COMM 431, Mass Media ethics
Final exam study guide.

(December 2010.) The final exam will cover text chapters 6, 10, 11, all lectures, in-class discussions, exercises, the ethics worksheet, and films. Topics include confidentiality, economics, advertising, obscenity, stereotypes and pop culture.

The questions below give your direction on study topics. They are not (usually) the actual questions on the exam. The final will also contain two or three questions taken from the midterm exam.

1. Why do Americans generally support extensive advertising in American culture?

2. What is deontological ethics?

3. What is teleological ethics?

4. How did Joseph Pulitzer defend sensationalism?

5. Which federal group governs advertising?

6. Which federal group governs broadcast?

7. What is one criticism of stereotypes?

8. What is one defense of stereotypes?

9. What is blasphemy?

10. What is paternalism?

11. What is situational relativism?

12. How do some advocacy groups defend their offensive advertising or media material?

13. If you believe people are basically good, you would probably be in favor of what kind of ethical factor shaping our moral behavior?

14. What would a rights ethicist argue?

15. What kind of music was originally considered to be folk art?

16. Describe one criticism of popular culture.

17. What is the point of the ethical worksheet we used in class and for our final paper?