The Ethics of Intercultural Communication

Bo Shan, PhD, is Professor and Vice Dean in the School of Journalism and Communication and Head of the Media Development Research Center and of the Center for Intercultural Research at Wuhan University. His publications include The Problems and Possibilities in Intercultural Communication, The Spiritual Space of Junyi Tang's Philosophy, On a Comparison Between Chinese and Western Journalism, and Chinese Journalism and Communication in the Twentieth Century: On Applied Journalism.
Clifford Christians, PhD, is Research Professor of Communications, Professor of Journalism, and Professor of Media Studies Emeritus at the University of Illinois-Urbana. His co-authored publications include Moral Engagement in Public Life: Theorists for Contemporary Ethics, Normative Theories of the Media, Ethics for Public Communication, Communication Theories in a Multicultural World, Media Ethics: Cases and Moral Reasoning, and Key Concepts in Critical Cultural Studies.

The revolution in media technologies and the political upheavals intertwined with them demand a new media ethics. Given the power of global media corporations and the high-speed electronics of media technologies worldwide, more and more people are either brought together through dialogue and communication technologies or assimilated by them into a dominant culture. In cultural conflict all over the world, people tend to emphasize absolute differences when they express themselves, and under conditions of censorship and oppression citizens are increasingly prone to violence. To take seriously dramatic technological changes in a complicated world of cultural diversity, media ethics does not simply need to be updated but moved forward in a new intercultural direction. The Ethics of Intercultural Communication presents a futuristic model for doing so.
Focusing on Oriental and Western cultures, the book's key case studies are China, North America, and Europe, where intercultural issues are relevant to an increasingly borderless world. Chapters focusing on a single nation or culture analyze findings from a cross-cultural perspective. Comparative studies appeal to transnational theories and norms.
Multi-ethnic voices in any community are increasingly understood as essential for a healthy society, and the media's ability to represent these voices well is an important arena for professional development and for enriching media codes of ethics. The news media are responsible for mapping the profound changes taking place and this book teaches us how.

Focusing on Oriental and Western cultures, the book's key case studies are China, North America, and Europe, where intercultural issues are relevant to an increasingly borderless world. Chapters focusing on a single nation or culture analyze findings from a cross-cultural perspective. Comparative studies appeal to transnational theories and norms.

Contents: Clifford Christians/Bo Shan: Moral Reasoning in Intercultural Media - Comparative Research on Chinese and Western Communication Ethics - Bo Shan/Jincao Xiao: The Analects of Confucius and the Greek Classics: A Comparative Approach - Clifford Christians: The Problem of Communitas in Western Moral Philosophy - Hugues Hotier: The Islamic Veil in France: The Body That Communicates - Jiamei Tang/Bo Shan: Derailed News Frames and Dynamic Cultural Hegemony: A Textual Analysis of 9/11 10th Anniversary Reports - Hemant Shah: Framing White Privilege: Eliminating Ethnic Studies from Arizona Schools - Xinya Liu: Moral Indifference or Unwillingness in Public Affairs? Comparing Chinese and Western News Discourse in Reporting Moral Issues - Jing Xin/Donald Matheson: Strange and Familiar: The Othering of Chinese Writer Mo Yan in U.S. News - Bo Shan/Xue Liu: Discourse Bias and Face-to-Face Negotiation: Intercultural Analysis of Coverage of the Wenchuan Earthquake - Romayne Smith Fullerton/Margaret Jones Patterson: Crime News: Defining the Boundaries - Xuewei Liu: Cultural Sojourners: A Study of Western Sub-cultural Musicians in China - Bo Shan: The Self-Salvation Path of Communication - Dan Yang: Intercultural News Reports and Intercultural Competence of Western Journalists in China - Valerie Alia: Original Voices and New Paradigms: Indigenous Media and Social Transformation in Canada - Patrick Lee Plaisance: Moral Motivation Within Media Cultures - Sandra L. Borden/David E. Boeyink: Casuistry's Strengths for Intercultural Journalism Ethics: A Case in Point - Chris Roberts: A Media Ethics Code for all Time Zones? The Global Use and Implications of the Society of Professional Journalists' Code - Constructing an Intercultural Public Sphere - Jack Lule: The Global Imaginary in Mumford and McLuhan - Clifford Christians: The Ethics of Human Dignity in a Multicultural World - Bo Shan: How Is Intercultural Communication Possible?