Lecture 5: The importance of Ethics

Source: http://accident-injurylawyers.blogspot.com/2011/04/ethicsand-your-case-pt-1.html

From Psychology, I know that Ethics is a very important matter when conducting studies, so it was interesting to see how other disciplines take Ethics into concern as well. This week, John Harrison delivered the lecture and began with a series of advertisements. We were required to rate these according to taste (good or bad) and ethics (ethical or unethical). I found it quite interesting to see how some advertisements could be ethical but in bad taste. It was amazing to see how everybody's opinion differed. It also raised the significance of how advertisements should be more aware of  ethical conduct.

An example of unethical advertising.
Source: http://imagesusa.wordpress.com/2010/03/11/vintage-ad-series-sexism/

There are three ethical theories:

• Deontology - is about following rules, principles and duties
• Consequentialism - is about the "right" outcome rather than the process
• Virtue - good habits like courage, justice and prudence

Deontology is about following rules to do the right things, and it used in practice by journalists. I think it is proper for journalists to use this because it means that if they follow these rules, they always striving to be ethical. Also if they are asked questioned about their ethical conduct, it should be easy to show their process of maintaining information. The Ten Commandments are an example of deontological values.

Consequentialism regards how the outcome of matter is more important than the process of retrieving it. I personally do not favor this, because the process of anything is always important. It reminds me of "For the greater good". From the books I've read and movies I've watched, nothing good ever comes from that. Utilitarianism is an example of this principle.

Virtue follows the good habits which are the "golden mean" of behaviour. This strives for moral behaviour rather than following certain rules (deontology). It focuses on the internal aspect than actions.

The responsibilities of journalists are numerous.
Source: http://www.axessjournalism.com/Event/View/the-future-of-journalism

From these theories, many ethical codes have been created, such as:

• MEAA Code
• PRIA Code
• AFA Code
• AANA Code

Each of these codes come with their own values and principles to practice. However, it is the MEAA code that Journalism uses. The MEAA stands for values like: honesty, fairness, independence and respect for the rights of others. I must say these are qualities that are important for all journalists and hope that all journalists do try and use these. This quote appropriately describes what MEAA is about:

"Respect for truth and the public's right to information are fundamental principles of journalism. Journalists describe society to itself. They convey information, ideas and opinions, a privileged role. They search, disclose, record, question, entertain, suggest and remember. They inform citizens and animate democracy. They give a practical form to freedom of expression. Many journalists work in private enterprise, but all have these public responsibilities. They scrutinise power, but also exercise it, and should be accountable. Accountability engenders trust. Without trust, journalists do not fulfill their public responsibilities."

from: http://www.australian-news.com.au/codethics.htm

Source: http://www.rsrevision.com/Alevel/ethics/kant/index.htm

 I believe that ethics should be taken very seriously, especially in Journalism. When I read a story, I always consider how they were able to get the information, especially since recent dramas (phone hacking). Journalists have their duties to their reader, and if they cannot perform these - how can we believe their stories? 

However, there are some downsides to these codes. For the MEAA, you can actually just resign to avoid certain matters (like jurisdiction). So this brings up the question - What is the point of having these codes??

That is a very serious question, and I hope that we have these codes so people may follow them to produce stories the right way.