Abstract
Reporting of two prominent AIDS-related deaths in South Africa in the early 2000s, at a time of intense public controversy about official policy on HIV, provides an illustration of how ethical norms in journalism may shift over time. The media’s coverage of the first death drew strong criticism and debate on ethical grounds, specifically about the balance between privacy and the public interest; truth and evidence; and the limits of advocacy. The change in approach noticeable in the handling of the second case is attributable at least partly to this public discourse on ethical norms and their application. That change became formalised in revisions of the South African Press Code. The example illustrates the way in which Discourse Ethics, as theorised by Apel and Habermas, can provide a framework to understand how shifts in ethical norms may be effected in social discourse. It thereby illustrates one productive application of the theory, and also makes it possible to draw out some implications for the broader discussion on universal and contingent media ethics.
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