The bond of trust that governs the media’s relationship with the public and government will be one of the ethical issues under the spotlight at the first international conference on media ethics to be held in Australia next month.

The Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics (CAPPE) and leading newspaper publishers – Fairfax and News Limited - are coming together to co-host the Ethics, Media Credibility and Global Standards conference. 

CAPPE is an Australian Research Council funded Special Research Centre attached to Charles Sturt University and the University of Melbourne.

Conference convenor, Director of CAPPE’s media ethics program and CSU lecturer, Dr Edward Spence, said the conference will bring together media professionals from journalism, advertising and public relations to debate with academics from around Australia and overseas, the ethical issues that impact on their professional standards, credibility and public trust. 

“Trust is the ethical glue that bonds and holds relationships and society together,” Dr Spence said.

“The relationship of trust between media and government – highlighted recently in Australia with the experience of the children overboard affair – will be an issue canvassed by the keynote speaker, Geoffrey Nyarota, Editor of Zimbabwe’s Daily News.”

Other guest speakers include Fairfax CEO Fred Hilmer, Editor of The Australian, Michael Stutchbury, Editor of the Canberra Times, Jack Waterford, Professor David Flint, Chairman of the Australian Broadcasting Authority and from the USA, Professor Deni Elliott, Director of Practical Ethics Centre, University of Montana, and Professor Jay Black, Poynter-Jamison Chair in Media Ethics, University of South Florida.

The Ethics, Media Credibility and Global Standards conference is being held at Old Parliament House in Canberra over two days, Wednesday 3 July and Thursday 4 July.

It is being presented in association with the Key Centre for Ethics, Law, Justice and Governance (Griffith University) and the St James Ethics Centre.