Abstract

For the past decade, the topic of ethics has dominated much of the scholarship in the field of journalism. Courses have been developed, numerous texts published, centers for the study of media ethics instituted, yearly workshops established, seminars founded, and conferences organized around the theme of journalism ethics. ;Conspicuous in this scholarship is the lack of a substantial academic attention to a historical presence in journalism ethics. Mention is made of journalism ethics in some early academic books, but no books on journalism ethics were printed until 1924. Between 1932 and 1970, no books were written under a title of journalism ethics, outside of the Hutchins' Commission studies and reports. This dissertation examines the early history of the academic treatment of journalism ethics, through an interpretation of six, initial, academic books in journalism ethics published between 1924 and 1932 as well as selected journal articles. ;The interpretation examines moral dilemmas posed by the authors, using an ethical theory framework for methodology. The works are analyzed for their theoretical and applied communitarian and liberal aspects. The interpretation first finds that there could be more agreement between communitarians and liberals than both groups seem to recognize. Second, at least in some respects in which there are irreconcilable differences the liberal view of journalism ethics is superior to the communitarian view