why? Why do people take part in telethon appeals? Most of us have watched television or read newspapers and been moved to compassion by the suffering and misery that we see. We know that many people suffer thanks to war, famine or environmental catastrophe. But what do the reports and representations of the suffering and misery of others actually mean to media users? This book seeks to answer this question and offers an engaging narrative through which it becomes possible to think about the role of journalists as moral agents. The author explores the tensions between the intentions of journalists, the horizons of the audience and the priorities of media institutions.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780335205134
Publisher:	McGraw-Hill Companies, The
Publication date:	03/01/2001
Series:	Issues in Cultural and Media Studies
Pages:	162
Product dimensions:	6.69(w) x 9.61(h) x 0.35(d)

Table of Contents

	Series Editor's Foreword	vii
	Introduction	1
1	Parameters For A Debate	4
	Introduction	4
	Theoretical insights	4
	The intentions of journalists	8
	Conclusion	11
	Further reading	12
2	Compassion Fatigue And The Ethics Of The Journalistic Field	13
	Introduction	13
	An account of journalistic compassion fatigue	14
	The ethic of compassion fatigue	17
	Compassion in the field of practice	23
	The virtues of journalistic practice	27
	The question of manipulation	34
	Conclusion	40
	Note	41
	Further reading	42
3	The Compassion Of The Audience	43
	Introduction	43
	The meaning of the audience	44
	Incommensurability and the media	51
	Media and character	54
	Media and the other directed character	58
	The dimensions of compassion	63
	Conclusion	69
	Note	71
	Further reading	72
4	Lifting The Lid On Compassion	74
	Introduction	74
	Guilt and love	76
	Pictures of children	82
	Universalism and myth	86
	Conventions of the morality play	92
	The 'CNN effect'	97
	Conclusion	102
	Further reading	103
5	Telethons, Investment And Gifts	104
	Introduction	104
	From motivation to investment	107
	Investment and leisure	110
	Telethons	115
	Spurs to investment	118
	The gift of money	123
	Conclusion	128
	Note	130
	Further reading	131
	Conclusion	132
	Glossary	136
	References	140
	Index	145