Module: Ethics & Regulation

Latest Module Specifications

Current Academic Year 2025 - 2026

Module Title	Ethics & Regulation
Module Code	PHE1004 (ITS: CM1540)
Faculty	Humanities & Social Sciences	School	Communications
NFQ level	8	Credit Rating	5

Description

This module engages the question: What ought journalists to do? It has readings in classical ethical theory -- Plato and Aristotle -- Enlightenment thinkers such as Kant and J.S. Mill, and contemporary writers such as Jonathan Haight and Peter Singer. It has a component of democratic political theory and a substantial engagement with journalism as it is practiced today in all media form.

Learning Outcomes

1. 1. Answer the questions, 'What ought I to do?' and 'On whose authority?'
2. 2. Apply classical ethical theory to contemporary professional communication practice
3. 3. Resolve contradictory moral obligations in the field of journalism and other mass communication professions
4. 4. Participate meaningfully and compellingly in group discussion of ethical quandries and connundrums
5. 5. Write thoughtfully and reasonably on matters of resolving moral dilemmas in the field of journalism and other areas of professional communication
6. Place journalistic moral obligation in the context of Western liberal democracies and consider alternative contexts

*Type*	*Hours*	*Description*
Workload	Full time hours per semester
Lecture	22	Mandatory attendance
Assignment Completion	50	weekly short essays, subsantial final essay
Independent Study	53	Readings in classical texts, contemporary practice
Total Workload: 125

Section Breakdown
CRN	20867	Part of Term	Semester 2
Coursework	100%	Examination Weight	0%
Grade Scale	40PASS	Pass Both Elements	N
Resit Category	RC1	Best Mark	N
Module Co-ordinator	Roderick Flynn	Module Teacher

Type	Description	% of total	Assessment Date
Assessment Breakdown
Essay	Substantial inquiry, approximately 2,000-3,000 words, into the ethical dimensions of contemporary practice, drawing upon the texts to bolster deontological or consequentialist argument for the moral rightness (or wrongness) of behavior, and putting the results into a broad ethical context.	50%	Once per semester
Assignment	Short essays, approximately 500-800 words, submitted periodically, expressing increasingly sophisticated understanding of concepts of classical and modern moral reasoning and understanding, and application to contemporary professional journalistic praceiced	50%	Every Second Week

Reassessment Requirement Type
Resit arrangements are explained by the following categories; RC1: A resit is available for both^* components of the module. RC2: No resit is available for a 100% coursework module. RC3: No resit is available for the coursework component where there is a coursework and summative examination element. ^* ‘Both’ is used in the context of the module having a coursework/summative examination split; where the module is 100% coursework, there will also be a resit of the assessment

Pre-requisite	None
Co-requisite	None
Compatibles	None
Incompatibles	None

All module information is indicative and subject to change. For further information,students are advised to refer to the University's Marks and Standards and Programme Specific Regulations at: http://www.dcu.ie/registry/examinations/index.shtml

Indicative Content and Learning Activities

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Indicative Reading List

Books:

Steven R. Knowlton: 1997, Moral reasoning for journalists, First, All, Praeger, Westport, Conn., 221, 0-275-94871-4
0-07-247690-7: 2006, Elements of Moral Philosophy, 6th, all, McGraw-Hill, New York,
William Frankena: 1973, Ethics, 2d, Prentice-Hall, New Jersey,
Jack Fuller: 1996, News values, First, All, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Ill., 250, 0-226-26879.9
Peter Singer, ed: 2005, Ethics Oxford Reader, OUP,
A.C. Grayling,: 0, What Is Good?, 1st, all, Phoenix, London, 271, 0-75381-755-1
Jonathan Haidt: 2012, The Righteous Mind,

Articles:

0: Irish Times, Irish Independent, The Guardian,

Other Resources

0: A wide variety of news and other related sites,