What is Care Ethics?
Care ethics is a moral framework built on empathy, relationships, and human connection. Developed by Carol Gilligan and later Nel Noddings, it shifts the question from “What is just?” to “Who needs care, and how can we respond responsibly?”
In our Media Ethics course discussions, care ethics was described as an approach that centers relationships, especially with the vulnerable. It recognizes that ethical decisions aren’t always about neutrality. They're about attentiveness, emotional response, and responsibility to others.
What Happens When Care Is Missing?
Gabriel Fernandez’s death wasn’t just a criminal tragedy. It was a moral failure of care across schools, social work, law enforcement, and media.
From a care ethics lens:
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Mandated reporters saw harm but didn’t follow through.
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Social workers recorded concerns but didn’t act compassionately.
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Institutions followed procedure but failed in responsibility.
Our class explored how media often sensationalizes tragedy. In Gabriel’s case, care-based storytelling like Netflix’s The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez chose to center humanity, not horror.
“How can media professionals report truthfully without retraumatizing victims or families?”
was also our Class discussion prompt this Spring 2025.
What Care Ethics Teaches Us
In both media and justice, care ethics urges us to:
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Prioritize relationships over profits or policies
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Avoid glamorizing trauma in coverage
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Support those impacted, not just ‘tell their story’
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Recognize responsibility to distant strangers, not just those close to us
Our class raised powerful questions:
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Should we treat people online the way we treat loved ones?
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Does showing empathy in journalism risk being “biased”?
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Can storytelling heal, or only hurt?
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Media, Justice, and Responsibility
Gabriel’s case shows the real-world stakes of ignoring care:
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A child in need wasn’t believed.
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Social workers avoided moral responsibility.
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Media at times failed to cover the issue with depth or urgency until it was too late.
As future journalists, creators, and change-makers, this site stands as a call to report with empathy, act with responsibility, and build media that cares.
“It’s not enough to know the facts—we have to feel the weight of them.”