Chapter 11 - Self Regulation

Personal ethics have become an increasingly important issue for broadcasters as the competitive atmosphere, fostered by deregulation, heightens. Station managers now must be accountable for regulating themselves. Codes, departments, professional groups and organizations, and citizens’ groups all help promote responsibility.

The acceptability of a message depends on the size of a market, the time period, the station’s audience, and the type of content involved.

Ethics and law share common threads. Both are restrictive measures. The difference lies in the fact that one is enforced by the state, whereas the other is enforced by personal judgment.

There are numerous ethical theories that attempt to explain how a person determines right from wrong. Some major theories are utilitarianism, egoism, the categorical imperative, the golden mean, cultural ethics, and situational ethics.