Ethics of Media

According to the Jen Senko’s Documentary, her father Frank Senko has been brainwashed through the media news. Her daughter Jen Senko is discussing how right-wings news programs and talk suggests including internet sites have modified his father's character. In the documentary, Jen Senko explains how the Federal Communication Commission established a policy known as Fairness Doctrine which regulated the Airwaves for 38 years. Following the lifting of the policy, licenses had been no longer necessary to present issues thru the broadcasts. From then Rush Limbaugh’s AM, which is a radio show aired nationally. Other parties that played a massive role in brainwashing Frank Senko include Richard Nixon who had started shifting the country to the right by smearing the minority group and the anti-war activists. The Fox news channel is another media platform that contributed in the brainwashing of Frank Senko. From the documentary film, it is clear how twisted news was influential such that they changed the beliefs of many individuals among which Frank Senko was one of them. The Frank’s brain was physically distorted first by Rush Limbaugh followed by Fox news. From a technical perspective, the anger caused by these media channels made Frank addicted and allegedly made him change. The anger incidents cause release of dopamine a substance that is known to cause pleasure which is a neurological transformation of the brain.

The stakeholders in this scenario include Jen Senko, Frank Senko, Fox News, Rush Limbaugh and the journalists. The main stakeholders to focus on in this case will be Frank Senko and the media stations (Fox News and Rush Limbaugh). 

Concerning the technical problem in this case; it is that of news distorting. News distortion is an unacceptable behavior according to media ethics. From an ethical perspective, news anchors have the right to share what they feel worth sharing. The action of twisting the primary message regarding news is a very unacceptable with the level of democracy. The above technical problem has led to the ethical problem of how the distorted news has brainwashed people like Frank Senko. The person most affected individuals by news distortion are the audience. The media stations were supposed to ensure all that was circulating via their channels is the right information that people could

To solve this ethical problem concerning brainwashing by the distorted news, one should consider the work of communication commission. The role of communication commission is to ensure ethical principles and standards are followed. From the perspective, the media channels practiced unethically thus changing people's minds against the blacks, gay, and other minorities. Another perspective is accuracy. Concerning accuracy, the audiences have always had full trust regarding the accuracy of the news (Kampf & Daskal 165). They always believe in what they here and practice accordingly. We should, therefore, blame the media stations for empowering people with wrong implications. The last ethical perspective to solve this case is fairness (Kampf & Daskal 165). Media stations serve as independent bodies, and therefore they should ensure neutrality in all situations that have opposing ends. The communication commission should, therefore, solve this case by applying the above ethical principles and standards. If all the media stations applied the ethical principles and standards, such issues could not have occurred.

Solving this case through the application of the above named ethical standards, they can withstand criticism from all perspectives including the various ethical principles applied in media and communication. The recommendations regarding this case are; media stations should apply all ethical principles and standards in all situations. Another recommendation is that the communication commission should take full control of the media channels starting with their licensing and regulation. Concerning regulation, the communication commission has an extra duty of ensuring that all ethical principles and standards are followed.

Works Cited

Kampf, Zohar, and Efrat Daskal. “Communicating Imperfection: the Ethical Principles of News

Corrections”. Communication Theory, no. 24, 2014, pp. 165-185.