Ethical language and themes in news coverage of genetic testing

Journalism and Mass Communication Quaterly

Volumn 77, Issue 1, 2000, Pages 160-174

  Craig, David A ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0348200959     PISSN: 10776990     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/107769900007700112     Document Type: Article

References (81)

1. For an overview of the project, see "The Human Genome Project" [World Wide Web document] (The National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, accessed 4 January 2000); available from http://www.nhgri.nih.gov/HGP; Internet.
2. M. Susan Lindee, "The ELSI Hypothesis," Isis 85 (June 1994): 293-96. Among the books are George J. Annas and Sherman Elias, eds., Gene Mapping: Using Law and Ethics As Guides (NY: Oxford University Press, 1992); Daniel J. Kevles and Leroy Hood, eds., The Code of Codes: Scientific and Social Issues in the Human Genome Project (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1992); Mark S. Frankel and Albert Teich, eds., The Genetic Frontier: Ethics, Law, and Policy (Washington, DC: American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1994); Timothy F. Murphy and Marc A. Lappe, eds., Justice and the Human Genome Project (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1994); Thomas H. Murray, Mark A. Rothstein, and Robert F. Murray, Jr., eds., The Human Genome Project and the Future of Health Care (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1996); Mark A. Rothstein, ed., Genetic Secrets: Protecting Privacy and Confidentiality in the Genetic Era (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1997); and Maxwell J. Mehlman and Jeffrey R. Botkin, Access to the Genome: The Challenge to Equality (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 1998).
3. M. Susan Lindee, "The ELSI Hypothesis," Isis 85 (June 1994): 293-96. Among the books are George J. Annas and Sherman Elias, eds., Gene Mapping: Using Law and Ethics As Guides (NY: Oxford University Press, 1992); Daniel J. Kevles and Leroy Hood, eds., The Code of Codes: Scientific and Social Issues in the Human Genome Project (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1992); Mark S. Frankel and Albert Teich, eds., The Genetic Frontier: Ethics, Law, and Policy (Washington, DC: American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1994); Timothy F. Murphy and Marc A. Lappe, eds., Justice and the Human Genome Project (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1994); Thomas H. Murray, Mark A. Rothstein, and Robert F. Murray, Jr., eds., The Human Genome Project and the Future of Health Care (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1996); Mark A. Rothstein, ed., Genetic Secrets: Protecting Privacy and Confidentiality in the Genetic Era (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1997); and Maxwell J. Mehlman and Jeffrey R. Botkin, Access to the Genome: The Challenge to Equality (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 1998).
4. M. Susan Lindee, "The ELSI Hypothesis," Isis 85 (June 1994): 293-96. Among the books are George J. Annas and Sherman Elias, eds., Gene Mapping: Using Law and Ethics As Guides (NY: Oxford University Press, 1992); Daniel J. Kevles and Leroy Hood, eds., The Code of Codes: Scientific and Social Issues in the Human Genome Project (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1992); Mark S. Frankel and Albert Teich, eds., The Genetic Frontier: Ethics, Law, and Policy (Washington, DC: American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1994); Timothy F. Murphy and Marc A. Lappe, eds., Justice and the Human Genome Project (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1994); Thomas H. Murray, Mark A. Rothstein, and Robert F. Murray, Jr., eds., The Human Genome Project and the Future of Health Care (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1996); Mark A. Rothstein, ed., Genetic Secrets: Protecting Privacy and Confidentiality in the Genetic Era (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1997); and Maxwell J. Mehlman and Jeffrey R. Botkin, Access to the Genome: The Challenge to Equality (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 1998).
5. M. Susan Lindee, "The ELSI Hypothesis," Isis 85 (June 1994): 293-96. Among the books are George J. Annas and Sherman Elias, eds., Gene Mapping: Using Law and Ethics As Guides (NY: Oxford University Press, 1992); Daniel J. Kevles and Leroy Hood, eds., The Code of Codes: Scientific and Social Issues in the Human Genome Project (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1992); Mark S. Frankel and Albert Teich, eds., The Genetic Frontier: Ethics, Law, and Policy (Washington, DC: American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1994); Timothy F. Murphy and Marc A. Lappe, eds., Justice and the Human Genome Project (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1994); Thomas H. Murray, Mark A. Rothstein, and Robert F. Murray, Jr., eds., The Human Genome Project and the Future of Health Care (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1996); Mark A. Rothstein, ed., Genetic Secrets: Protecting Privacy and Confidentiality in the Genetic Era (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1997); and Maxwell J. Mehlman and Jeffrey R. Botkin, Access to the Genome: The Challenge to Equality (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 1998).
6. M. Susan Lindee, "The ELSI Hypothesis," Isis 85 (June 1994): 293-96. Among the books are George J. Annas and Sherman Elias, eds., Gene Mapping: Using Law and Ethics As Guides (NY: Oxford University Press, 1992); Daniel J. Kevles and Leroy Hood, eds., The Code of Codes: Scientific and Social Issues in the Human Genome Project (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1992); Mark S. Frankel and Albert Teich, eds., The Genetic Frontier: Ethics, Law, and Policy (Washington, DC: American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1994); Timothy F. Murphy and Marc A. Lappe, eds., Justice and the Human Genome Project (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1994); Thomas H. Murray, Mark A. Rothstein, and Robert F. Murray, Jr., eds., The Human Genome Project and the Future of Health Care (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1996); Mark A. Rothstein, ed., Genetic Secrets: Protecting Privacy and Confidentiality in the Genetic Era (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1997); and Maxwell J. Mehlman and Jeffrey R. Botkin, Access to the Genome: The Challenge to Equality (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 1998).
7. M. Susan Lindee, "The ELSI Hypothesis," Isis 85 (June 1994): 293-96. Among the books are George J. Annas and Sherman Elias, eds., Gene Mapping: Using Law and Ethics As Guides (NY: Oxford University Press, 1992); Daniel J. Kevles and Leroy Hood, eds., The Code of Codes: Scientific and Social Issues in the Human Genome Project (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1992); Mark S. Frankel and Albert Teich, eds., The Genetic Frontier: Ethics, Law, and Policy (Washington, DC: American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1994); Timothy F. Murphy and Marc A. Lappe, eds., Justice and the Human Genome Project (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1994); Thomas H. Murray, Mark A. Rothstein, and Robert F. Murray, Jr., eds., The Human Genome Project and the Future of Health Care (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1996); Mark A. Rothstein, ed., Genetic Secrets: Protecting Privacy and Confidentiality in the Genetic Era (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1997); and Maxwell J. Mehlman and Jeffrey R. Botkin, Access to the Genome: The Challenge to Equality (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 1998).
8. M. Susan Lindee, "The ELSI Hypothesis," Isis 85 (June 1994): 293-96. Among the books are George J. Annas and Sherman Elias, eds., Gene Mapping: Using Law and Ethics As Guides (NY: Oxford University Press, 1992); Daniel J. Kevles and Leroy Hood, eds., The Code of Codes: Scientific and Social Issues in the Human Genome Project (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1992); Mark S. Frankel and Albert Teich, eds., The Genetic Frontier: Ethics, Law, and Policy (Washington, DC: American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1994); Timothy F. Murphy and Marc A. Lappe, eds., Justice and the Human Genome Project (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1994); Thomas H. Murray, Mark A. Rothstein, and Robert F. Murray, Jr., eds., The Human Genome Project and the Future of Health Care (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1996); Mark A. Rothstein, ed., Genetic Secrets: Protecting Privacy and Confidentiality in the Genetic Era (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1997); and Maxwell J. Mehlman and Jeffrey R. Botkin, Access to the Genome: The Challenge to Equality (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 1998).
9. M. Susan Lindee, "The ELSI Hypothesis," Isis 85 (June 1994): 293-96. Among the books are George J. Annas and Sherman Elias, eds., Gene Mapping: Using Law and Ethics As Guides (NY: Oxford University Press, 1992); Daniel J. Kevles and Leroy Hood, eds., The Code of Codes: Scientific and Social Issues in the Human Genome Project (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1992); Mark S. Frankel and Albert Teich, eds., The Genetic Frontier: Ethics, Law, and Policy (Washington, DC: American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1994); Timothy F. Murphy and Marc A. Lappe, eds., Justice and the Human Genome Project (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1994); Thomas H. Murray, Mark A. Rothstein, and Robert F. Murray, Jr., eds., The Human Genome Project and the Future of Health Care (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1996); Mark A. Rothstein, ed., Genetic Secrets: Protecting Privacy and Confidentiality in the Genetic Era (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1997); and Maxwell J. Mehlman and Jeffrey R. Botkin, Access to the Genome: The Challenge to Equality (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 1998).
10. Thomas H. Murray, "Speaking Unsmooth Things about the Human Genome Project," in Annas and Elias, Gene Mapping, 250.
11. Dorothy Nelkin, Selling Science: How the Press Covers Science and Technology, rev. ed. (NY: W.H. Freeman, 1995), 35-37. See also Dorothy Nelkin and M. Susan Lindee, The DNA Mystique: The Gene As Cultural Icon (NY: W.H. Freeman, 1995); Dorothy Nelkin, "Covering Gene Therapy: Beware the Hype," Quill, September 1996, 34-37; and Celeste M. Condit, Nneka Ofulue, and Kristine M. Sheedy, "Determinism and Mass-Media Portrayals of Genetics," American Journal of Human Genetics 62 (April 1998): 979-84.
12. Dorothy Nelkin, Selling Science: How the Press Covers Science and Technology, rev. ed. (NY: W.H. Freeman, 1995), 35-37. See also Dorothy Nelkin and M. Susan Lindee, The DNA Mystique: The Gene As Cultural Icon (NY: W.H. Freeman, 1995); Dorothy Nelkin, "Covering Gene Therapy: Beware the Hype," Quill, September 1996, 34-37; and Celeste M. Condit, Nneka Ofulue, and Kristine M. Sheedy, "Determinism and Mass-Media Portrayals of Genetics," American Journal of Human Genetics 62 (April 1998): 979-84.
13. Dorothy Nelkin, Selling Science: How the Press Covers Science and Technology, rev. ed. (NY: W.H. Freeman, 1995), 35-37. See also Dorothy Nelkin and M. Susan Lindee, The DNA Mystique: The Gene As Cultural Icon (NY: W.H. Freeman, 1995); Dorothy Nelkin, "Covering Gene Therapy: Beware the Hype," Quill, September 1996, 34-37; and Celeste M. Condit, Nneka Ofulue, and Kristine M. Sheedy, "Determinism and Mass-Media Portrayals of Genetics," American Journal of Human Genetics 62 (April 1998): 979-84.
14. Dorothy Nelkin, Selling Science: How the Press Covers Science and Technology, rev. ed. (NY: W.H. Freeman, 1995), 35-37. See also Dorothy Nelkin and M. Susan Lindee, The DNA Mystique: The Gene As Cultural Icon (NY: W.H. Freeman, 1995); Dorothy Nelkin, "Covering Gene Therapy: Beware the Hype," Quill, September 1996, 34-37; and Celeste M. Condit, Nneka Ofulue, and Kristine M. Sheedy, "Determinism and Mass-Media Portrayals of Genetics," American Journal of Human Genetics 62 (April 1998): 979-84.
15. Patrick D. Hopkins, "Bad Copies: How Popular Media Represent Cloning As an Ethical Problem," Hastings Center Report, March-April 1998, 6-13. See also a brief commentary by Leigh Turner, "The Media and the Ethics of Cloning," Chronicle of Higher Education, 26 September 1997, B4-B5.
16. Patrick D. Hopkins, "Bad Copies: How Popular Media Represent Cloning As an Ethical Problem," Hastings Center Report, March-April 1998, 6-13. See also a brief commentary by Leigh Turner, "The Media and the Ethics of Cloning," Chronicle of Higher Education, 26 September 1997, B4-B5.
17. Michael Altimore, "The Social Construction of a Scientific Controversy: Comments on Press Coverage of the Recombinant DNA Debate," Science, Technology, & Human Values 7 (fall 1982): 24-31.
18. Rae Goodell, "The Gene Craze," Columbia Journalism Review, November-December 1980, 41-45. See also Nancy Pfund and Laura Hofstadter, "Biomedical Innovation and the Press," Journal of Communication 31 (spring 1981): 138-54; and Rae Goodell, "How to Kill a Controversy: The Case of Recombinant DNA," in Scientists and Journalists: Reporting Science As News, ed. Sharon M. Friedman, Sharon Dunwoody, and Carol L. Rogers (NY: Free Press, 1986), 170-81.
19. Rae Goodell, "The Gene Craze," Columbia Journalism Review, November-December 1980, 41-45. See also Nancy Pfund and Laura Hofstadter, "Biomedical Innovation and the Press," Journal of Communication 31 (spring 1981): 138-54; and Rae Goodell, "How to Kill a Controversy: The Case of Recombinant DNA," in Scientists and Journalists: Reporting Science As News, ed. Sharon M. Friedman, Sharon Dunwoody, and Carol L. Rogers (NY: Free Press, 1986), 170-81.
20. Rae Goodell, "The Gene Craze," Columbia Journalism Review, November-December 1980, 41-45. See also Nancy Pfund and Laura Hofstadter, "Biomedical Innovation and the Press," Journal of Communication 31 (spring 1981): 138-54; and Rae Goodell, "How to Kill a Controversy: The Case of Recombinant DNA," in Scientists and Journalists: Reporting Science As News, ed. Sharon M. Friedman, Sharon Dunwoody, and Carol L. Rogers (NY: Free Press, 1986), 170-81.
21. Bruce V. Lewenstein, Tracy Allaman, and Shobita Parthasarathy, "Historical Survey of Media Coverage of Biotechnology in the United States, 1970 to 1996" (paper presented at the annual meeting of the AEJMC, Baltimore, MD, 1998).
22. Susanna Hornig Priest and Jeffery Talbert, "Mass Media and the Ultimate Technological Fix: Newspaper Coverage of Biotechnology," Southwestern Mass Communication Journal 10 (1, 1994): 76-85. See also Susanna Hornig Priest, "Structuring Public Debate on Biotechnology: Media Frames and Public Response," Science Communication 16 (December 1994): 166-79, and Susanna Hornig Priest, "Information Equity, Public Understanding of Science, and the Biotechnology Debate," Journal of Communication 45 (winter 1995): 39-54.
23. Susanna Hornig Priest and Jeffery Talbert, "Mass Media and the Ultimate Technological Fix: Newspaper Coverage of Biotechnology," Southwestern Mass Communication Journal 10 (1, 1994): 76-85. See also Susanna Hornig Priest, "Structuring Public Debate on Biotechnology: Media Frames and Public Response," Science Communication 16 (December 1994): 166-79, and Susanna Hornig Priest, "Information Equity, Public Understanding of Science, and the Biotechnology Debate," Journal of Communication 45 (winter 1995): 39-54.
24. Susanna Hornig Priest and Jeffery Talbert, "Mass Media and the Ultimate Technological Fix: Newspaper Coverage of Biotechnology," Southwestern Mass Communication Journal 10 (1, 1994): 76-85. See also Susanna Hornig Priest, "Structuring Public Debate on Biotechnology: Media Frames and Public Response," Science Communication 16 (December 1994): 166-79, and Susanna Hornig Priest, "Information Equity, Public Understanding of Science, and the Biotechnology Debate," Journal of Communication 45 (winter 1995): 39-54.
25. Likewise, Altimore's study, "The Social Construction of a Scientific Controversy," coded statements about benefits as scientific or technical, not philosophical.
26. David Miller, "Introducing the 'Gay Gene': Media and Scientific Representations," Public Understanding of Science 4 (July 1995): 269-84.
27. Maggie Jones Patterson and Megan Williams Hall, "Abortion, Moral Maturity and Civic Journalism," Critical Studies in Mass Communication 15 (June 1998): 91-115.
28. Carol Gilligan, In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women's Development (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1982). Patterson and Hall concluded that "the feminine means of moral reasoning" (Patterson and Hall, "Abortion, Moral Maturity and Civic Journalism," 92) has gradually emerged to prominence in discussion of abortion.
29. Carol Gilligan, In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women's Development (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1982). Patterson and Hall concluded that "the feminine means of moral reasoning" (Patterson and Hall, "Abortion, Moral Maturity and Civic Journalism," 92) has gradually emerged to prominence in discussion of abortion.
30. William R. Oates, "Social and Ethical Content in Science Coverage by Newsmagazines," Journalism Quarterly 50 (winter 1973): 680-84.
31. Stephen Klaidman and Tom L. Beauchamp, "Baby Jane Doe in the Media," Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law 11 (summer 1986): 271-84. In addition, Kathleen Kerr, the lead reporter for Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage by Newsday, discussed how the coverage developed in "Reporting the Case of Baby Jane Doe," Hastings Center Report, August 1984, 7-9.
32. Stephen Klaidman and Tom L. Beauchamp, "Baby Jane Doe in the Media," Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law 11 (summer 1986): 271-84. In addition, Kathleen Kerr, the lead reporter for Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage by Newsday, discussed how the coverage developed in "Reporting the Case of Baby Jane Doe," Hastings Center Report, August 1984, 7-9.
33. Michael Mulkay, "Embryos in the News," Public Understanding of Science 3 (January 1994): 33-51.
34. A variety of literature on risk communication has touched on ethics, directly or indirectly. See, for example, Risky Business: Communicating Issues of Science, Risk, and Public Policy, ed. Lee Wilkins and Philip Patterson, with a foreword by Dorothy Nelkin (NY: Greenwood Press, 1991) and Lee Wilkins, "Between Facts and Values: Print Media Coverage of the Greenhouse Effect, 1987-1990," Public Understanding of Science 2 (January 1993): 71-84.
35. A variety of literature on risk communication has touched on ethics, directly or indirectly. See, for example, Risky Business: Communicating Issues of Science, Risk, and Public Policy, ed. Lee Wilkins and Philip Patterson, with a foreword by Dorothy Nelkin (NY: Greenwood Press, 1991) and Lee Wilkins, "Between Facts and Values: Print Media Coverage of the Greenhouse Effect, 1987-1990," Public Understanding of Science 2 (January 1993): 71-84.
36. Media outlets for which stories were coded were: Religion News Service (articles as published in the Cleveland Plain Dealer), Chicago Tribune, Denver Post, Louisville Courier-Journal, Minneapolis Star Tribune, New York Times, Tampa Tribune, USA Today, Washington Post, Time, U.S. News & World Report, ABC News, CBS News, NBC News, and National Public Radio. Text of the specific stories was obtained primarily through Lexis-Nexis but also through Burrelle's broadcast news and Dialog databases. Videotapes of the broadcast pieces were obtained from the Vanderbilt University Television News Archive.
37. About eighty relevant stories from early 1995 to mid-1996 that were initially considered referred at least in passing to "ethics" or its cognate words along with genetic research, testing, or counseling - or evidenced ethical content in other ways. The list of stories was narrowed for in-depth qualitative analysis to those that on a preliminary reading were found to deal most substantially and distinctively with the ethics of genetic testing. Additionally, some stories from early to mid-1995 were excluded to focus on stories that reporters would more likely recall in interviews carried out as part of a larger study. A few early broadcast and newsmagazine stories were retained to maximize the variety of media in this exploratory analysis.
38. "Some," "little," and "comprehensive" were defined by story with recognition of the limitations imposed by space and time constraints and other factors. These categories were not used to rate coverage quantitatively on an enumerated hierarchy but rather to shape exploratory, qualitative textual analysis aimed at beginning to map the terrain of ethics coverage. The analytical question employed in this article is one of several drawn from a theoretical framework for assessing ethics coverage developed and applied in the author's dissertation. See David A. Craig, "Covering the Ethics Angle: Toward a Method to Evaluate and Improve How Journalists Portray the Ethical Dimension of Professions and Society" (Ph.D. diss., University of Missouri-Columbia, 1997) and David A. Craig, "A Framework for Evaluating Coverage of Ethics in Professions and Society," Journal of Mass Media Ethics 14 (1, 1999): 16-27. This genetic testing study originated in the dissertation.
39. "Some," "little," and "comprehensive" were defined by story with recognition of the limitations imposed by space and time constraints and other factors. These categories were not used to rate coverage quantitatively on an enumerated hierarchy but rather to shape exploratory, qualitative textual analysis aimed at beginning to map the terrain of ethics coverage. The analytical question employed in this article is one of several drawn from a theoretical framework for assessing ethics coverage developed and applied in the author's dissertation. See David A. Craig, "Covering the Ethics Angle: Toward a Method to Evaluate and Improve How Journalists Portray the Ethical Dimension of Professions and Society" (Ph.D. diss., University of Missouri-Columbia, 1997) and David A. Craig, "A Framework for Evaluating Coverage of Ethics in Professions and Society," Journal of Mass Media Ethics 14 (1, 1999): 16-27. This genetic testing study originated in the dissertation.
40. Gilligan, In a Different Voice.
41. The author thanks an anonymous reviewer of a previous version of this study, presented as David A. Craig, "A Critical Assessment of News Coverage of the Ethical Implications of Genetic Testing" (paper presented at the annual meeting of the AEJMC, Baltimore, MD, 1998), for noting the applicability of Gilligan to the analysis in this case.
42. Both perspectives are cited, for example, in media ethics in Clifford G. Christians, Mark Fackler, Kim B. Rotzoll, and Kathy Brittain McKee, Media Ethics: Cases and Moral Reasoning, 5th ed. (NY: Longman, 1998), 13-16. Edmund B. Lambeth argues for a mixed deontological framework that draws on both of these perspectives in Committed Journalism: An Ethic for the Profession, 2d ed. (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1992), 21-22. Both perspectives are cited in connection with medical ethics in the discussion of ethical theories in Tom L. Beauchamp and James F. Childress, Principles of Biomedical Ethics, 4th ed. (NY: Oxford University Press, 1994), 47-62.
43. Both perspectives are cited, for example, in media ethics in Clifford G. Christians, Mark Fackler, Kim B. Rotzoll, and Kathy Brittain McKee, Media Ethics: Cases and Moral Reasoning, 5th ed. (NY: Longman, 1998), 13-16. Edmund B. Lambeth argues for a mixed deontological framework that draws on both of these perspectives in Committed Journalism: An Ethic for the Profession, 2d ed. (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1992), 21-22. Both perspectives are cited in connection with medical ethics in the discussion of ethical theories in Tom L. Beauchamp and James F. Childress, Principles of Biomedical Ethics, 4th ed. (NY: Oxford University Press, 1994), 47-62.
44. Both perspectives are cited, for example, in media ethics in Clifford G. Christians, Mark Fackler, Kim B. Rotzoll, and Kathy Brittain McKee, Media Ethics: Cases and Moral Reasoning, 5th ed. (NY: Longman, 1998), 13-16. Edmund B. Lambeth argues for a mixed deontological framework that draws on both of these perspectives in Committed Journalism: An Ethic for the Profession, 2d ed. (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1992), 21-22. Both perspectives are cited in connection with medical ethics in the discussion of ethical theories in Tom L. Beauchamp and James F. Childress, Principles of Biomedical Ethics, 4th ed. (NY: Oxford University Press, 1994), 47-62.
45. Paul Ramsey, Basic Christian Ethics (NY: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1950); Paul Ramsey, The Patient as Person: Explorations in Medical Ethics (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1970).
46. Paul Ramsey, Basic Christian Ethics (NY: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1950); Paul Ramsey, The Patient as Person: Explorations in Medical Ethics (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1970).
47. William F. May, The Patient's Ordeal (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1991). Faithfulness to commitments calls for ongoing, even long-term, action in the interest of another person, simply because he or she is a person. Sensitivity to human needs calls for placing a high priority on meeting the concrete needs of individuals. The love-based ethic applied in this framework has much in common with Gilligan's ethic of care. She states that women's moral concern tends to include "[s]ensitivity to the needs of others and the assumption of responsibility for taking care" (Gilligan, In a Different Voice, 16), notions that are closely tied to the duties of sensitivity to human needs and faithfulness to commitments.
48. William F. May, The Patient's Ordeal (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1991). Faithfulness to commitments calls for ongoing, even long-term, action in the interest of another person, simply because he or she is a person. Sensitivity to human needs calls for placing a high priority on meeting the concrete needs of individuals. The love-based ethic applied in this framework has much in common with Gilligan's ethic of care. She states that women's moral concern tends to include "[s]ensitivity to the needs of others and the assumption of responsibility for taking care" (Gilligan, In a Different Voice, 16), notions that are closely tied to the duties of sensitivity to human needs and faithfulness to commitments.
49. Beauchamp and Childress, Principles of Biomedical Ethics, 100-109. Beauchamp and Childress define autonomy as "personal rule of the self that is free from both controlling interferences by others and from personal limitations that prevent meaningful choice, such as inadequate understanding" (121). They note that various philosophers "interpret justice as fair, equitable, and appropriate treatment in light of what is due or owed to persons" (327). Although avoiding harm (nonmaleficence) and doing good (beneficence) appear as duties in Beauchamp and Childress, they are included instead under the consequentialist heading in this analysis because of the importance of benefits and harms in consequentialist ethics. It was determined that including them under both duty and consequence headings would have needlessly confused the analysis.
50. Rick Weiss, "Tests' Availability Tangles Ethical and Genetic Codes," Washington Post, 26 May 1996, sec. A, p. 1 (Final).
51. Tim Friend, "Looking for Alzheimer's: Test Identifies Gene but Can't Predict Disease," USA Today, 20 May 1996, sec. D, p. 1.
52. Joe Palca, news report, All Things Considered, NPR, 29 June 1995.
53. Palca, All Things Considered, 29 June 1995.
54. Or, stated in terms of Gilligan's theory (Gilligan, In a Different Voice), he portrayed Susan's concern about relationships - in light of the profound impact that genetic information can have on individuals and families.
55. Christine Gorman, "The Doctor's Crystal Ball," Time, 10 April 1995, p. 60.
56. George Strait, news report, ABC World News Tonight, 15 April 1996.
57. Beauchamp and Childress, Principles of Biomedical Ethics, 128.
58. Ethical themes in the stories appeared in individual phrases, questions or other sentences, or as threads running through a number of statements by the reporter or sources for the story. The sense of the term used here is modified from its use by bioethicist Arthur Caplan in a telephone interview by the author, 23 October 1996, and in personal communication, 15 December 1996. Although this is not a formal philosophical term, it emerged as useful during a related case study because it provides a way of assessing ethical content along lines other than explicitly philosophical duties or principles.
59. Greg Sachs, assistant director, MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics, University of Chicago, telephone interview by author, 19 May 1997.
60. Robert Bazell, news report, NBC Nightly News, 6 July 1995.
61. Palca, All Things Considered, 29 June 1995.
62. Diane Egner, "Bitter Fruit," Tampa Tribune, 3 December 1995, Commentary, p. 1 (Metro).
63. Diane Eicher, "Genetic Tests: a Catch-22," Denver Post, 29 May 1996, sec. G, p. 1 (2d).
64. Tim Friend, "Genetic Findings Used to Deny Jobs, Coverage," USA Today, 12 April 1996, sec. A, p. 1 (Final).
65. Tim Friend, "Researchers Uncover Genetic Discrimination," USA Today, 12 April 1996, sec. A, p. 3 (Final).
66. Friend, "Genetic Findings," sec. A, p. 1.
67. Robert Bazell, news report, NBC Nightly News, 15 April 1996; George Strait, news report, ABC World News Tonight, 15 April 1996.
68. Robert Bazell, news report, NBC Nightly News, 15 April 1996; George Strait, news report, ABC World News Tonight, 15 April 1996.
69. Gina Kolata, "If Tests Hint Alzheimer's, Should a Patient Be Told?" New York Times, 24 October 1995, sec. A, p. 1 (Late-Final).
70. Bazell, NBC Nightly News, 6 July 1995.
71. C.E. Harris Jr., Applying Moral Theories, 2d ed. (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1992), 58-59. Harris's categories are a key element in the theoretical framework developed in Craig, "Covering the Ethics Angle" and Craig, "A Framework for Evaluating Coverage of Ethics."
72. C.E. Harris Jr., Applying Moral Theories, 2d ed. (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1992), 58-59. Harris's categories are a key element in the theoretical framework developed in Craig, "Covering the Ethics Angle" and Craig, "A Framework for Evaluating Coverage of Ethics."
73. C.E. Harris Jr., Applying Moral Theories, 2d ed. (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1992), 58-59. Harris's categories are a key element in the theoretical framework developed in Craig, "Covering the Ethics Angle" and Craig, "A Framework for Evaluating Coverage of Ethics."
74. Harris, Applying Moral Theories, 59.
75. Publications that explore the thinking and doing of civic/public journalisam include Jay Rosen and Davis Merritt Jr., Public Journalism: Theory and Practice (Dayton, OH: Kettering Foundation, 1994); Arthur Charity, Doing Public Journalism (NY: Guilford, 1995); Davis Merritt, Public Journalism and Public Life: Why Telling the News Is Not Enough, 2d ed. (Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1998); Edmund B. Lambeth, Philip E. Meyer, and Esther Thorso , eds., Assessing Public Journalism (Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 1998); and Theodore L. Glasser, ed., The Idea of Public Journalism (NY: Guilford, 1999). Susanna Hornig Priest argues for public influence on the direction of genetic research, a position she contends is consistent with public journalism. See Priest, "Popular Beliefs, Media, and Biotechnology," in Communicating Uncertainty: Media Coverage of New and Controversial Science, ed. Sharon M. Friedman, Sharon Dunwoody, and Carol L. Rogers (Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1999), 98.
76. Publications that explore the thinking and doing of civic/public journalisam include Jay Rosen and Davis Merritt Jr., Public Journalism: Theory and Practice (Dayton, OH: Kettering Foundation, 1994); Arthur Charity, Doing Public Journalism (NY: Guilford, 1995); Davis Merritt, Public Journalism and Public Life: Why Telling the News Is Not Enough, 2d ed. (Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1998); Edmund B. Lambeth, Philip E. Meyer, and Esther Thorso , eds., Assessing Public Journalism (Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 1998); and Theodore L. Glasser, ed., The Idea of Public Journalism (NY: Guilford, 1999). Susanna Hornig Priest argues for public influence on the direction of genetic research, a position she contends is consistent with public journalism. See Priest, "Popular Beliefs, Media, and Biotechnology," in Communicating Uncertainty: Media Coverage of New and Controversial Science, ed. Sharon M. Friedman, Sharon Dunwoody, and Carol L. Rogers (Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1999), 98.
77. Publications that explore the thinking and doing of civic/public journalisam include Jay Rosen and Davis Merritt Jr., Public Journalism: Theory and Practice (Dayton, OH: Kettering Foundation, 1994); Arthur Charity, Doing Public Journalism (NY: Guilford, 1995); Davis Merritt, Public Journalism and Public Life: Why Telling the News Is Not Enough, 2d ed. (Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1998); Edmund B. Lambeth, Philip E. Meyer, and Esther Thorso , eds., Assessing Public Journalism (Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 1998); and Theodore L. Glasser, ed., The Idea of Public Journalism (NY: Guilford, 1999). Susanna Hornig Priest argues for public influence on the direction of genetic research, a position she contends is consistent with public journalism. See Priest, "Popular Beliefs, Media, and Biotechnology," in Communicating Uncertainty: Media Coverage of New and Controversial Science, ed. Sharon M. Friedman, Sharon Dunwoody, and Carol L. Rogers (Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1999), 98.
78. Publications that explore the thinking and doing of civic/public journalisam include Jay Rosen and Davis Merritt Jr., Public Journalism: Theory and Practice (Dayton, OH: Kettering Foundation, 1994); Arthur Charity, Doing Public Journalism (NY: Guilford, 1995); Davis Merritt, Public Journalism and Public Life: Why Telling the News Is Not Enough, 2d ed. (Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1998); Edmund B. Lambeth, Philip E. Meyer, and Esther Thorso , eds., Assessing Public Journalism (Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 1998); and Theodore L. Glasser, ed., The Idea of Public Journalism (NY: Guilford, 1999). Susanna Hornig Priest argues for public influence on the direction of genetic research, a position she contends is consistent with public journalism. See Priest, "Popular Beliefs, Media, and Biotechnology," in Communicating Uncertainty: Media Coverage of New and Controversial Science, ed. Sharon M. Friedman, Sharon Dunwoody, and Carol L. Rogers (Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1999), 98.
79. Publications that explore the thinking and doing of civic/public journalisam include Jay Rosen and Davis Merritt Jr., Public Journalism: Theory and Practice (Dayton, OH: Kettering Foundation, 1994); Arthur Charity, Doing Public Journalism (NY: Guilford, 1995); Davis Merritt, Public Journalism and Public Life: Why Telling the News Is Not Enough, 2d ed. (Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1998); Edmund B. Lambeth, Philip E. Meyer, and Esther Thorso , eds., Assessing Public Journalism (Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 1998); and Theodore L. Glasser, ed., The Idea of Public Journalism (NY: Guilford, 1999). Susanna Hornig Priest argues for public influence on the direction of genetic research, a position she contends is consistent with public journalism. See Priest, "Popular Beliefs, Media, and Biotechnology," in Communicating Uncertainty: Media Coverage of New and Controversial Science, ed. Sharon M. Friedman, Sharon Dunwoody, and Carol L. Rogers (Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1999), 98.
80. Publications that explore the thinking and doing of civic/public journalisam include Jay Rosen and Davis Merritt Jr., Public Journalism: Theory and Practice (Dayton, OH: Kettering Foundation, 1994); Arthur Charity, Doing Public Journalism (NY: Guilford, 1995); Davis Merritt, Public Journalism and Public Life: Why Telling the News Is Not Enough, 2d ed. (Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1998); Edmund B. Lambeth, Philip E. Meyer, and Esther Thorso , eds., Assessing Public Journalism (Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 1998); and Theodore L. Glasser, ed., The Idea of Public Journalism (NY: Guilford, 1999). Susanna Hornig Priest argues for public influence on the direction of genetic research, a position she contends is consistent with public journalism. See Priest, "Popular Beliefs, Media, and Biotechnology," in Communicating Uncertainty: Media Coverage of New and Controversial Science, ed. Sharon M. Friedman, Sharon Dunwoody, and Carol L. Rogers (Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1999), 98.
81. This discussion of the possible benefits of choosing one or a few themes in an ethics story draws on a telephone interview by the author with Thomas Billitteri, a former editor for Religion News Service, 22 July 1996, in Which he referred to the notion of a "first-generation" story that addresses only key issues connected with a complex subject.