What is media ethics? A systematic review charting the evolution of a subfield

What is media ethics?A systematic review charting the evolution of a sub eld 2The mass communication subfield of media ethics scholarship began to coalesce around 1980 in response to media practices and issues of credibility, evident by various academic initiatives including the formation in the United States of the Journal of Media Ethics.Since this time, and while the evolution of media ethics scholarship is undeniable, there is still much confusion concerning boundaries of media ethics scholarship.The current study seeks to understand these boundaries in terms of topics, theories and methodologies applied to media ethics research through a systematic review of all Journal of Media Ethics research articles published from 1985-2021.Findings suggest that media ethics scholarship has remained rigidly practice-based, with an emphasis on journalism practice, but with a void of data and a lack of grounding in the professions studied.Additionally, media ethics research is slowly becoming a more international subfield suggestive of an upward trajectory in global humanitarianism, normative theory and ethical universals.