Abstract

This dissertation is an in-depth theoretical endeavor that aims to build a new normative framework for media ethics by applying concepts from Confucian ethics. It contributes an alternative theoretical perspective outside of the Western paradigm with Confucianism, the most important philosophical underpinning in China and many other countries in the Eastern Asian cultural sphere. This dissertation presents three major components. First, it articulates the contemporary significance of Confucian ethics and its contribution to the field of media ethics as it searches for a global framework. Second, it theorizes a Confucian approach to media ethics. It brings the ideas of virtue system, moral self-cultivation, and communal perspectives from Confucian ethics into media ethics, explaining the ethical underpinnings that they can provide for media practices. Third, it offers illustrations that apply each segment of the theory to journalism to demonstrate the practical implications of the theory. This project diversifies the field of media ethics, contributing a new perspective for global media ethics; it also enriches the field of media ethics in China by putting its own philosophical legacy to application.