Over the past quarter century, dramatic technological advances in the production, manipulation, and dissemination of images have transformed the practices of journalism, entertainment, and advertising as well as the visual environment itself. From digital retouching to wholesale deception, the media world is now beset by an unprecedented range of moral, ethical, legal, and professional challenges. Image Ethics in the Digital Age brings together leading experts in the fields of journalism, media studies, and law to address these challenges and assess their implications for personal and societal values and behavior.

Among the issues raised are the threat to journalistic integrity posed by visual editing software; the monopolization of image archives by a handful of corporations and its impact on copyright and fair use laws; the instantaneous electronic distribution of images of dubious provenance around the world; the erosion of privacy and civility under the onslaught of sensationalistic twenty-four-hour television news coverage and entertainment programming; and the increasingly widespread use of surveillance cameras in public spaces. This volume of original essays is vital reading for anyone concerned with the influence of the mass media in the digital age.

Contributors: Howard S. Becker; Derek Bousé, Eastern Mediterranean U, Cyprus; Hart Cohen, U of Western Sydney; Jessica M. Fishman; Paul Frosh, Hebrew U of Jerusalem; Faye Ginsburg, New York U; Laura Grindstaff, U of California, Davis; Dianne Hagaman; Sheldon W. Halpern, Ohio State U; Darrell Y. Hamamoto, U of California, Davis; Marguerite Moritz, U of Colorado, Boulder; David D. Perlmutter, Louisiana State U; Dona Schwartz, U of Minnesota; Matthew Soar, Concordia University; Stephen E. Weil, Smithsonian Institution’s Center for Education and Museum Studies.

Larry Gross is professor and director of Annenberg School of Communication at University of Southern California. He is coeditor, with John Stuart Katz and Jay Ruby, of Image Ethics: The Moral Rights of Subjects in Photography, Film, and Television (1988).

John Stuart Katz (1938-2010) was professor of English and film studies for 13 years at the University of Pennsylvania.He is coeditor, with Larry Gross and Jay Ruby, of Image Ethics: The Moral Rights of Subjects in Photography, Film, and Television (1988).

Jay Ruby is professor of anthropology at Temple University. He is coeditor, with John Stuart Katz and Larry Gross, of Image Ethics: The Moral Rights of Subjects in Photography, Film, and Television (1988).

"Many questions about ethical responsibilities abound and the reader will find these high-quality contributions to be thought-provoking and useful. Gross, Katz and Ruby’s introduction amplifies the ethical qualms occasioned by the ‘sins’ committed in the electronic darkroom and the uses of cameras, scanners and other digital technologies to manipulate and alter images. I expect that the interest in the ethical discourse can add to the ongoing development of visual studies, with the valuable contribution of this recommended volume."—Visual Studies

"The anthology reaches into disciplines and perspectives well beyond American Media Criticism to find fresh ways of considering dilemmas in visual presentations. In addition, the writers often took the challenge of looking beyond the bend to contemplate ethical issues likely to be on their plates tomorrow. In doing so, they have done a consistently excellent job of articulating the principles behind practice today. There is great consistency throughout this volume as the writers balance the pragmatics of corporate ownership with the conceptual question of what should be done instead of what can be done in the creation and exploitation of an image."—Journal of Mass Media Ethics