In this issues column (which my friends said I should title “Carrie’s Got Issues”), I will address topical social, cultural and political issues from an ethical perspective. As a doctoral student studying media roles in social justice movements, I am particularly attuned to ethical issues relating to exploitation of nature or animals (humans included). In addition to studying philosophy related to power politics and oppression of vulnerable groups, I study the ethics of mass communication and have been a GTF in media ethics at the University under the advising of the University’s media ethics chair, Tom Bivins. I am also currently facilitating the ethics initiative of the Snowden journalism internship program. So, in addition to social justice issues, you can expect some ethical commentary on media and popular culture (movies, TV, music, advertising, the internet and news, including the Emerald).
For this column to be of interest to you, I invite you to write in with topic ideas or ethical questions on local or global issues. A topic is generally considered ethical if it relates to issues of truth/honesty, justice/fairness/equality, conflicts of interest, or harm. Although, as a disclaimer, I don’t want to turn into Ms. Manners or Dr. Phil or something, so don’t ask for dating advice or any question that requires me to answer “Honey, you’ve got to lose that zero and get yourself a hero!” Although I will say that I certainly am not in favor of zeros, or any math, really. Let’s give this a try, shall we?
– Carrie Packwood Freeman