Ethics and Mass communication

Moral and ethics are often confused ,They

are not the same thing. Morals are codes
of right and wrong often associated with
religious traditions.
Ethics on the other hand involves system
or frameworks for working through
dilemmas where clear direction from moral
codes are lacking, or are in conflict.

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We will see that in some ways ethics is
bigger and more complex then moral.
We learn moral codes as a natural part of
our social upbringing ,ethics is more
systematic and needs to be studied as a
body of theories.
The role of ethics is to provide guidance
and rules where traditional moral codes
are inadequate.

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Moral, for instance would suggest that it is
always wrong to tell a lie. But what if telling
lie resulted in someone s unemployment,
or imprisonment ,or even death, what if
you told lie to get ahead professionally.
Ethics helps to clarify these dilemmas, and
these dilemmas arise more and more
frequently in a complex globalized media

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dominated world of many distantly
interacting stakeholders.
Next we will consider little bit on the
history of Ethics.
Following are some of the theories that
were introduced by philosophers long
time ago

Virtue Ethics
This is the broad idea that one should live
moderately ,not excess or frugality, but
somewhere in between.
Virtue ethics is centered on the individual
involved in a scenario, and need to be
applied on an act by act basis. which will
lead to different outcomes for different
situations.

Utilitarianism
Also known as consequentionalism theory.
This is the broad idea that dilemmas can
be resolved by identifying what outcome
would lead to the greatest happiness for
the greatest number of people.
Utilitarianism is centered on the outcome
of a scenario.

Deontologism
According to this theory there are moral
absolutes governing our behaviours and
that, it is our duty to resolve dilemmas by
referring to those absolute irrespective of
the outcome.
It is more based on the act involved in the
scenarios, not about the actor or the
outcomes.

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All these systems have their strengths and
weaknesses.
Virtue ethics are seen to be weak because they
lack the moral absolute many desire.
Utilitarianism is criticized because according to
its teaching an act considered evil by many is
allowable if it increases happiness for the
greatest number.
Deontologism seems simple but doesnt handle
complex conflict of interest very well.

Comparison between law and

ethics
Both Ethics and Laws are complimentary
to each other and they are there to :
-guide people who are involved in the
media industry.
-create a healthy media industry
- Generally to prevent people involved in
the media from doing anything that may be
detrimental to the society as whole.

Difference between Ethics and Law

Although both law and ethics are there to
complement each other, there are a lot
differences between them.
Among the differences are :
1) -Ethics acts as guideline to people
involved in the industry.
- Law is there to control the media
industry

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2-Ethics is more based on moral standards, ethical
behaviour is judged by the moral standard of the
society.
-Laws are based on judicial standards, they are
judged based on judicial standard.
3)- As far as compliance is concerned, people in
the media industry have a choice whether to
follow the ethical rules or not because
compliance is based on obligation.

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-As far as laws are concerned there is no,
choice people in the industry are bound to
follow it whether they agree with it or not.
4)There is no punishment if ethical codes
are not followed, there could be
implications but no punishment as such
- If laws are not followed there could be
penalties, imprisonments and other type of
punishments

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5) Ethical values are universal, ethical rules
are applied anywhere, all over the world. It
does not mean that everything will be
exactly the same, there will be some kind
of similarity.
- Depend on the state or country and their
policies, that is why certain things maybe
legal in one country and at the same time
it will not be legal in a another country.

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6)- The aim is more towards educational, it
aims to produce ethical media industry.
-Laws are meant to prevent and control
the media from doing the illegal things.
7)- Not honoring media ethics means
ignoring the moral elements in other words
the acts will be considered to be an
immoral act.

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- Not obeying the law of the land means the
action is illegal and can be punished.
8)-Thers is no one to enforce ethical rules
-On the other hand if laws are not followed
the police or the relevant authorities are
there to enforce the law.

Examples of unethical conduct

News manipulation-news can be
manipulated, government and
corporations may attempt to manipulate
news media for example by censorship.
-Method of manipulation are subtle and it
maybe voluntary or involuntary. Those
being manipulated may not be aware of
this manipulations.

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Publishing news without verification, this
happens very often where media is known
for publishing materials without proper
verification.
Sometimes although publishing certain
information can be considered as legal but
it is can still be unethical.

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We always read about, celebrities complaining
that they are being followed by reporters.
Although celebrities have to accept the fact once
they are popular there will be thing written about
them, the press sometimes go over board and
write thing that may be considered as too
personal.
Sometime getting affecting innocent people for
the example the children of film star and so on.

How can ethical rules be

implemented ?
As mention earlier ethical rules are not
enforced by the authorities.
It is more for individuals to take it as a
moral obligation to abide by these rules.
How can media organization or even
governments try to ensure that people in
the media industry abide by these rules.

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One way of doing it, is to come up with
code of conduct for media, this means,
just like all the other professionals, people
in the media industry can be made subject
to a code of conduct.
In most of the countries around the world
they have their own code of conduct for
the media in their country.

Our own code

The press in Malaysia have come with
their own Canons of Journalism they call
it.
Malaysian Press reiterated its belief in the
principles of Rukunnegara and the
national aspirations contained therein :
- It acknowledges its role in contributing to
the process of nation- building.

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-It recognizes its duty to contribute fully to
the promotion of racial harmony and
national unity.
-It recognizes communism ,racialism
religious extremism as grave threat to
national well being and security.
-It believes in a liberal, tolerant, democratic
society and in the traditional role of a free

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And responsible press serving the people by
faithfully reporting facts without fear or favor.
-It believes that a credible press is an asset to the
nation.
-It believes in upholding standards of social
morality.
-It believes that there must be no restriction on the
entry of Malaysian into the profession.

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-it believes that the Press has a duty to
contribute to the formation of public policy.
Further the Malaysian press does hereby
adhere to the following Canons of
Journalism :
- The primary responsibility of the Malaysia
journalist is to report facts accurately and
faithfully and to respect the right of the
public to the truth.

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-In pursuant of this duty he shall uphold the
fundamental freedom in the honest
collection of news and the right to fair
comment and criticism.
- He shall use only proper methods to
obtain news ,photographs/films and
documents.
- It shall be his duty to rectify and publish
information found to be incorrect.

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-He shall respect the confidentiality of the
sources of information.
- He shall uphold standards of morality in
the performance of his duties and shall
avoid plagiarism ,calumny or slander,
unfounded accusations or acceptance of
bribe in any form

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- He shall avoid publication of news or
reports ,communal or extremist in nature
,or contrary to the moral value of
multiracial Malaysia.
- -It shall be incumbent upon him to
understand public and national policies
pertaining to the profession.