This chapter integrates two strains of scholarship: a moral-developmental perspective focusing on the conduct of both individuals and institutions; and a critical political-economic perspective highlighting media systems’ impact on the production and reception of content. Virtue ethics, especially the concepts of authenticity and integrity, are central to this chapter’s analysis. When media scholarship engages virtue ethics, it usually focuses on professional conduct in journalism, public relations, and non-artistic professions, sidelining questions about the relationship between capitalism and democracy. This chapter extends such research by including analysis of content and political-economic systems as well. Through an evaluation of exemplary research studies, the chapter outlines several best practices for ethics scholarship in popular culture. The chapter concludes with a discussion of strategies for steering the emerging digital economy toward the goal of human flourishing.
