Customer Reviews

Media Ethics and Accountability Systems

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When the Journalism Department at San Francisco State decided to offer a mandatory course in journalism ethics, the decision prompted after several embarassing incidents that occurred in our laboratory newspaper, we sought the advice of the Philosophy Department which taught a course in ethics. The chairman of the Philosophy Department scoffed, "Journalism ethics--that's an oxymoron." Then he agreed upon the value of such a course.

Unfortunately, that view may resound today with many consumers of the news media. Recent polls show that respect for the news media in the United States ranked even lower in the public's esteem than did politicians.

I wish that Professor Claude-Jean Bertrand's book had been available then. Students and instructors would have benefited. The book, small in size, packs in original, practical principles. Ethical journalism , the book stresses, means that serving the public's needs must be the news media's foremost role. The name of the game--accountability.

What qualifies Professor Bertrand, a sociologist and a professor emeritus at the University of Paris, to offer principles to guide the news media in the United States as well as in the world's democracies. He has lived in the United States and has written extensively about American journalism reviews.He has been visiting professor and guest lecturers at several universities, among them Stanford University, Syracuse University, and the

University of Missouri.