Call for Contributions: Forum on #MeToo and Media Ethics

Edited by David Beard, Trish Roberts-Miller, Scott R. Stroud, Gina Chen, & Elizabethada Wright

MEDIA ETHICS would like to assemble a forum section with reflections from scholars of media, journalism, communication, rhetoric, and beyond concerning the normative dimensions of media’s role in the #MeToo movement, a growing international movement that empowers individuals of sexual harassment, abuse, and assault.

Journalists, newspapers, and social media have played important roles in this movement’s growth, featuring stories identifying alleged sexual harassers. News media have come under fire for the ways they’ve ignored such allegations and abusers in the past, and have received both praise and blame for how they now cover those individuals accused of harassment. Social media has become a prominent method for #MeToo campaigns, quickly spreading information and amplifying efforts at social shaming, leading some to call more reflection on the ethical implications of using online crowds in the digital age. In essays of roughly one thousand words, contributors are invited to reflect on media and communication ethics relating to any aspect of the #MeToo movement, including but not limited to:

-the role of the media in disseminating information about #MeToo cases, as well as in guiding public opinion about the prevalence and impact of sexual harassment and abuse.

-the choices and effects inherent in using social media to disseminate information about these cases.

-the ethics of the use of leaked or spun documents, including court or Title IX proceedings, legal documents, press releases, and public statements, in news stories or on social media.

-the conflict between privacy and social urgency in mediated movements such as #MeToo

-the debate about the use of mediated shaming campaigns as an apt punishment for sexual harassers.

-the ethical challenges posed by the #MeToo narrative and coverage of cases that run counter to that narrative (e.g., the still-developing stories of Avital Ronell and Asia Argento).

-the ethical challenges faced by journalists covering developing #MeToo stories.

-the role of academics as public intellectuals in the media coverage of #MeToo.

-lessons from individual #MeToo cases for professional practice.

-the ethical promises and challenges of media and intersectional #MeToo issues.

MEDIA ETHICS is an online scholarly publication established in 1987 by Cliff Christians, Tom Cooper, Manny Paraschos, and Mike Kittross. MEDIA ETHICS specializes in publishing readable and timely scholarly commentary on cutting-edge topics in media, journalism, and communication ethics.

For full consideration for this forum, please send completed manuscripts of approximately 1000words to the editor of MEDIA ETHICS, Dr. Scott R. Stroud, University of Texas at Austin, at sstroud@austin.utexas.edu by October 15, 2018.

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