Media-Ethics Issues Focus on Fairness, Privacy, and Net Neutrality
Oct 1st, 2007 • Posted in: NewsVARIOUS DATELINES
A variety of issues related to media ethics dominated the headlines last week. Among them:
- A full-page ad in the Sep. 10 edition of the New York Times created an ethics controversy that worked its way up to the halls of Congress. MoveOn.org, an organization opposed to the war in Iraq, took out the ad on the day that the U.S. commander in Iraq was to testify before congress. A banner headline asked, “General Petraeus or General Betray Us?” A subtitled headline read, “Cooking the Books for the White House.” The tone and tenor of the ad was immediately attacked by conservative pundits, who were later joined by Republican presidential candidates and some Democrats as well when, on Sep. 26, the House of Representatives passed a resolution condemning the ad, according to reports from the Hill, a publication covering Congress, and the London-based Economist. The Times was criticized not only for carrying the ad but also for providing a discount rate for the space, an action the Times’s ombudsman admitted was in violation of standard contract terms.
- The corporate rivalry between high-tech powerhouses Google and Microsoft moved into ethics territory last week as a Senate panel heard arguments that a proposed business acquisition by Google would threaten consumer privacy and stifle competition, the Washington Post reports. Microsoft objected to Google’s plan to merge with online advertising firm DoubleClick, claiming that mating the top two search and advertising firms would do more than provide an efficient way to display ads based on surfers’ interests — it would put privacy at risk by consolidating information about viewing habits in the hands of one monolith.
- Facebook, the second-largest social networking website in the world, was hit with a subpoena last week from New York attorney general Andrew Cuomo, who charged that the company fails to protect young users from online predators, reports CBS News. Cuomo said undercover investigators, posing as young teens, were solicited and had access to online pornography. Facebook did not immediately respond to the allegations.
- The U.S. Federal Bureau of Prisons last week reversed its earlier actions and put back on the shelves of prison libraries various religious books that were deemed to promote extremism. The purge of books under the “Standardized Chapel Library Project” was blasted by a wide spectrum of religious and secular leaders, who charged that it put the government in the position of dictating acceptable religious content, violating the separation of church and state, reports the Jurist, a law-school publication from the University of Pittsburgh. The Bureau says it will return everything except material directly advocating violence.
- Verizon Wireless last week reversed its decision to block text messages on its network from an abortion-rights group. PC World reports that several other political groups, including the Republican National Committee and Amnesty International, have used text-messaging campaigns via Verizon. Verizon first claimed it was exercising its legal right to block incendiary messages, but later said in a statement that its “dusty” policy was written before text messaging protections were developed to isolate customers from spam. Critics argued that the controversy shows the need for Congress to pass a “Net neutrality” law that will prevent carriers from blocking or slowing content, according to the PC World story.
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