Deck 11: Media Ethics

Question 1

A basic ethical principle in Judeo-Christian belief, which dominates most Western societies, the __________ is often cited as "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

A) Compassion Command
B) Reciprocal Rule
C) Golden Mean
D) Golden Rule

Answer 1

D

Question 2

A __________ approach to ethics emphasizes the individual's choices within a prescribed framework.

A) virtue-based
B) duty-based
C) utilitarian
D) dialogical

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Social marketing operates under __________ principles.

A) virtue-based
B) duty-based
C) utilitarian
D) dialogical

Answer 3

C

Question 4

The oldest ethical system, with roots in some of the earliest religions, is based on __________.

A) character
B) duties
C) consequences
D) relationships

Question 5

Egalitarian philosophers believe that what is ethical is whatever brings the most __________ or fairness to everyone.

A) profit
B) social justice
C) peace
D) recognition

Question 6

Utilitarianism and social justice are ethical systems based on which of the following categories?

A) Duty
B) Character
C) Consequences
D) Relationships

Question 7

__________ is a system in which ethics can be judged by the attitudes and behaviors of each participant in a communication transaction.

A) Mediation
B) Dialogical ethics
C) Conflict resolution
D) Consequence-based ethics

Question 8

"Fair and balanced," a goal in journalism, is most similar to which ethical principle?

A) The categorical imperative
B) Duty-based ethics
C) The Golden Rule
D) The Golden Mean

Question 9

The Golden Mean and the Golden Rule are both __________ ethics.

A) virtue-based
B) duty-based
C) relationship-based
D) egalitarian-based

Question 10

__________ campaigns will sometimes hire actors who pretend to be concerned citizens at corporate or government meetings where they present false testimonials.

A) Astroturfing
B) Greenwashing
C) Role-playing
D) Smear

Question 11

In its current code of ethics, the Society of Professional Journalists urges journalists to "seek truth and report it" and charges them to be which three things when gathering, reporting, and interpreting information?

A) Modest, tenacious, and willful
B) Honest, fair, and courageous
C) Opinionated, determined, and articulate
D) Fair, credible, and compassionate

Question 12

Partly because of professional loyalty to their clients, PR professionals have many of the same ___________ as advertising.

A) business models
B) legal restrictions
C) profit interests
D) conflicts of interest

Question 13

The admonition to refrain from lying by omission is one of the guidelines for ethical public relations established by the __________.

A) Public Relations Society of America (PRSA)
B) International Communication Association (ICA)
C) Association for Mass Communication and PR (AMCPR)
D) Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

Question 14

Media professionals in _________ do not wrestle with the same issues regarding truth because their content is not held to the same ethical standards as other media categories.

A) advertising
B) journalism
C) entertainment
D) public relations

Question 15

Nalani listens carefully to others and respects their views without necessarily changing her own. She tries not to force her opinions on others, while remaining honest and nonjudgmental. Nalani practices which type of ethics?

A) Duty-based ethics
B) Utilitarianism
C) Social justice
D) Dialogical ethics

Question 16

The News of the World caused a widespread scandal when its reporters _________ celebrities, sports stars, politicians, and the families of crime victims to get material for stories.

A) lied about
B) hacked the phones of
C) blackmailed
D) conducted illegal surveillance of

Question 17

Scholars in the Frankfurt School coined the term _________ to describe the unique power of media companies to affect culture.

A) "agenda setting"
B) "culture industry"
C) "echo effect"
D) "Kulturschock"

Question 18

At the heart of many media-ethics dilemmas are the conflicting goals of informing the public and _________.

A) impressing critics
B) avoiding controversy
C) maximizing corporate profit
D) expanding advertising

Question 19

Depictions of sex and violence by the American entertainment industry have always been controversial. Even though most people do not become mass murderers after watching violent content, critics argue that media _________ affects us.

A) exposure
B) rhetoric
C) reenactment
D) exposition

Question 20

In 1992, an independent investigation revealed that the production team at NBC's Dateline had tampered with General Motors pickup trucks to stage footage of exploding gas tanks. What motivated Dateline to rig this news coverage?

A) A lack of "real news" footage
B) A lack of citizen-journalist footage
C) A need to inform the public
D) A need for exciting visual elements

Question 21

In 2016, what did a federal court rule in the defamation lawsuit against Rolling Stone magazine for its story that featured allegations of rape at UVA?

A) It ruled in favor of Rolling Stone.
B) It ruled against Rolling Stone and dictated that the magazine retract this article.
C) It found the reporter who wrote the story liable, but not Rolling Stone itself.
D) It found the reporter who wrote the story, Rolling Stone, and its parent company, Wenner Media, all liable.

Question 22

When a news program that has aired numerous stories on sexual harassment chooses not to cover a story about one of their anchors who faces similar charges, this is a clear violation of _________.

A) the Murdoch doctrine
B) the categorical imperative
C) institutional integrity
D) FCC rules of ethics

Question 23

The notion of moral relativism derives from research in which discipline?

A) Theology
B) Economics
C) Anthropology
D) Communication

Question 24

_________ is the practice of companies making themselves or their products appear to be organic, environmentally friendly, or supportive of free trade when in fact they are not.

A) Whitewashing
B) Greenwashing
C) Augmented reality
D) Astroturfing

Question 25

Which of the following assertions about misrepresentation and plagiarism in journalism is accurate?

A) Plagiarism is not considered a serious offense and consequently occurs often.
B) Brian Williams was suspended as an NBC anchor for plagiarizing the work of others.
C) Instances of journalists deliberately distorting or misrepresenting the facts are rare.
D) Authors who reproduce what they have previously published without citing themselves as the source are committing plagiarism.

Question 26

Which is one of three ethical norms identified by the American Marketing Association?

A) Do no harm.
B) Always protect your client.
C) Consider the public before profits.
D) Be competitive without being unethical.

Question 27

Photographs and videos can often tell a story more powerfully than words alone, especially when crimes are involved. However, the use of dramatic photos or footage is not always justified by their _________.

A) commercial appeal
B) shock value
C) news value
D) legality

Question 28

Technically, ethics is a branch of _________ that examines moral questions, or questions of right and wrong.

A) philosophy
B) metaphysics
C) theology
D) anthropology

Question 29

Which of the following is an example of a social marketing campaign?

A) An eHarmony ad featuring co-founder Dr. Neil Clark Warren explaining the value of his matchmaking service to his granddaughter
B) A GEICO ad featuring its friendly reptilian mascot, The Gecko, explaining the benefits of their insurance to the viewing audience
C) A Lincoln ad featuring a suave Matthew McConaughey cruising Malibu in a Lincoln Continental
D) A Subway ad featuring horrified parents watching their children fill up shopping carts with junk food

Question 30

Which company had to immediately pull a new commercial in 2017, an ad that demonstrated a spectacular failure of dialogical ethics in action?

A) Subway
B) Pepsi
C) Budweiser
D) UNICEF

Question 31

"The greatest good for the greatest number" is associated with which ethical system?

A) The categorical imperative
B) The Golden Mean
C) The Golden Rule
D) Utilitarianism

Question 32

The approach to ethical reasoning called the "ethics of care" replaces a _________ ethical system with a caring-based ethical system.

A) justice-based
B) feminist-based
C) virtue-based
D) duty-based

Question 33

When an editor cites "the public's right to know" to justify an article that might also be considered an invasion of a person's privacy, this journalistic approach finds some support in which ethical system?

A) Utilitarianism
B) The categorical imperative
C) Discourse ethics
D) Social justice

Question 34

A major weakness of _________ is that it leaves no agreed-on rules or principles by which to discuss ethical issues, appreciate the viewpoint of others, or reach conclusions.

A) utilitarianism
B) moral relativism
C) discourse ethics
D) the categorical imperative

Question 35

Sally's Soup Kitchen claims it makes the best clam chowder on the West Coast. This is an example of _________ in advertising.

A) free speech
B) conflicts of interest
C) deception
D) puffery

Question 36

The ethics of care, a branch of _________ ethics, challenges many of the traditional ethical systems and speaks to issues in modern society and communication.

A) character
B) religious
C) feminist
D) discourse

Question 37

What provides much of the basic financial revenue that pays for the creation and delivery of media content, whether in print, on broadcast radio and television, on billboards, online, or via mobile devices?

A) Donations
B) Subscriptions
C) Direct payments
D) Advertising

Question 38

When an organization does not seek a compromise simply for the sake of compromise but prefers to let people come to a shared and consensual understanding of what is true or correct based on the merits of the argument, it should engage in _________ ethics.

A) discourse
B) justice-based
C) virtue-based
D) utilitarian

Question 39

What duty-based ethical principle associated with Immanuel Kant does not depend on a person's inclinations, goals, or purposes?

A) Dialogical ethics
B) The Golden Rule
C) The categorical imperative
D) The Golden Mean

Question 40

Which company agreed to improve worker and production conditions after accusations of greenwashing?

A) General Motors
B) Nike
C) Target
D) Dole

Question 41

Based in Vancouver, BC, _________ is a nonprofit organization that identifies as "a global network of artists, activists, writers, pranksters, students, educators, and entrepreneurs who want to advance the new social activist movement of the information age."

A) Rethink Communications
B) Adbusters
C) Immersion Creative
D) Massive Media

Question 42

In their book Communicating Ethically, William Neher and Paul Sandin use an ethical classification scheme that relies on which of the following categories?

A) Moral conviction
B) Character, duties, consequences, and relationships
C) Virtue, tolerance, and professionalism
D) Truth and education

Question 43

A scientist who approves of sacrificing a relatively small number of laboratory-bred animals for research that could provide a cure for millions of people with Alzheimer's supports which ethical system?

A) Utilitarianism
B) Ethical consumerism
C) the Golden Mean
D) the Golden Rule

Question 44

"Stepping behind a veil of ignorance" and "staking out an original position" are phrases associated with _________, the author of A Theory of Justice.

A) Aristotle
B) Rupert Murdoch
C) Kalle Lasn
D) John Rawls

Question 45

Which federal agency is responsible for ferreting out and levying fines for deception in advertising?

A) AAF
B) FCC
C) FTC
D) DOJ

Question 46

Which famous American made a list of thirteen virtues and vowed to focus on a different item each week, only to give up when he realized he could not practice the virtue of order-keeping things in their place?

A) Thomas Jefferson
B) Benjamin Franklin
C) Thomas Edison
D) Abraham Lincoln

Question 47

Environmentalists are likely to practice _________.

A) the Golden Mean
B) dialogical ethics
C) ethical consumerism
D) ethics of care

Question 48

Some _________ professionals like to claim they are the "conscience of the client."

A) entertainment
B) advertising
C) journalist
D) public relations

Question 49

_________ provides a systematic method of ethical decision making, a framework for analyzing a situation, separating facts from opinions, and taking into account those individuals affected by a given ethical issue.

A) The Potter Box
B) The categorical imperative
C) The Golden Mean
D) Discourse ethics

Question 50

Which perspective suggests that none of the ethical systems can be said to be any better than the others?

A) The categorical imperative
B) Discourse ethics
C) Moral relativism
D) The Golden Mean

Question 51

Who was Brandy Vela?

Question 52

What understanding of ethical behavior did Greek philosophers embrace that still helps communicators develop a moral compass of what is right or wrong?

Question 53

Identify the easy self-tests that Ronald Howard and Clinton Korver recommend to evaluate whether your decision is truly rational or simply a rationalization couched in ethical terms.

Question 54

What is one of the surest ways to cut costs in a newsroom, and what are some of the problems that arise from this approach?

Question 55

Define ethical consumerism, and provide three examples.

Question 56

Discuss the categorical imperative.

Question 57

Explain the ethical system proposed by Jürgen Habermas.

Question 58

Describe the ethical system of social justice.

Question 59

Discuss the major ethical issues that arise in the news-gathering and production process.

Question 60

Describe the major conflicts of interest that arise in public relations.