ETHICS? ETHICS!

The Ethics lecture was the lecture that made me think about the ‘real world’ journalism. Ethics, according to the dictionary is; a complex of moral precepts held or rules of conduct followed by an individual. Here, the word we should most focus on is ‘individual.’ Thus, the definition of ethics is different to every people.

The lecture opened with different types of advertisements, billboards and many more. Our task was to fill in a chart sorting out whether the ads are good taste, bad taste, ethical or unethical. Through this task it was evident that many people had a similar concept of the taste and the good and bad were quite easily distinguished. Everyone, however, had different ideas about ethical and unethical category. As for me, it was very hard to determine whether the ads were ethical or unethical.

Also, it was raised during the lecture that many people get confused between the unethical and bad taste. I thought that an advertisement was “bad” when it didn’t have a story or meaning in it. Through the statement, however, the fact that ethics and taste are two very distinct concepts it didn’t necessarily mean that the ad is unethical just because it doesn’t have any story. So, what exactly is ethics in journalism?

There are three paradigms; deontology, consequentialism (teleology) and virtue. Deontology was the rules, principles and duties we have to follow when producing the advertisement. Thus, it was stated that when you follow the rules it is ethical. I, however, disagreed with this fact. The rule stated here is the rule of general television broadcast or company. Thus, if you don’t follow the rules it doesn’t necessarily mean the advertisement is unethical. It might not seem ethical due to the images and might be repulsive in some aspects, however, if the message conveyed in the ad is reasonable, it could still be ethical. As previously stated, people have different definition of ethics, therefore, the rule set by an individual may not satisfy others.

Ethics, is something that is broad which can be different to many people. It is something that can be confusing as its borderline is very thin, however, it is something that can change the world dramatically. Also, ethics in journalism may be restricted under some rules, however, the message conveyed should always be considered before determining whether it is ethical or not. We should always consider what we want to say to change the world, not limiting ourselves to the rules given.