JOMC 141
Professional Problems and Ethics in Mass Communication
Summer 2014 SYLLABUS
Instructor Information
Dr. Rhonda Gibson is an associate professor and associate dean for graduate studies. She was
previously a medical reporter for The Nashville Banner.
E-mail: gibsonr@email.unc.edu
Course Goals and Objectives
Welcome to JOMC 141! We’re here to learn about ethics in the mass media. Media professionals
talk a lot about doing the right thing, but they’re constantly criticized for ethical and moral
shortcomings. In this class, we will discuss the ethical dilemmas that confront professionals in print
and broadcast news, advertising, public relations, and photojournalism/graphic design. We will
examine codes of ethics for each of these professions and evaluate how these guidelines have and
have not been applied in specific settings. In the end, this course is designed to familiarize you with
the tools needed to make ethical decisions regarding the use of the mass media and to help you
develop a personal yardstick by which to measure your own ethical decisions.
Here are the specific course objectives:
•Integrate ethical foundations and apply those ideas to professional situations;
•Critically analyze current mass communication professional practices through reading and
discussing communication topics found in trade journals and other media;
•Compare ethical standards! of mass communication professions and examine how similarities
and differences help or hinder their professional relationships;
•Develop, defend and apply your own set of guidelines to tackle ethical situations.
You’ll get out of this course what you put into it. Your success will depend upon your willingness to
keep up with the readings, participate on the discussion board, and keep an open mind when dealing
with issues and others’ opinions. Here’s to a good course!
Readings
The required text for this course is: Media Ethics: Issues & Cases (7th edition) by Philip Patterson
and Lee Wilkins. The text will be supplemented by online readings.
Grading Criteria
Course grades will be calculated using the following percentages:
Midterm Exam
Final Exam
Personal Code of Ethics Paper
Discussion Board
Ethics in the News Presentation
20%
25%
25%
20%
10%
The final course grade will be calculated using the following scale:
A = 93-100
A- = 90-92
B+ = 87-89
B = 88-86
B- = 80-82
C+ = 77-79
C = 73-76
C- = 70-72
D+ = 67-69
D = 60-66
F = 59 or below
NA = 0
Please Note: Although grades are not negotiable, I will give every consideration to any concerns
you have about an assignment grade, as long as the concern is identified promptly.
If you have questions about or dispute a particular grade, this needs to be taken care of within a week
of receiving that particular grade. The only grades that will be discussed at the end of the term are
those assignments you complete at the end of the term.
I will follow the University’s grading standards, as adopted by the Faculty Council, with my
additions in parentheses:
“A” Mastery of course content at the highest level that can be reasonably be expected of students at a
given state of development. The “A” grade states clearly that the student has shown such
outstanding promise in the aspect of the discipline under study that he/she may be strongly
encouraged to continue. (Clear and original thinking, thorough analysis, logical assertions supported
by significant amounts of evidence, clear writing that is concise and grammatically correct, strong
organization. Your work will be considered in relation to that of your classmates. Work that is
significantly better than other work will receive a higher grade.)
“B” Strong performance demonstrating a high level of attainment for a student at! a given stage of
development. The “B” grade states that the student has shown solid promise in the aspect of the
discipline under study. (Clear and original thinking, relatively thorough analysis! , logical assertions
supported by some amount of evidence, clear writing with very few grammatical errors, good
organization.)
“C” A totally acceptable performance demonstrating an adequate level of attainment for a student at
a given stage of development. The “C” grade states that, while not yet showing any unusual
promise, the student may continue to study in the discipline with reasonable hope of intellectual
development. (One or two elements of the assignment may be weak or missing, some writing errors,
some weakness in organization, relatively little evidence for assertions.)
“D” A marginal performance in the required exercises demonstrating a minimal passing level of
attainment for a student at a given stage of development. The “D” grade states that the student has
given no evidence of prospective growth in the discipline; an accumulation of D grades should be !
taken to mean that the student would be well advised not to continue in the academic field. (Several
elements of the assignment are weak or missing, poor writing, poor organization, lack of evidence
for assertions.)
“F” For whatever reasons, an unacceptable performance. The “F” grade indicates that the student’s
performance in the required exercises has revealed almost no understanding of the course content.
(Most or all of the required elements are missing. The assignment is turned in late. Writing is so
bad that it’s difficult to understand.)
Personal Code of Ethics
For Monday, June 25, you will be asked to write a one-page summary of the ideal mass media job
you would like to have in 10 years. Some of you may be hoping for jobs outside of mass
communication, but for this assignment, assume that you are in mass comm. The job need not be
related to your specific sequence (advertising, PR, news-ed, visual communication, etc), but it must
somehow be related to mass communication.
Provide the following information about your ideal job for the year 2023:
Title of job
Name of company
Geographic location of job
Duties/activities involved in job
Approximate salary (in today’s dollars)
Your reasons for wanting to hold this job
Please be as detailed as possible.
By the end of the term (Friday, July 20, to be exact), you will write a detailed personal code of ethics
for this position.
Ethics in the News Assignment
Each student will be assigned one class day, during which he/she is responsible for informing the
rest of the class about a mass media ethics-related event that has been in the news sometime during
the previous seven days. You should provide an online link for class members to read about the
event, view video if appropriate, etc. You will also be responsible for leading discussion of the topic
on the discussion board. Please have your information posted to the discussion board by noon on the
day you’re assigned.
Discussion Board
Because we do not meet together in a classroom, the Discussion Board will serve as our virtual
classroom. Especially for a course about ethics, it is important for each of you to actively participate
in the Discussion Board. This is where you can try out ideas and get feedback from me and your
peers. Feel free to share your thoughts and opinions, even when they disagree with mine and with
those of your classmates. Please be respectful in all of your comments.
The Discussion Board discussions will run from 6 a.m. to 6 a.m. You’re welcome to post on any
given topic after that, but it will not be counted for grading purposes.
Here’s how I will “grade” Discussion Board participation:
You’ll get a grade each Friday for that week’s participation. A grade of 100 will be given for a
student who has commented in a timely manner each day on all the required topics, often going
beyond what is required. Comments are thoughtful and reflect an understanding of the assigned
material.
A grade of 85 will be given for a student who has commented in a timely manner each day on all the
required topics. Comments are thoughtful and reflect an understanding of the assigned material.
A grade of 70 will be given for a student who has commented in a timely manner on most days,
covering most of the required material. Comments are thoughtful and reflect an understanding of the
assigned material.
A grade of 50 will be given to a student who only occasionally posts to the Discussion Board or is
often late in posting or who covers only some of the required material.
Honor Code: You need to know and follow UNC’s policies regarding academic honesty in this
class. I will enforce all these rules. I view all papers as take-home exams and will grade them
accordingly. Please write and sign this pledge on each of your papers: “I have neither given nor
received unauthorized assistance on this assignment.”