Journalist's Moral Compass

Steven R. Knowlton, assistant professor of journalism at Pennsylvania State University with a PhD in history, worked for more than twenty years as a reporter and editor for six different newspapers around the country and for United Press International and as a press aide on a presidential campaign. His most recent book is Popular Politics and the Irish Catholic Church (1991).Patrick R. Parsons is associate professor of communications at Pennsylvania State University with his doctoral degree in journalism and mass communications. His recent publications include Milestones in Cable Television USA (1990) and Cable Television and the First Amendment (1987). He has written at length on ethical issues for journalists and on their roles in society.

"This book does not claim to offer any simple solutions; rather, it is a succinct—yet exhaustive—attempt to introduce readers to the crucial issues from a historical perspective. . . . The editors' lucid introductions provide clarification. In an age of mass media characterized by a propensity for stooping to serve the lowest common denominator—given expression in such pseudojournalism as The National Enquirer and A Current Affair-- it is refreshing to rediscover the field's noble roots." - Choice

• Introduction Politics: The Press and the State John Milton, Areopagitica, 1644 Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, 1651 John Locke, On Civil Government: The Second Treatise, 1691 "Cato" (John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon) Cato's Letters, 1720 Tunis Wortman, A Treatise Concerning Political Enquiry and the Liberty of the Press, 1801 Maximilien Robespierre, Liberty of the Press, National Gazette, 1791 John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, 1859 Samuel Warren and Louis Brandeis, "The Right to Privacy," Harvard Law Review, Dec. 15, 1890 Philosophy: The Press and the Truth Plato, "The Allegory of the Cave," The Republic, 386-367 B.C. Francis Bacon, Novum Organum, 1620 Walter Lippmann, Public Opinion, 1922 Warren Breed, "Social Control in the Newsroom," Social Forces, (33:4) May 1955 Suzanne Pingree and Robert Hawkins, "News Definitions and Their Effects on Women," Women and the News, 1978 Daniel J. Boorstin, The Image, 1964 Sissela Bok, Lying, 1979 Economy: The Press and the Market Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, 1776 Karl Marx, A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy, 1859 James Gordon Bennett, "To The Public--Enlargement of the "Herald"," New York Herald, Jan. 1, 1836: Horace Greeley, "A Great Journalist Dead," New York Tribune, June 3, 1872 Joseph Pulitzer, "The Great Issue," St. Louis Post and Dispatch, Jan. 10, 1879 Upton Sinclair, The Brass Check, 1920 A.J. Liebling, "Prologue: The End of The Free Lunch," The Press, 1961 Ben Bagdikian, "The Lords of the Global Village, The Nation, June 12, 1989 The Commission on Freedom of the Press, (The Hutchins Commission), A Free and Responsible Press, 1947 John Merrill, The Imperative of Freedom, 1974 Conclusion Appendix: Society of Professional Journalists "Code of Ethics", 1987