Ethics In America

Hosted by Fred Friendly, this 10-part series, currently being shown on PBS, features skilled lawyers as moderators addressing a revolving panel of over 100 participants on the subjects of criminal justice, trust in government, corporate takeovers, the rights of the press, medical ethics, and more. The format is extremely simple. In the opening episode "Do Unto Others", for instance, Harvard Law School's Charles Ogletree Jr. moderates a discussion with a group of panelists including Surgeon General C. Everett Coop, Faye Wattleton of Planned Parenthood, author Willard Gaylin of the Hastings Center, and Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Ogletree begins with the question of a young man who has cheated on a college aptitude exam. Adding wrinkle after wrinkle, Ogletree maneuvers the panel into some hard thinking and serious ethical quandaries, as the initial query moves into the areas of reporting child abusers (at what point does a mother slapping a child in a supermarket become a case of abuse, for instance?) or helping the homeless (asking journalist Ellen Goodman: "Would you give a man a dollar?" "Yes." "Even if you knew he was going to spend it on a drink?" "Yes." "He says he's dirty, and would like to use your shower. Will you let him?" "No." "Why not?"...and so on.) Even in this short excerpt (as best we can recall it) one can begin to see the probing, challenging nature of the program. A second hour we viewed "Under Orders, Under Fire" (Part 1) featuring panelists General Westmoreland, ABC's Peter Jennings, and CBS's Mike Wallace was even more fascinating in its relentless examination of ethics on the battlefield. This is a brilliant and almost unheard of use of television-as a public forum for intelligent discourse. One only wishes that this type of invigorating search into the moral dilemmas of our time will be the spur for both serious reflection on the part of viewers, and better television from the powers that be. Highly recommended. (Available from: The Annenberg/CPB Project, P.O. Box 1922, Santa Barbara, CA 93116-1922.)