Evaluating organisational ethics in Spanish news Media Articles uri icon

publication date

  • April 2016

start page

  • 1142

end page

  • 1162

issue

  • 9

volume

  • 18

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

  • 1464-8849

Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)

  • 1741-3001

abstract

  • Drawing from 420 surveys addressed to news media practitioners, 30 in-depth interviews with media executives and 6 focus groups, this article focuses on the institutional dimensions of ethics in journalism and explores the way in which ethical standards are perceived by journalists and other representative groups involved in Spanish news media. The data show that participants ascribe moral obligations to journalistic institutions. Interviewees emphasise the predominance of market-driven interests over ethical values as one of the main threats to journalism. However, differences between the perceptions of journalists and media executives reveal that the latter believe that journalistic ethics pertain to individual journalists.

keywords

  • crisis in journalism; ethics; journalism; organisational ethics; professional perceptions; spain