Real-World Media Ethics

CHAPTER 6

Ethics and Fact-Based Stories

A number of ethical issues arise in connection with works based on fact. In this chapter, we are going to look at some hot-button areas associated with factual works and the ethical quandaries that result. As participants noted at the 1979 landmark docudrama symposium held in Ojai, California, fact-based programs have to be responsibly handled and they need to be fair.¹ If this is not the case, problems arise. But determining what constitutes responsible handling and what’s fair is not always easy.

Works that are touted as based on fact, or inspired by actual events, or based on a true story should, in fact, have a sound factual basis, should they not? As Mike Piller, then CBS director of dramas based ...