Ethics and the media

From Aristotle to new media by GDL
Aristotle and ethics

Aristotle was a Greek philosopher who built his ethical theory from the previous writings and discourses of Plato and Socrates. According to Aristotle, we study ethics in order to improve our lives, and therefore the principal concern is the nature of human well-being. Aristotle regarded the ethical virtues like justice, courage, temperance as complex rational, emotional and social skills. According to Aristotle, what we need, in order to live well, is a proper appreciation of the way in which such goods as friendship, pleasure, virtue, honour and wealth fit together as a whole. In his wisdom, Aristotle also argued that through practice, those deliberative, emotional, and social skills enable us to put our general understanding of well-being into practice in ways that are suitable to each occasion. He places the bar quite high in defining his search for the good as the search for the highest good, which according to him has three characteristics, it is desirable for itself, it is not desirable for the sake of some other good, and all other goods are desirable for its sake (Aristotle Ethics, 2001)

Ethics is generally concerned with what is right and wrong, how people should live their lives and what to do when they lack specific guidance from laws and morals. (Harrison 2011 page 124).  According to Harrison, truth is the essence of ethics, but truth can have a limited scope where at times only part of the truth is divulged. He added,
“When people are referring to the truth, they are really referring to an account of it despite believing they are being accurate and factually correct. But facts can be subjective and value laded” (Harrison 2011 page 122)
Gower, (2006) for his part explained that from an ethical standpoint, being truthful means not lying and from a legal standpoint, it means that the information can be verified and is not misleading. (Gower 2006 cited in Harrison page 123).
Bowen (2007), states that ethics normally have in common the element of requiring some form of systematic analysis, distinguishing right from wrong and determining the nature of what should be valued. Ethics, he said, includes values such as honesty, openness, loyalty, fair-mindedness, respect, integrity and forthright communication. (Bowen 2007 cited in Harrison page 124).
There are other branches/theories of Ethics: the theological (utilitarian or consequentialism) which focuses on the consequences of what action will be best for most people. They should consider all alternatives and the consequence of their actions. (Grunnig and White 1992, cited in Harrison 2011 page 25).                                The deontological moral philosophy is commonly known as Kantianism, developed by the famous German philosopher Emmanuel Kant. He argued that to act in the morally right way, people must act from duty. He added that it is not the consequences of actions that make them right or wrong but the motives of the person who carries out the action. Kant‘s deontological ethics is about rules and duties, or about the humanitarian approach of moral obligation. (Kant 1964, cited in Harrison 2011 page 125).                                                                                                                            Other branches of ethics worth mentioning are, situational also called “ethical relativism” and dialogical ethics where dialogue is considered to be inherently ethical.
 

Ethics in the media business

The question of ethical behaviour in the media and the ethical dilemmas confronting journalists, have been subject of long and passionate debates. The conflict has also been around what is legal is not necessarily moral and what is unethical is not necessary illegal. Pearson and Pollen (2011) agree that everyday of their working life journalists have to make decisions that could have legal and ethical implications. They, however, stress that it is imperative for journalists to have a sound knowledge of the legal and ethical considerations that apply to their occupation. (Pearson and Polden 2011, page 4). The ethical dilemma confronting the media often rests on what is understood or perceived as freedom of speech and the press. The limits or boundaries are very often undefined or blurred or again confuse some students. Freedom of expression is allowed in many democracies, particularly western democracies where liberties are often taken for granted. 

Poet like John Milton and philosopher John Locke are great advocates of the freedom of expression and their ideas found their way into the wording of the US constitution and the Bill of Rights and supported by Thomas Jefferson. If the First Amendment clearly protects freedom of the press, nevertheless their behaviour is not unrestricted. (Pearson and Polden 2011, page 28). Even if the freedom of the press is not enshrined in the Australian constitution, in recent years the High Court of Australia has handed down a series of decisions recognising an implied freedom to communicate in matters of government. ( Pearson and Polden 2011, page 32).

Freedom of the press does not preclude journalists of their duty to inform accurately, fairly, to educate the audience and be balanced and truthful in the first place. However going beyond these ethics can also have legal implications as mentioned by Sir William Blackmore in his commentaries on the law of England:

“ …Every freeman has an undoubted right to lay what sentiments he pleases before the public ; to forbid this is to destroy the freedom of the press: but if he publishes what is improper, mischievous or illegal he must take the  consequences of his own temerity.” (Pearson and Polden 2011 page 27).

Freedom of the press has its boundaries, in other words, that freedom does not allow the media to intrude into people’s privacy even if they are public figures. Even if the law in some countries now protects the rights of the individual to privacy, it does however remain an unethical consideration for journalists, or paparazzi, to violate or invade any person’s privacy, through lack of respect for the individual. From an ethical perspective, as advocated by Aristotle and other modern philosopher like Kant, respect lies at the heart of behaviour.

Throughout the years, it is noticed that the same respect for the individual’s right to privacy has not been respected. The Princess Diana’s case is a landmark which even caused her death. But this practice has not stopped. The media  continued to do it in the case of Prince Charles, Prince William and Price Harry and some celebrities, just to name a few. In some sections of the media, the legal, and even ethical, considerations look to be overtaken by the need to satisfy the audience and readership. The recent backlash faced by the phone tapping by journalists of the News of the World, has overtly exposed the unethical, if not illegal, behaviour of journalists.                                                                                                                                                      The other argument is, whether freedom of the press justifies that information should be published to the extent of bringing an individual into disrepute. Despite the laws now sanction publication of defamatory nature on an individual, there are still many cases brought to courts everyday. Here again it seems that instead of abiding to ethical and legal boundaries, some in the media take calculated risks to go ahead by weighting the probability of the individual suing them against the income that these “news” will generate. This is also unethical in nature.  This business practice meets Noam Chomsky’s argument that that media focus on maintaining constraints on dialogue to promote the interest of corporations or that media are drawn into synergetic association with influential sources of information by economic interest. (Chomsky 1997).
Freedom of the press does not imply that journalists should abuse of this privilege and forgo the ethical consideration. As Bowen argues, at the end it is a question of conscience which reinforces the need to integrity, fairness and respect. (Bowen 2007 cited in Harrison page 124)

 The advent of Social media and bloggers

According to O’Keefe and Parson (from the council of communication and media), social media is:

“Any Web site that allows social interaction is considered a social media site, including social networking sites such as Facebook,, MySpace, and Twitter; gaming sites and virtual worlds such as Club Penguin, Second Life, and the Sims; video sites such as YouTube; and blogs. Such sites offer today's youth a portal for entertainment and communication and have grown exponentially in recent years.”

The advent of Social media and bloggers has added new dimensions to the media sphere and environment. If they are mainly used as social networking, they are also carriers of news and more, sources of news for many. Social media has the advantage of being interactive and user generated content. Post a note on Twitter or Facebook and soon there is a flood or reactions, responses and comments.

Blogs are also user generated and they reflect mainly the personal opinion and analysis of the blogger. Some journalists, in Australia like Andrew Bolt or Piers Akeman or Miranda Devine are very much into blogging. Blogs allow the writer to expose his or her personal views which can be bias and subjective.
To this day, there are no laws that regulate new and social media as long as they are online (new media). But again this should not allow the blogger to defame or intrude an individual’s privacy or to tweet around an individual private dealings. This is an opportunity, in the absence of the legal regulations to reinforce the ethical considerations.

Conclusion

The media and journalists have the duty to inform, educate and entertain. The public rely on the media to be informed accurately and fairly. The fourth power conferred to the media is quite meaningful. The media is indeed a powerful tool in conditioning our minds and thoughts. The media can influence decision makers, and highlight the weakness of some business practices for example. They can hold the government of the day to account, denounce corruption, and be a reflection of the citizen’s views and concern.  The media however should play this role within the boundaries of the law of the land but most of all in an ethical way, underlying fairness, loyalty and respect for the same audience that they are called to serve. It is gratifying to see that many in the media have consistently upheld a positive image by always being ethical. They are the ones, who at the end, commands respect.
The bottom line is that, journalists whether in print, broadcast and new media, still have an ethical obligation to be fair in all circumstances for the good and well being of all concerned. Aristotles' ethics are still relevant today and maybe more than ever before in this postmodern information era.

Sources/ Reference:

Trends of Anarchy and Hierarchy, Comparing the cultural repercussions of Print and Digital Media, http://www.cyberartsweb.org/cpace/infotech/asg/ag5.html, accessed on 27/10/2012.
Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy – Aristotle ethics, 2001, 2010, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-ethics/ accessed on 27/10/2012.
Emmanuel Kant 1964, Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals, Harper and Row Publishers.
Code of Deontology, Luxembourg, adopted by the Press Council in 2004 http://ethicnet.uta.fi/luxembourg/code_of_deontology accessed on 27/10/2012
MEAA code of ethics:  appendix 1, Pearson and Polden 2011, South Wind Productions, Singapore
Kim Harrison 2011, Strategic Public Relations, a practical guide to success, Pulgrave Macmillan.
Mark Pearson and Mark Polden, 2011 4^th Edition, The journalist Guide to media law, South Winds Productions, Singapore.
What is social media ?

http://www.socialmediadefined.com/what-is-social-media/ accessed on 13 Nov 2012

Noam Chomsky What make mainstream media mainstream, 1977 http://www.chomsky.info/articles/199710--.htm Accessed on 13 Nov 2012
Noam Chomsky on Media, Politics and Actions by Aaron Stark, December 1998, http://www.chomsky.info/articles/199710--.htm accessed on 13 Nov 2012.