CHAPTER 14

Ethics and
Video Production

lthough this text has concentrated primarily on the technical and aesthetic elements of video production, no discussion of video production is complete without a consideration of the topic of ethics, particularly as it applies to media producers.

CODES OF
ETHICS

One of the marks of a profession is the presence of a code of ethics for members of the group. Physicians and attorneys are bound by codes of conduct that identify standards of behavior that they are expected to embrace. In the field of electronic media, the Radio and Television News Directors Association and the Society of Professional Journalists have published codes of conduct. Although the focus of these codes is on encouraging good journalistic practice, some of their principal tenets are useful for the nonjournalist to consider as well. Among the values held in common by the two codes are honesty and fairness, respect for subjects and colleagues, avoidance of conflicts of interest, and accountability to audiences and to fellow members of the profession.

A comprehensive code of ethics for Canadian electronic media professionals has been developed by the Canadian Association of Broadcasters. The CAB code of ethics urges its members to provide programming that addresses the range of tastes in the audience; to respect human rights and avoid discriminatory program material; to reflect the moral and ethical standards of Canadian society in developing prosocial programming for children; to develop educational program material; to treat controversial public issues fairly; to ensure that advertising is in good taste, truthful, and believable; to avoid the use of subliminal devices in program material; and to avoid programming that relies on stereotypical sex-role images. The code also encourages member broadcast stations to seek out the highest-quality employees possible and to make service in the broadcasting industry an attractive and permanent career.

Ironically, the principal trade organization for broadcasting and cable in the United States, the National Association of Broadcasters, has not had a published code of ethics since 1978, when it abandoned its code in the face of a U.S. Justice Department challenge to several of the code’s provisions.

In its place, the board of directors of the NAB issued a Statement of Principles that encourages broadcasters to “exercise responsible and careful judgement in the selection of material for broadcast.”¹ The Statement of Principles further encourages broadcasters, through their programming, to be sensitive to the special needs of children, to portray violence responsibly, to avoid glamorization of drug and substance abuse, and to be sensitive to the composition of the audience and federal regulations when broadcasting sexually oriented material.

Ethics Resources on the Web.   Codes of ethics for the major broadcast and journalistic professional organizations in the United States and Canada are readily available on the Web. (See Table 14.1.)

PUBLIC INTEREST OBLIGATIONS
OF DIGITAL TELEVISION BROADCASTERS

In part as a result of public pressure to encourage responsible performance among those broadcasters who have received free allocations of spectrum space for digital broadcasting, in 1998 the President’s Advisory Committee on Public Interest Obligations of Digital Television Broadcasters recommended a set of public interest standards that all digital television stations should be required to meet. Among the Committee’s recommendations are requirements for digital broadcasters to ascertain community needs and to broadcast programming to meet those needs; to air public service announcements throughout the broadcast day; and to provide public-affairs programs with an emphasis on local issues. In addition, the Committee recommends reinstitution of the NAB code. Unfortunately, the FCC has been slow to act on the recommendations of the Advisory Committee, due in part to the slower-than-expected transition from analog to digital television transmission in the United States and to the change to a more conservative political climate in Washington.²

Nevertheless, implicit in these proposed recommendations is the understanding that with access to electronic media comes a responsibility to consider the needs of the audience as well as the needs of shareholders who own for-profit media entities. And this concern with the audience brings the present discussion full circle to where it began in the first chapter—not only with an understanding of the technical and aesthetic dimensions of television and video, but also with an awareness that the programs that you produce will be seen by audiences and may well have a significant impact on them.

YOUR ROLE
AS A PRODUCER

As a media producer you will have many choices to make—about the kinds of programs you produce, about the way you treat individuals who appear in your programs, about the way you interact with the people with whom you work, and about the way you think about your audience. An ethical producer should consider each of these factors and act accordingly, keeping in mind the principles of honesty, fairness, and respect, among others.

As you move forward in your career in the electronic media with the new skills you have gained in part by reading this book, consider the following statement about television, made by former CBS newscaster Edward R. Murrow almost 50 years ago:

This instrument can teach, it can illuminate, yes, and it can even inspire. But it can only do so to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise it is merely lights and wires in a box.³