Lecture 8 (23/04/2012) "Ethics"

This weeks lecture was done by John Harrison, and was on the topic of 'ethics.' I had used the word 'ethics' in the past many times, and I had a good understanding of what the word meant, however after Mr. Harrison's lecture I was happy to have found out how ethics plays a part in and affects journalism.

The examples Mr. Harrison showed us were very helpful in looking at what is ethical, and what is not ethical. It was easy to follow and I was happy that I could understand what he was informing us about the role of ethics in the media.

(Some of the pictures and clips shown were truly absurd and I have no idea how people thought that was an acceptable form of advertising! Nevertheless, still very entertaining)

And now to find out, how do we look for unethical practises? What can we use to define which category they fall under?

Three ethical theories:

1. Deontology:

- Rules, duties, principles
- What is right or wrong
- Rules are derived from many places - 10 commandments, Confucius etc
2. Consequentialism:

- "Doesn't matter what you do, so long as you get the right outcome"
- So, in journalism: doesn't matter how you get the story, so long as you have the story
- "What is right, is what people think is right"

--> John Harrison says that consequentialism is 'morally bankrupt.' The reason being for this is that it does not consider other people's situations, circumstances, feelings or rights.

3. Virtual ethics:
- Intrinsic ethics, drive the way we live and influence our lives in business
- Our identities in general life and our identities in journalism overlap
- An intrinsic person has good character: courage, justice, temperence, prudence

These concepts in journalism:
Courage: mean between rashness and cowardice
Justice: mean between too much law and not enough low

Code of ethics:

Journalism: MEAA (developed by Journalist union)
Advertising Federation of Australia: AFA (JH says best code of ethics he has read, and he has a lot of experience and has read many codes of ethics)
So after this lecture concluded, Mr. Harrison said that an ethical framework based on good character is the best kind to have. Althought I have nowhere near as much experience as him, I do agree with him.

During the consequentialism slide, I thought about the 'News of the World scandal,' where journalists were tapping people's phones in order to get their stories. People all over the world were shocked and disgusted by this behaviour. However, when I learnt about consequentialism, all I could think about was this: could it be that in terms of ethics, what those journalists did was considered 'ethical'? In my eyes, it was definitely NOT a good code of practise, but in the bigger picture, were the actions taken by these journalists considered acceptable?

So much to think about. As always with JOUR1111.

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