Media-Ethics Controversies Spark Debate

Feb 23rd, 2009 • Posted in: News

Racial implications of editorial cartoon, settlement of libel case, and apparent leak of beating photo prominent in week’s news

NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES
Three major media-ethics cases made news last week:

• A New York Post cartoon apparently depicting President Obama as a chimpanzee has provoked a blistering ethics debate, with the paper saying the cartoon was meant to satirize two stories — the escape of a chimpanzee and the turmoil over the financial stimulus bill — with detractors charging that the drawing unearths old racial stereotypes. Media ethicist Bob Steele, writing for Poynter.org, maintained that while editorial cartoons are supposed to “have some spice,” the drawing in question “failed the ethics standard” because it blended two unrelated stories and was “unfair, stereotypical, and harmful to African Americans.”
• The New York Times settled a lawsuit with a Washington lobbyist who sued over an article last year that she claimed wrongly insinuated that she had an affair with presidential candidate John McCain. According to a report from the trade journal Editor & Publisher, the settlement includes no payment, retraction, or apology — only an agreement by the Times to publish an online piece from the plaintiff’s attorneys.
• The Los Angeles Police Department is investigating the possible leak of a photo showing a popular singer after an apparent beating, according to ABC News. The photo of the singer Rihanna, ostensibly taken as evidence and showing her with swollen lips and eyes, appeared on several blogs and soon was seen on news sites worldwide. Various domestic-abuse watchdog agencies have protested the posting of the photo, saying it can trigger flashbacks and other emotional disturbances among prior abuse victims, according to the ABC report.

Sources: ABC News, Feb. 20 — Editor & Publisher, Feb. 19 — Poynter Online, Feb. 19 — AP, Feb. 19 — New York Times, Feb. 19 — New York Times, Feb. 19.

For more information, see: Related Newsline story, Aug. 25, 2008 — Related Newsline story, Aug. 11, 2008 — Related Newsline story, Mar. 31, 2008 — Related Newsline story, Sep. 18, 2006 — Related Newsline story, Feb. 22, 2005.

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