Category Archives: Ethics in the Media

Published on
19 December 2012

Penetrating the Cloud of Unknowing: Policy, Rhetoric and Public Bewilderment

Posted in Education, Ethics in the Media, Moral Philosophy, Public Policy, Social Commentary

In a three-part lecture series at St Peter’s College, Oxford, Mark Thompson, former Director-General of the BBC has addressed public understanding of, and engagement with, political and other public issues. These lectures naturally touched on questions of political and journalistic integrity, public authority and recent developments in media technology. 1) Is Plato winning the argument? […]

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Published on
12 November 2012

We Need Saints in the Cabinet, not Vigilantes in the Newsroom

Posted in British Politics, Civil Liberties, Conscience, Culture, Ethics in the Media, Liberty, Moral Philosophy

When Philip Schofield passed a list of alleged sexual abusers to David Cameron on camera it was clear the Prime Minister was not pleased. This was not a simple matter of the government or the Tory party facing charges of ‘honours for cash’ or of political ‘u-turns’. The possibility that senior members of the party […]

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Published on
21 June 2012

The Leveson Soap Opera

Posted in British Politics, Ethics in the Media, Social Commentary

  Regular readers of a Blog for all Seasons might expect some coverage of the ongoing Leveson Inquiry. It is, after all, a matter of public interest and there are possibilities for ethical analysis. Unfortunately, it is difficult to be other than cynical in respect of the Leveson Inquiry. It was established to examine the […]

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Published on
22 March 2012

Gay Marriage: a Tale of Two Petitions (and Facebook)

Posted in Ethics in the Media, Marriage & Family, Public Policy, Same-Sex Marriage, Social Commentary

From a guest blogger: On 20 February the website of the Coalition 4 Marriage was set up. Since then its petition has obtained, online and on paper, well over quarter of a million signatures (275,928 on 22 March). About four days after that petition was set up another website was set up in opposition: the […]

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Published on
25 November 2011

The UnLoveliness of ‘UnHate’

Posted in Culture, Ethics in the Media, Moral Philosophy, Social Commentary, Virtue

From a Guest Blogger: Margaret Thatcher once told the American Bar Association not to give terrorists the ‘oxygen of publicity’. Should we, perhaps, follow her advice and refrain from commenting on Benetton’s latest PR stunt turned advertising campaign? If we ignore it, will it not go away? There is good reason to think otherwise, for […]

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Published on
20 June 2011

Assisted Suicide and the End of Love

Posted in Christianity, Ethics in the Media, Euthanasia, Freedom, Human Life, Liberty, Moral Philosophy

From a Guest Blogger: Terry Pratchett’s recent documentary Choosing to Die is rightly controversial. When such a prolific writer as Pratchett, suffering from Alzheimer’s, makes a television programme of such emotional intensity as this one, on such a delicate topic as suicide, it is difficult to know exactly how to respond. Having watched most of […]

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Published on
13 June 2011

The Williams Intervention and the Role of Religion in the Public Square

Posted in Big Society, British Politics, Christianity, Conscience, Ethics in the Media, Religion

As a Catholic and an Englishman I have never quite understood the enthusiasm of some of my European co-religionists for the idea that there must be strict separation between state and Church, and have often thought that the amusement to be derived from watching indignant Frenchmen flail their arms around indignantly about Bishops sitting in […]

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Published on
25 May 2011

Freedom of Speech and Privacy: A Conflict of Rights?

Posted in British Politics, Ethics in the Media, Freedom, Liberty, Moral Philosophy, Virtue

If we were to be given £1 for every time we had heard the admonition not to ‘tell tales’ during our schooldays, there might be few people who would need to work for a living.  Yet the recent furore over so-called ‘super-injunctions’ taken out by celebrities to prevent details of their private lives being revealed […]

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