New Media Synergy: Emergence of Institutional Conflicts of Interest

Journal of Mass Media Ethics 15 (4):219-231 (2000)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

The accelerated trend toward media cobranding, joint ventures, strategic alliances and mergers, and acquisitions with nonjournalistic companies raises new ethical concerns about the entanglements created in the name of synergy. As traditional media companies buy stakes in Internet companies in equity swaps, the cross-ownership of media creates vast potential for real or perceived conflicts of interest. Ethics scholarship routinely defines conflict of interest as an individual act, ignoring the rise of the media conglomerate. This article introduces the concept of institutional conflict of interest. The problem with the traditional definition of conflict of interest, then, is that it assumes the interests of the institution are always good, and that only the journalist, acting individually can violate the norm. The article outlines how media consolidation creates new conflicts of interest by outlining the term's definitions in various professions and proposing a revised definition that encompasses institutional conflict of interest.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 90,593

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Covering antigone: Reporting on conflict of interest.Lee Wilkins - 1995 - Journal of Mass Media Ethics 10 (1):23 – 36.
Institutional Conflicts of Interest in Academic Research.David B. Resnik - 2015 - Science and Engineering Ethics 25 (6):1661-1669.
The impact of conflict of interest on trust in science.Paul J. Friedman - 2002 - Science and Engineering Ethics 8 (3):413-420.
The troublesome semantics of conflict of interest.Paul J. Friedman - 1992 - Ethics and Behavior 2 (4):245 – 251.
Conflicts of interest in science.David B. Resnik - 1998 - Perspectives on Science 6 (4):381-408.
Conflicts of interest.Thomas L. Carson - 1994 - Journal of Business Ethics 13 (5):387 - 404.
Clarifying conflict of interest.Howard Brody - 2011 - American Journal of Bioethics 11 (1):23 - 28.
Conflicts of Interest in Financial Intermediation.Guido Palazzo & Lena Rethel - 2008 - Journal of Business Ethics 81 (1):193-207.
Conflict of Interest: The Common Thread Underlying Ethical Lapses.Robert Bell, Hershey Friedman & Linda Friedman - 2005 - Electronic Journal of Business Ethics and Organization Studies 10 (1):4-8.
Trumping Conflicts of Interest.Michael Davis - 2017 - International Journal of Applied Philosophy 31 (1):9-20.

Analytics

Added to PP
2009-01-28

Downloads
230 (#80,417)

6 months
2 (#668,348)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?