A question of ethics

Week eight’s lecture allowed us the pleasure of indulging in some of Dr John Harrison’s words of wisdom. Author of ‘Ethics for Australian Business’, it was only appropriate that he instructed our ethics lecture.

To be ethical is a question of correct conduct within society. As a result ethics are always contestable. With so many conflicting opinions, how can we determine the good from the bad, right from wrong, or ethical from unethical? Read a little bit more about ethics here: ethics in a nutshell.

Should Journalists establish ethical ideals based on the collective values of the dominant public, or will this allow more possibilities for breaches or challenges to ethical ideals? Otherwise, should they follow government policies and guidelines in regards to ethics, or might this enable capitalism (in a radical sense) or possibly confine information in some cases?

Boundaries of ethics are ever changing. Therefore a few theoretical paradigms come in handy:

Deontology is a rules based approach. It deals with duties and moral obligations whereby in following guidelines you will do the right thing. All ethics codes, policies or guidelines are deontological.

Consequentialism focuses on the outcome. It doesn’t matter how you get there, as long as the outcome was good, right or successful: the ends justifies the means. This approach also looks at sourcing the greatest good for the greatest number.

Virtue ethics is based on dispositions of character. Habits of character are the ‘golden means’ of behaviour. Therefore goodness comes from good habits which evolve with experience.

In one of our tutorials we interviewed fellow students as an exercise. In questioning them we were reminded that “You're not here as a compassionate human being, you’re here as a journalist”. So where do we draw the line?

Personally speaking virtue ethics seem like the way to go, wouldn’t you agree? Dr Harrison left us with some wise words to assist in this dilemma.

“What makes a good journalist is the sort of person you are”

To be ethical is a question of character and we must be able to recognise that boundaries are there.

We looked at some ethically questionable adverts during the lecture and rated them accordingly. I had a look for a further few, and there’s definitely plenty out there - what do you make of these ones?