Book Review: Media Ethics and Self-Regulation
Abstract
however, will continue to shoot blanks unless they can move down from their conceptual towers and engage with the real material conditions of existence within newsrooms and incorporate the active agency of the practitioners. Chris Frost Media Ethics and Self-Regulation London: Longman, 2000. 288 pp. ISBN 0582 30605 1 (pbk) Reviewed by Gerard Smit, School of Journalism, Utrecht Chris Frost's Media Ethics and Self-Regulation reflects a rising interest in media ethics in the British context. This is a welcome trend, but what still seems to be lacking is a common ground for debate among British ethicists in the field. According to Frost (University of Central Lancashire), British journalists have to shape up or shut up. 'We have two stark choices in the UK. Either we will have to have legislation to deal with the excesses of the media, particularly the tabloid press, or journalists will have to get their act together and start to behave responsibly.' The latter is his preferred option self-regulation paves the way towards the desired goal and it is a view with which one can have much sympathy. It would, however, have been much more rewarding had Frost confronted the challenge of the opposing