Media and Morality (PDF)

Roger Silverstone's compelling new book places the global media at
the heart of the moral future of civilisation. It argues that the
media (the press, broadcasting, the Internet and increasingly
peer-to-peer technologies and networks) have a profound
significance for the way in which the world is understood by its
citizens. It also argues that without a clear understanding of that
significance, and without a critique of the way in which the media
go about their daily business, we are likely to see an erosion in
the capacity of human beings to understand and respect each other,
especially those whom they see and hear only in their mediation.

In a world of increasing polarisation and demonisation, the
media have a powerful role to play. They can reinforce or they can
challenge that polarisation. The book proposes that we should think
of the global media as a mediapolis, a single space of political
and social communication, in which the basis for the relationships
between neighbours and strangers can be either constructed or
destroyed. The mediapolis is a moral space, a space of hospitality,
responsibility, obligation and judgement. And questioning its
present and future requires attention to issues of media justice,
media literacy and media regulation.

Media and Morality is essential reading for all students
and scholars of the media but will be of equal fascination to
anyone interested in the workings of our modern world.