Richard Lance Keeble

Intimate portraits: The profiles of Kenneth Tynan

Kenneth Tynan was one of the most celebrated, controversial and prolific journalists in both the US and UK during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. As a theatre reviewer, the appearance of his writings became as much events as the productions he dissected. Amongst his vast journalistic oeuvre was an extraordinary series of profiles, mainly of prominent figures in the worlds of theatre, film and arts. This paper considers the ethical aspects of both his writing and profiling techniques – with particular reference to Janet Malcolm’s critique of journalists’ conventional relationships with their sources. Stuart Allan’s notions of the journalist as an ‘interpretative performer’ and ‘stylistic improviser’ will be seen as crucial to both analysing and appreciating Tynan’s eclectic range of reporting techniques. In addition, the ‘exploitative’ dimensions of Tynan’s display of literary skills will be explored. The paper concludes with the argument that Tynan deliberately confounds the ethics of conventional profiling with the special ‘intimacy’ and collaborative nature of his portraits

Publication ethics: stressing the positive

Purpose – This paper discusses the publication “Challenges to ethical publishing in the digital era”. Design/methodology/approach – It is a critical analysis of the paper built around two main arguments: the need to stress the positive in ethical debates; the critique of apolitical professionalism; the crucial need to stress the ties between politics and ethics. Findings – No finding — it was simply argument. Research limitations/implications – Provocative challenge to dominant ethical debates. Practical implications – The need to challenge the myths of professionalism. Originality/value – The need for the academe to embrace more the work coming out of the alternative public sphere.

Operation Moshtarak and the manufacture of credible, “heroic” warfare

Richard Lance Keeble argues that Fleet Street’s coverage of the Afghan conflict has served largely to promote the interests of the military/industrial/media complex – and marginalise the views of the public who have consistently appealed in polls for the troops to be brought back home

Radical Media Ethics: a global approach

Stephen Ward is clearly a man with a mission. His theme is global media ethics and his texts, The Invention of Journalism Ethics: The Path to Objectivity and Beyond (2005), Global Journalism Ethics (2010) and Media Ethics Beyond Borders: A Global Perspective (edited with Herman Wasserman, 2009), together with a number of academic journal papers, have received critical acclaim. Now this new book advertises itself as a “call for action for those who care about the future of journalism in a global, online world”. Its nine chapters are divided into three clearly defined sections. In the first, Ward explores ontological issues, seeing ethics as part of a distinct social reality that depends on human intentionality and agreement. Moreover, ethics are viewed “as a constantly evolving interpretation of values as we respond to ever new conditions” (p. xvii). In the second part, Ward outlines what he calls “a tri-level theory of meaning for media ethics” (pp. 91–170)—involving a thin, “minimal” meaning of basic terms and principles; a “robust” meaning that is developed for interpreting the basic terms and principles; with a third “maximal” meaning grounded in specific practices and cultures. The third and final part includes a call for an integrated media ethics to be “global and cosmopolitan, promoting human flourishing around the world” (pp. 200–201). How might all this be achieved? Ward suggests a three-stage process: firstly there’s the injection of ideas into public discourse, next the codifying of principles and, finally, the completion of “the ethics revolution” when “ethical content will be clearly formulated and receive substantial endorsement” (p. 222). Drawing on an impressive array of theorists—including Manuel Castells, Ronald Dworkin, Immanuel Kant, Martha Nussbaum, John Searle and Ludwig Wittgenstein—it amounts to a fascinating addition to the growing global media ethics oeuvre. It’s bursting with excellent (indeed, radical) ideas. For instance, Ward is all for democratising the media. He argues:

Book review: Robin Andersen Century of Media: Century of War New York: Peter Lang, 2006. 350 pp. ISBN 0820478938

Since the 1980s, the traditional, industrialized militarism of the First and Second World Wars has given way to a form of new consumerist, entertainment militarism, in which the mass media, ideologically tied to a strong and increasingly secretive state, have assumed a dominant ideological role. Thus, instead of active participation in wars, people are mobilized for this New Militarism through their consumption of heavily censored media (much of the censorship self-imposed by the journalists), whose job is to manufacture the spectacle of war as entertainment. Robin Andersen’s new history of the media coverage of war (incorporating mainstream newspapers, journals, television and films) highlights many of the elements of this new entertainment militarism. As she argues:

National and local newspaper trends and the new crisis of trust – What new crisis?

This paper looks at some of the major trends in the UK newspaper industry – circulation shifts, format changes, ethical controversies, the re‐emergence of the frees, the revival of the alternatives – in the context of the debate over trust in the mainstream media and political elites. It also identifies the elements of authentic communication that are needed for trust to exist between the newspaper writer/producer and the reader. The radical newspapers of the early 19th century are presented as examples of authentic journalism. While there are opportunities for the development of authentic journalism within the mainstream, it is suggested that the internet and today’s alternative press are opening up the best possibilities for the development of trustworthy media.