| Full-time
faculty
My Teaching philosophy
In my teaching, I emphasize critical thinking
about communication practices and encourage students to imagine
better ways to fulfill their professional and personal responsibilities.
My style is one of guided self-discovery: I am a coach as
well as a teacher, helping students to ask good questions
in order to come up with answers that are meaningful to them
in their own lives. I foster and evaluate critical thinking
through a discussion format, writing assignments, and active
learning activities, such as role playing and group work.
Courses I Teach:
COM 305: Roles and Responsibilities of
Media Workers
This course examines the social responsibilities
of journalism; public relations; advertising; and mass
entertainment
production (TV programs, motion pictures, music recording,
etc.). Emphasis is on the public's images and expectations
of these media occupations; professional, artistic and
other
kinds of identities among media workers; the potential for
role conflict in media occupations; and the tension between
autonomy and accountability in media-related work. These
issues
are discussed in light of topical cases.
COM 307: Freedom of Expression
This course examines the meaning, scope and challenges of “free
expression” in the American experience. Issues such
as flag burning and obscenity will be analyzed in both legal
and ethical terms.
COM 445: Media Criticism
Examines the various functions and writings
of contemorary media critics and establishes criteria for
evaluating media content and critical methods. Students
will
read, view and listen to a variety of media content, including
television and radio programs, newspaper and magazine articles,
advertisements, films, documentaries and Web pages.
COM 477:Communication Ethics
Ethical theories and justification models
are studied and related to ethical decision making in a variety
of communication contexts, including mass communication, organizational
communication, and interpersonal communication. The course
will examine the components of good ethical decision making
in communication, as well as obstacles that can stand in the
way of responsible choices
COM 604: Seminar in Communication Ethics
An indepth examination of a central issue
in communication ethics as it manifests itself in different
contexts, including mass communication, organizational
communication
and interpersonal communication. Issues may vary from term
to term. Examples include deception, confidentiality, autonomy
and privacy.
COM 680A: Seminar in Organizational Communication Ethics.
Theories and methods in moral philosophy are
applied to ethical questions that arise in communication within
organizations and between organizations and various external
publics. This reading-intensive seminar covers major ethical
theories, examines the nature of the interface between organizations
and their members, and explores the implications of the organizational
context for the degree and nature of individual and collective
responsibility. Ideas for successfully integrating ethics
into the fabric of organizational life are discussed.
My Research Interests
Business pressures in journalism, the role of peer discourse
in defining ethical norms, professionalism.
Recent Research
Borden, S.L. (forthcoming) Journalism-as-practice: MacIntyre, virtue ethics and the press, Studies in Applied Ethics series, M. Davis (Ed.). Hampshire, United Kingdom: Ashgate.
Borden, S.L. (forthcoming). Mapping ethical arguments in journalism: An exploratory study. Mass Communication & Society.
Hearit, K.M., & Borden, S.L. (2005). Apologetic ethics. In K.M. Hearit, Crisis management by apology pp. 58-78). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Borden, S.L. (2005). Communitarian journalism and flag displays after September 11: An ethical critique. Journal of Communication Inquiry, 29 (1), 30-46.
Borden, S.L. (2003). Deviance mitigation in the ethical discourse of journalists. Southern Communication Journal, 68 (3), 231-249.
Borden, S.L. (2002). Janet Cooke in hindsight: Reclassifying a paradigmatic case in journalism ethics. Journal of Communication Inquiry, 26 (2), 155-170.
Borden, S.L., and Pritchard, M.S. (2001). Conflict of interest in journalism. In M. Davis & A. Stark (Eds.), Conflict of interest in the professions (pp. 73-91). Oxford University Press.
Borden, S.L. (2000). A model for evaluating journalist resistance to business constraints [Lead article]. Journal of Mass Media Ethics, 15 (3), 149-166.
Awards received
Awarded fellowship for the 2006 Media Ethics Colloquium hosted by the University of St. Thomas, the seventh in a series of colloquia aimed at enhancing scholarship in applied media ethics.
Research grant
Western Michigan University's Faculty Research
and Creative Activities Support Fund, $2,672, 1999. For research
project entitled "Argument patterns in the ethical discourse
of journalists."
Professional Experience
Five years as an award-winning education reporter
and editorial page editor at a small community daily in Missouri
and at The Jackson (TN) Sun, a 40,000-circulation daily newspaper
owned by Gannett.
My life outside the university
My husband is the forensics and debate coach at Portage
Central High School and teaches part time in the Communication
School at WMU. We have a daughter, Katie, and a son,
Zach.
About Professor Borden
Sandra L. Borden is an associate professor of communication at Western Michigan University, where she also co-directs the Center for the Study of Ethics in Society and sits on the advisory board of the Research Ethics Resource Center. She teaches ethics, freedom of expression and media criticism. Her research focuses on journalism ethics. Her most recent work focuses on the application of virtue theory and communitarian theory to the practice of journalism. Her research on journalism ethics has been published in several books and journals, including Oxford University Press's Conflict of Interest in the Professions, the Journal of Mass Media Ethics, Communication Monographs and the International Journal of Appied Philosophy. Her forthcoming book, Journalism-as-Practice: MacIntyre, Virtue Ethics and the Press, will be published as part of Ashgate's Series on Applied Ethics in 2007. Dr. Borden is active in the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication and the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics. Dr. Borden has a Ph.D. in mass communications from Indiana University and an M.A. in journalism from The Ohio State University.
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