A Confucian Approach to Media Ethics (Routledge Focus on Communication Studies)

A Confucian Approach to Media Ethics offers a comprehensive theorization of an approach to media ethics based on the moral philosophy that originated from China and that profoundly influenced East Asian countries.

This book engages with foundational concepts from Confucian ethics and explicates a new framework that can be used for guiding media practices, as well as media ethics research and teaching. It suggests that the Confucian ideals of He (harmony), Zhong (equilibrium), and the notion of Junzi can be applied to guide intercultural media practices, and sets out a fresh model for ethics education centered on Xiuji (self-cultivation) that is different from the training-based and decision-making-centered model prevalent in the Western classrooms. This is also a framework that emphasizes both individual moral growth and the moral character of the broader professional community.

Filling a gap in the conversation between Eastern and Western approaches to media ethics, this innovative and important volume will offer new perspectives to students and scholars of media ethics, communication studies, and comparative philosophy.

Yayu Feng is an assistant professor in the Department of Emerging Media at the University of St. Thomas, United States.