Ethics and Codes of Conduct

Code:

CC020

Acronym:

EDPROF

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Communication Sciences

Instance: 2025/2026 - 2S

Active?	Yes
Responsible unit:	Department of Communication and Information Sciences
Course/CS Responsible:	Bachelor in Communication Sciences

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
CC	140	Study plan	1	-	6	41	162

Teaching language

Portuguese

Objectives

Discuss the ethical principles and moral criteria that inspire the rights and duties of the communication professions. Observe the relationships (against or in line) with the law. Seek to understand how and why the deontological concerns have emerged in space and time. Study the diverse regulatory and supervision instruments of professional conduct. Based on democratic principles, reflect on the role and responsibility of the communication professions (Journalism and Public Relations) in the social field, and on its relations of influence with other social fields (political, economic, legal and artistic).
Place the constraints facing the journalistic field into context. Discuss the moral dilemmas that arise in the performance of work, aiming to stimulate a good discussion of global ethics, and the development of the professional practice of self-criticism, in an increasingly complex and demanding age.

Learning outcomes and competences

Working method

Presencial

Program

1. Ethics and Deontology: general issues
1.1.Complex ethics and intellectual responsability 
1.2. Ethics, Deontology and Law
1.3. Moral development 
1.4. Deontology and symbolic power
1.5. Freedom, responsability and accountability

2. Journalism: Deontology and ethical issues of today

3. Public Relations: Deontology and ethical issues of today

4. Communication professions:Deontological differences, convergences and relationships

Mandatory literature

BERTRAND, Claude-Jean; Deontologia dos Media, MinervaCoimbra, 2002
BOURDIEU, Pierre; Sobre a Televisão, Oeiras, Celta Ed., 1997
FIDALGO, Joaquim; O Lugar da Ética e da Auto-regulação na Identidade Profissional dos Jornalistas, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, 2009
CAMPONEZ, Carlos; Deontologia do Jornalismo: A Autorregulação Frustrada dos Jornalistas Portugueses (1974-2007), Almedina, 2011
CAVACO, Suzana; Confidencialidade da fonte em jornalismo: perspetivas morais, Mediapolis – Revista de Comunicação, Jornalismo e Espaço Público Nº. 9 p. 57-72, 2019. ISBN: 10.14195/2183-6019_9_4
CAVACO, Suzana; Relações Públicas e Jornalistas: compatibilidades e diferenças, Observatorio (OBS*) Journal (2023, Vol 17, nº2), 124-144, 2023. ISBN: DOI: https://doi.org/10.15847/obsOBS17220232253
Livro de Estilo, Público, Público, 2005
Lourenço, Orlando Martins; Psicologia do Desenvolvimento Moral, Coimbra, Almedina, 2002
MORIN, Edgar; O Método VI: Ética, Publicações Europa-América, 2005
MORIN, Edgar; Os Sete Saberes para a Educação do Futuro, Instituto Piaget, 2002. ISBN: 972-771-540-0
PARSONS, Patricia J; Ethics in Publi Relations: A guide to best Practice, Kogan Page. ISBN: 978 0 7494 5332 9
Popper Karl 1902-1994; Em busca de um mundo melhor

Complementary Bibliography

Billy Wilder (dir.); “Ace in the Hole, AKA Big Carnival”, EUA, 1951
Michael Mann (real.); “O Informador”, EUA, 1999
Rob Marshall (dir.); “Chicago”, EUA, 2003
Sydney Pollack (dir.) ; “Absence of Malice”, EUA, 1981

Teaching methods and learning activities

Case studies and discussion of ethical dilemmas. Class discussions will be strongly encouraged in order to promote the moral development of students. To ensure quality and results in learning, we have prepared a set of additional teaching aids. 

Software

não se aplica

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation with final exam

Assessment Components

Designation	Weight (%)
Participação presencial	10,00
Exame	60,00
Trabalho escrito	30,00
Total:	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

Designation	Time (hours)
Estudo autónomo	120,00
Frequência das aulas	41,00
Trabalho escrito	1,00
Total:	162,00

Eligibility for exams

Mandatory attendance of 75% of classes, unless established otherwise by general law and in the FLUP Evaluation Rules.

Calculation formula of final grade

Evaluation: students may choose: a) distributed assessment with final exam consists; b) final exam. 

The distributed assessment with final exam consists: participation (10%) + group work (30%) + test (60%). Students must obtain a minimum score of 7,5 (on a scale of 0 to 20) in the exam.

Special assessment (TE, DA, ...)

As provided in the FLUP Assessment Regulations

Classification improvement

Grade improvement only by exam in the appeal season.