Ethical Issues in Media

Ethical Issues in Media

Ethics is the ability to tell the difference between what is good from what is evil and right from wrong (Mosser, 2013). It mainly deals with moral issues. The ethical analysis relies on studying various principles and theories that are combined to make an individual arrive at a moral decision. This paper addresses utilitarian and deontological ethical theories as well as the relativism perspective and how they relate to the use of media. The media is an important part of society today and highlights the different successes and failures of systems of government and people responsible for various things in society. It is the platform that informs people about different things that happen around the world. It also helps to shape the morals of society to some extent, based on its different programs that target people of various ages. Therefore, it is important for the media to follow ethics in its activities.

The media has a lot of responsibility and is trusted by many people as the source of information about their countries, the people in various regions of the world, and the environment. It enables people to know the different effects of human activities such as global warming and climate change through different broadcasts and documentaries. It is common to see people sitting down to watch news broadcasted from the media at specific times in a day. This shows the importance of media in society, and from the high responsibility, it is important for media outlets and professionals to have ethical principles that guide their activities to help them in relaying meaningful and trustworthy information to the millions of people all over the world.

Most people get all their information from the media without bothering to look at other sources that may be available. Therefore, the media must do thorough researches to ensure that it gives credible information that meets the level of trust that people have in it. The media has a role in educating and enlightening people, in keeping the political class in check by reporting different stories of success and failure, and it also entertains. The entertainment that the media portrays these days has been questioned, especially by the older generation that believes it contributes to the erosion of societal morals and changes the perception that the young people have towards different things in life. Some programs portray things that most people in society do not agree with, such as torture to get information from suspects. The media is supposed to reflect on the things that happen in society, and such programs can make people have a negative perception of a specific society. There are media outlets that broadcast to people from different continents and tens of countries. Therefore, it is important that they maintain ethics in their different broadcasts because they influence the lives of millions of people around the world.

The ethical question arises on whether the media should broadcast things that should be kept as secret and the other materials that seem to destroy the morals and perceptions that people have of a community or country. In the present day, there are different scandals that affect different people and perpetrated by influential people in society. It is the role of the media to inform the public about the economic and political situations of different countries. It keeps the people well-informed about the different activities of the government. Informing the public about some government cases is likely to make people have a negative perception of the government and its ability to solve national issues. Some of the issues are also likely to attract the attention of people from other different countries that may use it to their advantage. For example, informing the public about how a government department has employed people from a particular region as compared to the other areas may lead to hatred between people of different communities within a country as some will see themselves as more favored as compared to others. Informing the public about other things may erode the trust that the people have on different arms of government. There is also an aspect of entertainment that makes most media stations popular. They bring different programs for both adults and children and air them on their channels in different countries. In the present society, parents work long times in their careers and spend limited time raising their children. Therefore, most children spend time along watching different programs that may contain adult scenes because they do not have anyone to watch them. There are programs that may make things like drugs look cool for young people and make them want to feel like the people they see on the media. Most of their celebrity role models may be engaging in activities that do not uphold the moral standards that society expects. The teenagers emulate what they do after seeing it on the media and may get into problems with law enforcers.

One of the ways through which the media gets most of its revenue is through advertisement. All companies that seek to be successful in the world have a budget for advertisement, and most of them use a channel that is most likely to reach a high number of people. In as much as using such channels may be expensive, the effects of the advertisement are worth it. There are other forms of advertisement, such as using posters and newspapers or word of mouth and billboards, but most of them are limited to different locations and may not have much effect as compared to the media. The media is among the most commonly used platforms for advertisement by most companies in the world. Television channels are viewed by millions of people from all over the world. National and multinational companies understand this and use the television as a major platform for advertisement. However, there are some advertisements that may seem to erode the morals of society or promote particular behavior among young people in communities. Some of such advertisements include cigarettes and alcoholic drinks from different companies. In most cases, such advertisements portray the substances as cool, and they may not elaborate on the health repercussions of engaging in the drugs. They make young people feel tempted to try them to be as fashionable as they see in the advertisements. This is another ethical dilemma that exists in the responsibilities of the media.

Some various ethical theories and perspectives can help to determine if the media upholds its responsibilities. One of the theories is utilitarianism, and the other is deontological ethics. Immanuel Kant introduced the deontological ethics that explains the correctness of some actions irrespective of the outcomes they have and how some actions are wrong despite their consequences. Immanuel Kant argued that it is important to perform an action that is an obligation for the right reason rather than do the same for an immoral reason (Tännsjö, 2013). Therefore, there are two ways of knowing if action is okay or not, and it all relies on the results of the actions. The reason for doing a particular action is the main motivation for deontological ethics. Deontological ethics explains that an individual should behave in a way that he or she wishes the actions would be replicated and applied universally (Tännsjö, 2013). An individual or organization choosing to perform a particular action should think about the condition of the world if everyone or every organization decides to do a similar activity. This gives people the chance to think about themselves as the victims of the actions they intend to perform. If they would not like to be the victims of their actions, if somebody else did the same, then they are likely not to do it. However, if they would not mind feeling the effects of similar actions, they are likely to go ahead and perform them. Deontological ethics can make an individual think about immoral activities such as corruption that most organizations and societies are still struggling to eradicate. Deontological ethics can be used to explain the responsibilities and roles of the media in society. It will explain that the media should do things that it would expect other people in a similar position to do. The media has a level of authority in society and helps to shape the opinions of different people, and that is the reason most people seek information from it. It has a role in informing the people about the problems of society and the failures of the government, even if it portrays the government in a bad light. This is because people can only be serious about government departments when the public also shows resentment towards bad leadership. Knowing that the people are angry about different government decisions will make the leadership more responsible.

Deontological ethics can also be used to explain the programs and advertisements shown in the media. The media needs to have programs and allow advertisements that it would not mind if other influential people or media houses promoted. Most of the advertisements and programs aim to give the media houses money, which is necessary to keep the media houses in the business. However, these should not come at the expense of the morals of society. The media is controlled by different people, who may have children who still need guidance on different things in life. They need to ask themselves the influence that the programs and advertisements may have on their children and if they would want the same for the children of other people. If they know that the advertisements and television programs will have a negative effect on their children, then they are likely to remove the harmful programs and leave those that portray positive morals and help to build on the confidence of the teenagers and youths. From deontological ethics, the media needs to correctly inform the public about truths in society and engage in activities that help to uphold the morals of people.

The regulations that the societies uphold always amount to some level of happiness because nobody would support something that makes him or her unhappy. Most regulations also consider moral activities in society and seek to uphold them. However, utilitarianism does not consider whether an activity upholds the morals of society or not. All it cares about is the level of happiness that the activity brings. It explains that an activity that results in happiness to a large number of people is more desirable irrespective of whether or not it upholds moral obligations (Mill, 2003). From a utilitarian perspective, a moral activity is one that brings happiness to most people in the community. There are two types of utilitarianism known as act and rule utilitarianism. Act utilitarianism encompasses performing activities that benefit a high number of people irrespective of the personal feelings and constraints involved in doing the activity (Alavudeen, Rahman, & Jayakumaran, 2008). Rule utilitarianism encompasses fairness and adherence to the law and aims to make the most people happy, but while following the regulations and laws in the society (Alavudeen, Rahman, & Jayakumaran, 2008).

The media should give information about the happenings in society that informs and educates the people on different things happening around them. In as much as there are people who would still want the media to have advertisements and programs that uphold morals and do not give the youth a false perspective about drugs and sex, there are many people happy to watch such programs. If there are a high number of people in the community who would not mind watching such advertisements and programs, the media does not need to worry about the few people concerned about upholding morals in society. Furthermore, the media gets its revenues from the number of people watching its programs. If there are a high number of people who like the programs and advertisements, they are likely to get more advertisements from companies and earn higher revenue.

Media ethics is mainly founded on the appropriateness of images, authenticity, truthfulness, and sensationalism. Therefore, the people involved in media should be truthful in their information and portray materials that can spark debates on improving the society in various ways. However, there are times when the truth may bring controversy on different topics. The media needs to consider the different ethical standards of society and work towards upholding such morals. It also needs to do the things it considers will be appreciated by most people in society to earn more revenue. Therefore, the media needs to make several considerations before settling on its broadcast content.

References

Alavudeen, A., Rahman, K. R., & Jayakumaran. M. (2008). Professional ethics and human values. New Delhi: Firewall Media.

Mill, S. J. (2003). Utilitarianism. Vice and virtue in everyday life. Ed. Frederic, T. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. Print.

Mosser, K. (2013).Ethics and social responsibility (2nd ed.). San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint                          Education, Inc.

Perebinossoff, P. (2008). Real-world media ethics: Inside the broadcast and entertainment industries. London: Taylor & Francis.

Shaw, W. H. (2008). Business ethics. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.

Tännsjö, T. (2013).Understanding ethics: An introduction to moral theory. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press