Ethical dilemmas faced in communication field
Ashley Jamison-Love
Issue date: 1/24/08 Section: Features
At Saint Ambrose University in order to graduate, a student is required to take a number of general education courses, including philosophy classes. Of the philosophy classes offered, a popular class is ethics. Ethics can be defined as the rules of conduct recognized in respect to a particular class of human actions or a particular group, culture, and moral principles, according to dictionary.com.
A study conducted by a group of media writing students at SAU on the ethics of the communication field, has concluded that both public relations agents and journalists specifically define ethics by either a professional code or their own moral standpoint. The most common ethical dilemma facing these professionals, according to the survey, is whether or not to tell the whole truth or even to lie.
According to the survey, 46 percent of professionals say they have never crossed the line ethically in their respective professions. However 53 percent of the communications professionals interviewed did say that they felt tempted on occasion to use the power they have as a gatekeepers.
"I do use the power as a columnist. With that comes a bit of local celebrity," Barb Ickes, reporter and columnist from the Quad City Times, said. "I'm an award-winning reporter and I don't try to change something, I research and investigate. As a communication e-columnist I do throw my weight around, as a reporter I can't come right out and say things."
While 46 percent of professionals say they have never crossed the line, 80 percent of the professionals described their most common ethical dilemmas as being lying/or partial truths, bias, and speed vs. accuracy. Although many professionals have faced ethical dilemmas with portions of their jobs,
53 percent of them have found positive uses for deception in their careers.
"No. No such thing exists. There is never a time when a reporter takes liberties with a fact," Ickes said. Now that is not to say that you report all that you know. If someone says something is off the record and you agree to that, don't violate that trust. If it is imperative to the story, find another way, don't burn sources, find another way."
Even though some professionals deny having difficulties with ethical dilemmas, the ones that did agree that ethical dilemmas happen said that they either look to their own family or to their background or a professional mentor when said ethical dilemmas occur.
While 73 percent of these professionals are members of professional societies such as the Public Relations Society of America and Society of Professional Journalists, one does not have to be a member of these societies to be a truthful journalist.
"No, I'm not a group person. What is it they say, I'd never belong to any group that'd have me," Ickes said.
A study conducted by a group of media writing students at SAU on the ethics of the communication field, has concluded that both public relations agents and journalists specifically define ethics by either a professional code or their own moral standpoint. The most common ethical dilemma facing these professionals, according to the survey, is whether or not to tell the whole truth or even to lie.
According to the survey, 46 percent of professionals say they have never crossed the line ethically in their respective professions. However 53 percent of the communications professionals interviewed did say that they felt tempted on occasion to use the power they have as a gatekeepers.
"I do use the power as a columnist. With that comes a bit of local celebrity," Barb Ickes, reporter and columnist from the Quad City Times, said. "I'm an award-winning reporter and I don't try to change something, I research and investigate. As a communication e-columnist I do throw my weight around, as a reporter I can't come right out and say things."
While 46 percent of professionals say they have never crossed the line, 80 percent of the professionals described their most common ethical dilemmas as being lying/or partial truths, bias, and speed vs. accuracy. Although many professionals have faced ethical dilemmas with portions of their jobs,
53 percent of them have found positive uses for deception in their careers.
"No. No such thing exists. There is never a time when a reporter takes liberties with a fact," Ickes said. Now that is not to say that you report all that you know. If someone says something is off the record and you agree to that, don't violate that trust. If it is imperative to the story, find another way, don't burn sources, find another way."
Even though some professionals deny having difficulties with ethical dilemmas, the ones that did agree that ethical dilemmas happen said that they either look to their own family or to their background or a professional mentor when said ethical dilemmas occur.
While 73 percent of these professionals are members of professional societies such as the Public Relations Society of America and Society of Professional Journalists, one does not have to be a member of these societies to be a truthful journalist.
"No, I'm not a group person. What is it they say, I'd never belong to any group that'd have me," Ickes said.
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