Ethics: the good, the bad and the ugly

Ethics: a system of moral principles.

For lecture 8 the voice of Dr John Harrison greeted me through lectopia. As journalists, we all must make sure that what we produce is ethical or let's face it, there could be some preeetty bad consequences!

 But what makes something ethical? Is it just part of our conscience telling us what is right or wrong? Do we follow what the hegemonic group in society thinks? Or is it simply the nature vs nurture debate that guides our way of thinking?  Because everyone is going to have a different view on what is ethical and what is unethical depending on where they were brought up, how they were brought up, what they have experienced and what they believe in. Some (ahem, I) might even say that in some cases, a sense of humour is all that is needed to tip the scales in what you think of as ethical and unethical. And seriously, if you think of everything in media advertising as unethical, then get a life. For example, this delightful ad that Dr Harrison presented in the lecture got me a thinkin':

I, for one, think that this ad is hilarious. I mean, it's ethical in the fact that it is against smoking but it does so in a way that makes it easier to read and accept instead of the usual dark and confronting advertisements. Some may say it's tacky, but I think it's effective in that it's eye catching and that it also speaks to the younger generations because we are all just sooo obsessed with sex(ual things).  

Anyway, moving onto ethical theories. Who knew there was a set of proper ethical theories? Not I, kind sir, not I. The three ethical rules are as follows:

Deontology: I won't lie, when I first typed deontology I typed "dentology" and immediately thought it had to do with dentistry. But alas, I was wrong. Deontology is all about rules, duty and moral obligation.

Consequentialism: As you would suspect, consequentialism is about the right or good outcome (or more obviously, consequence) no matter how you came to that outcome.

Virtue: Oh virtue. Sigh. Virtue is about one's inner character. I know that sounds all spiritual and hippy, but it is what it is!

As I mentioned before, journalists must produce ethical work. And much like the magician's code (apologies, I just watched the finale of How I Met Your Mother), journalists must adhere to their own ethical code of conduct. The code was designed to assist people working in advertising in order to help them do the right thing whether it be in their day to day lives or when they were faced with some sort of conflict. The code isn't a straight set of rules as such, but more a set of guidelines that include principles and specific issues and it sets the standard for people in the advertising workplace.