Ethics – a passion in theory and practice
Ethics. Put the word to a friend or colleague and you’re likely to
get a discussion about the importance of ethical standards and behaviour
for individuals, organisations and broader society. But tune in to the
nightly news and there are seemingly endless examples of people behaving
badly. There appears to be many grey areas in the relationship between
ethics theory and practice.
So in saying all of this, it takes a determined person to make the exploration of ethics part of their life’s work and UniSA’s Associate Professor Ian Richards has taken up that challenge.
An accomplished journalist who is highly respected in the industry and a well-loved UniSA lecturer who has taught generations of journalists, Prof Richards is a seasoned academic who has just published the first Australian book to take a serious look at the ethics of journalism.
“I really started thinking seriously about ethics when I was working as a journalist,” says Prof Richards.
“Just as the first chapter of my book describes, it was just after I wrote a story in the newspaper about a young man’s court case.
“His mother called me and was upset that I had exposed his story to family, friends and work colleagues. I was young and hadn’t thought a lot about it until then, but talking to his mum made me see just how a journalist’s work impacts on people’s lives in many ways.”
The book discusses many different forces that impact on journalists, tackling highly complex issues and unpacking them in a way that is easy to digest. A must read for anyone interested in understanding the media from an insiders point of view.
Prof Richards is not limited to looking at ethics in journalism.
In fact, you could easily say he has become an authority on the topic. He was recently appointed the Chair of the UniSA’s Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) and is also a part of a working group that has just received substantial funding from Adelaide’s three universities and the State Government to establish the Ethics Centre of South Australia (ECSA).
Prof Richards’ book Quagmires and Quandaries: Exploring journalism ethics is now available.