ABSTRACT
In this age of calamity, outrage, controversy, and spin, the central question of ethics—how to live well—seems harder to answer than ever. The media, broadly understood, is one of the most important and pervasive institutions in a democratic system of government, and increasing numbers of people feel that it is not helping them or their communities to flourish. On the macro level, we have had to confront the possibility that systematic lying, dissimulation, and hyperbole have poisoned our political discourse and even altered the course of national votes. And on the micro level, we are struggling to understand the implications of the idea that familiar words and phrases, deeply embedded in our vocabularies and often used without a second thought, may entrench oppression and injustice.
