From the Horse's Mouth: A Non-Speciesist Framework for Media and Communication Ethics

Abstract

Media and communication ethics have been evolving in response to historical events that are shaping communication practices. This has led to an increasing questioning of the Western-white-patriarchal dominant canon and to the vindication of a more inclusive media and communication ethics. Yet the ethical discussions in the field have been systematically carried out from an anthropocentric-speciesist approach, that is, one which restricts ethical claims to the human species alone. Following the recent work of Clifford G. Christians, this paper claims that the pursuit of a global and inclusive media and communication ethics can only be successfully achieved within a non-speciesist framework. We argue that, under scrutiny, Christians’ case for a “human-centered” communication ethics, when taken consistently, sets the case for a cosmopolitan justice between the species. In practice, this amounts to media and communication ethics listening to what comes from the horse’s mouth by going to the sources of the common good and lending credibility not only to human voices, but other animals’ as well.