Philosophical Communication and Media Ethics II(COM200)
| Course Code | Course Name | Semester | Theory | Practice | Lab | Credit | ECTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| COM200 | Philosophical Communication and Media Ethics II | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| Prerequisites | COM237 - FELSEFI İLETIŞIM VE MEDYA ETIĞI I |
| Admission Requirements | COM237 - FELSEFI İLETIŞIM VE MEDYA ETIĞI I |
| Language of Instruction | Turkish |
| Course Type | Compulsory |
| Course Level | Bachelor Degree |
| Course Instructor(s) | İdil ENGİNDENİZ iengindeniz@gsu.edu.tr (Email) |
| Assistant | |
| Objective | The aim of this course is to enable communication faculty students to use the concepts they employ in the field of media accurately, appropriately, and consciously on a philosophical and ethical basis, and to contribute to their development as media professionals who are able to recognize ethical issues encountered in various fields such as journalism, radio, television, cinema, advertising, public relations, and digital media, analyze these issues through critical thinking skills, and develop solutions grounded in ethical reasoning. The course seeks to encourage students to approach ethical principles not merely as normative rules, but within the framework of social responsibility, human dignity, public interest, and the ethics of care; to establish connections between theory and practice by critically examining media productions from an ethical perspective; and to design alternative and ethically grounded media practices. |
| Content | This course is structured as a two-semester program that approaches the field of communication and media from a philosophical perspective and aims to relate the fundamental concepts and approaches of ethical thinking to media practices. In the first phase of the course, key concepts such as ethics, morality, responsibility, public interest, privacy, representation, critical thinking, and logical fallacies are discussed within the framework of philosophical communication; the relationship between language, power, and media is examined through theoretical texts and illustrative examples. In the second phase, professional ethics principles specific to journalism, radio, television, cinema, advertising, public relations, and digital media are addressed through national and international ethical codes as well as contemporary media cases. The course is supported by applied studies focusing on the identification and analysis of ethical dilemmas and the development of possible solutions; throughout the semester, students gain experience in developing ethically grounded alternative media practices by linking theoretical knowledge with concrete media productions through ongoing media observation and critique activities. |
| Course Learning Outcomes |
By the end of this course, students will be able to: use fundamental concepts accurately, appropriately, and consciously within the framework of philosophical communication and media ethics; analyze communication content produced across different media forms (journalism, radio, television, cinema, advertising, digital media, etc.) from a philosophical communication perspective; ethically evaluate and justify communication content within the framework of critical thinking; identify logical fallacies and reasoning errors present in communication content; analyze the relationships between logical fallacies and the production of propaganda, hate speech, disinformation, and fake news; apply national and international professional ethics principles and ethical codes to media content and critically discuss these codes; identify ethical dilemmas, analyze them through different ethical approaches, and develop alternative ethical solutions; critically assess media content from a philosophical communication and ethical perspective and articulate this assessment in written form; prepare thematic reports based on media observation concerning circulating media and communication content; produce original communication content and projects grounded in ethical principles. |
| Teaching and Learning Methods |
Participatory conference Audio-visual resources related to the course Guest participation (bringing together various experts with students to address content from a critical perspective) Practical Activities |
| References |
Alankuş, S. (Ed.). (2007). Medyada etik. IPS İletişim Vakfı Yayınları. Arendt, H. (1958). The human condition. University of Chicago Press. Arendt, H. (1983). Condition de l’homme moderne (G. Fradier, Trans.). Calmann-Lévy. (Original work published 1958) BBC. (2023). Editorial guidelines. https://www.bbc.com/editorialguidelines Bourdieu, P. (1996). Sur la télévision. Liber-Raisons d’agir. Bowen, S. A. (2007). Ethics and public relations. Institute for Public Relations. https://instituteforpr.org Cardon, D. (2015). À quoi rêvent les algorithmes. Seuil. Center for Media Engagement. (2023). Media ethics resources. University of Texas at Austin. https://mediaengagement.org Christians, C. G., Fackler, M., Richardson, K. B., Kreshel, P. J., & Woods, R. H. (2016). Media ethics: Cases and moral reasoning (10th ed.). Routledge. Cornu, D. (2009). Journalisme et vérité: Pour une éthique de l’information. Labor et Fides. Drumwright, M. E., & Murphy, P. E. (2009). Advertising ethics: Moral reasoning by practitioners. Pearson. Dursun, Ç. (2010). Haberde gerçeklik ve etik. İmge Kitabevi. Floridi, L. (2013). The ethics of information. Oxford University Press. Gillespie, T. (2018). Custodians of the internet: Platforms, content moderation, and the hidden decisions that shape social media. Yale University Press. Gilligan, C. (1982). In a different voice: Psychological theory and women’s development. Harvard University Press. İnal, A. (2005). Medya, dil ve iktidar. Ütopya Yayınları. International Documentary Association. (2021). Documentary ethics statement. https://documentary.org Kovach, B., & Rosenstiel, T. (2014). The elements of journalism (3rd ed.). Three Rivers Press. Kuçuradi, İ. (1998). Etik. Türkiye Felsefe Kurumu Yayınları. Kuçuradi, İ. (2011). İnsan hakları kavramı ve sorunları. Türkiye Felsefe Kurumu Yayınları. Libaert, T. (2018). La communication de crise (5e éd.). Dunod. Morin, E. (2011). La voie: Pour l’avenir de l’humanité. Fayard. Neveu, É. (2013). Sociologie du journalisme. La Découverte. Nichols, B. (2017). Introduction to documentary (3rd ed.). Indiana University Press. Niney, F. (2009). Le documentaire et ses faux-semblants. Klincksieck. Noddings, N. (1984). Caring: A feminine approach to ethics and moral education. University of California Press. Okay, A., & Okay, A. (2012). Halkla ilişkiler kavram, strateji ve uygulamaları. Der Yayınları. Orwell, G. (1946). Politics and the English language. Horizon, 13(76), 252–265. Orwell, G. (1949). Nineteen eighty-four. Secker & Warburg. Orwell, G. (1954). La novlangue (Selected texts). Gallimard. Renov, M. (2004). The subject of documentary. University of Minnesota Press. Ricœur, P. (1990). Soi-même comme un autre. Seuil. RTÜK. (2023). Yayın ilkeleri. https://www.rtuk.gov.tr Silverstone, R. (2007). Media and morality: On the rise of the mediapolis. Polity Press. Society of Professional Journalists. (2014). SPJ code of ethics. https://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp Suner, A. (2015). Hayalet ev: Yeni Türk sinemasında aidiyet, kimlik ve bellek. Metis Yayınları. Türkiye Gazeteciler Cemiyeti. (2023). Basın meslek ilkeleri. https://www.tgc.org.tr UNESCO. (2021). Journalism, fake news & disinformation. https://www.unesco.org Ward, S. J. A. (2019). Disrupting journalism ethics. Routledge. World Health Organization. (2022). Ethics in science communication. https://www.who.int Zuboff, S. (2019). The age of surveillance capitalism. PublicAffairs. |
Theory Topics
| Week | Weekly Contents |
|---|---|
| 1 | Introduction to the course structure and discussion of key concepts: from ethics to professional ethics |
| 2 | A critical examination of professional codes developed in the field of media ethics (1): Journalism ethics – codes; journalism ethics – critical reading |
| 3 | A critical examination of professional codes developed in the field of media ethics (2): Radio and television ethics |
| 4 | A critical examination of professional codes developed in the field of media ethics (3): Cinema and documentary ethics |
| 5 | A critical examination of professional codes developed in the field of media ethics (4): Advertising ethics |
| 6 | A critical examination of professional codes developed in the field of media ethics (5): Public relations ethics |
| 7 | Midterm week |
| 8 | Digital media and online broadcasting |
| 9 | Artificial intelligence and media ethics |
| 10 | Ethical dilemma analysis – decision-making models |
| 11 | Field-specific workshop – drafting content in accordance with ethical principles |
| 12 | Ethical production |
| 13 | Final project presentations |
| 14 | Evaluation |
Practice Topics
| Week | Weekly Contents |
|---|
Contribution to Overall Grade
| Number | Contribution | |
|---|---|---|
| Contribution of in-term studies to overall grade | 0 | 0 |
| Contribution of final exam to overall grade | 0 | 0 |
| Toplam | 0 | 0 |
In-Term Studies
| Number | Contribution | |
|---|---|---|
| Assignments | 0 | 0 |
| Presentation | 0 | 0 |
| Midterm Examinations (including preparation) | 0 | 0 |
| Project | 0 | 0 |
| Laboratory | 0 | 0 |
| Other Applications | 0 | 0 |
| Quiz | 0 | 0 |
| Term Paper/ Project | 0 | 0 |
| Portfolio Study | 0 | 0 |
| Reports | 0 | 0 |
| Learning Diary | 0 | 0 |
| Thesis/ Project | 0 | 0 |
| Seminar | 0 | 0 |
| Other | 0 | 0 |
| Make-up | 0 | 0 |
| Toplam | 0 | 0 |
| No | Program Learning Outcomes | Contribution | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 1 | Will have effective written and oral communication skills in Turkish | X | ||||
| 2 | Will have a thorough knowledge of at least two foreign languages | |||||
| 3 | Will be informed about art and culture, human rights, social, professional and ethical values, law and legislation, quality standards, and will be aware of their responsibility on these subjects | X | ||||
| 4 | Will have sufficient knowledge about social sciences, professions and sectors in communication and media, innovative and entrepreneurial practices | X | ||||
| 5 | Will have the ability to use, in an effective and creative way, the techniques and tools and information technologies necessary for interactive and conventional media, in the context of health and safety in the workplace | |||||
| 6 | Will have the ability to develop documentary and fictional content related to their field for interactive and conventional media; also the ability to produce and manage this content in group | |||||
| 7 | Will have the theoretical knowledge and ability to carry out and share scientific work on communication environments and processes of interactive and conventional media and on the individual and social outcomes of the latter | X | ||||
| 8 | Will have the knowledge of analysis and modelling techniques to analyse interactive and conventional media and the communication environments and processes | |||||
| 9 | Will have the ability to question and critically analyse developments and problems concerning interactive and conventional media and the communication environments and processes, will be aware of the public interest, social responsibility and the environment, will be sensitive to contemporary world’s and Turkey's current problems; will develop a libertarian, democratic, constructive and problem-solving approach | X | ||||
| 10 | They are familiar with the historical development processes of electronic, digital media and film; and the current developments in these fields | |||||
| 11 | They learn sociological, cultural and aesthetic approaches in electronic, digital media and film | |||||
| 12 | They learn the political economy of cultural industries, labour and production relations, analysis of marketing and consumption patterns. | |||||
| 13 | They learn at a first level how to use the equipment necessary for the production of audio-visual content for TV, radio and digital media and of films in different genres | |||||
| 14 | They gain experience in conducting creative activities in electronic, digital media and film; in producing and working in groups | |||||
| 15 | They acquire theoretical information in the fields of public relations, advertising, integrated marketing communication and organizational communication | |||||
| 16 | They are familiar with the research, planning, implementation and evaluation processes in public relations and advertising; they can create campaigns, present them effectively and write reports | |||||
| 17 | They have knowledge of organisational communication, crisis and risk communication, reputation management, media relations, media planning, digital media management, brand management and interpersonal communication. They are able to carry out activities in these areas | |||||
| 18 | They use public relations and advertising strategies and tactics appropriate to the specificities of conventional and new media | |||||
| 19 | They are aware of legal regulations, ethical codes in public relations and advertising, and they remain faithful to them | X | ||||
| 20 | They are familiar with the different theoretical approaches regarding the social place, role and functions of journalism as a social institution and phenomenon; they are familiar with the process of producing information for conventional and digital media | X | ||||
| 21 | They are familiar with the structural and technical specificities, management characteristics of conventional/mainstream media, as well as alternative media structures | X | ||||
| 22 | They are familiar with the new conceptual and theoretical discussions emerging from interactive/digital media in terms of social sciences and humanities | X | ||||
| 23 | They are familiar with the historical development of journalism in Turkey and in the world; they can analyse it in the context of social and political history | |||||
| 24 | They have the ability to effectively use information technology, printing and publishing techniques; to write a press article using data collected on the web and on social media, to visualize this data and to publish it | X | ||||
| Activities | Number | Period | Total Workload |
|---|---|---|---|
| Class Hours | 14 | 2 | 28 |
| Working Hours out of Class | 12 | 3 | 36 |
| Assignments | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Presentation | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Midterm Examinations (including preparation) | 1 | 10 | 10 |
| Project | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Laboratory | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Other Applications | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Final Examinations (including preparation) | 1 | 15 | 15 |
| Quiz | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Term Paper/ Project | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Portfolio Study | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Reports | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Learning Diary | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Thesis/ Project | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Seminar | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Other | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total Workload | 89 | ||
| Total Workload / 25 | 3.56 | ||
| Credits ECTS | 4 | ||