When Practice Is Undercut by Ethics

Abstract

We live in an age where, as an issue, ethics seems to be up for grabs, debated as fervently by those outside the community as by those inside. But what is the community that needs to decide on ethical standards? Where do its boundaries lie? And how does one determine what matters, who falls in line, what emerges and by which agenda? The recent scandal surrounding the News of the World is a case in point, where a panoply of unethical practices by members of the news media, the police and the political establishment fermented intense public discourse regarding which ethical course to take in recovery from the damage wrought by the scandal. Though most held the news media — and, in a more narrow form, tabloid journalism — primarily responsible, the calls for heads off splashed across the wide spread of institutional settings and ranged across a long list of ethical violations. As this volume goes to print, it remains unclear whether the extensive navel-gazing fomented by the scandal will result in anything more than a high moment of rhetorical hand-wringing.¹