ACONTEMPORARY ETHICAL CHALLENGE RELATED TO THE PRACTICE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS OR COMMUNICATION

 ACONTEMPORARY ETHICAL CHALLENGE RELATED TO THE PRACTICE OF PUBLIC RELATIONS OR COMMUNICATION

Overview of Author’s Primary Thesis

Nicholas Sandman, a student from Covington Catholic High school, was falsely alleged to have harassed Nathan Philips, a Native American native, at the Lincoln Memorial. With the help of his Attorneys, Sandman decided to sue The Washington Post for what they claimed to be a misrepresentation of facts. According to his Attorneys, The Washington Post unlawfully targeted and bulliedSandman on the ground that he is white and was wearing the MAGA (Make America Great Again) cap during their school trip in Washington, D.C. It is during which Nathan Philips unexpectedly comforted him, beating a drum and singing loudly near his face. Attorneys representing Sandman were asking for $250,000,000 for damages, which is equivalent to the amount Jeff Bezos parted with to acquire the firm. On a different but relevant look at the matter, there is a political dimension towards this case. Bezos is often looked at as President Trump’s critic, while the supporters of Trump see The Washington Post as a collaborator of the anti-Trump movement. The case filed accuses the Post of creating what the termed as “easily documented, biased agenda” against Trump. Other than a political influence on the matter, The Washing Post had a very wrong idea on the Covington Story. The Post under Bezos’ leadership was not the only media house that had labeled the Covington kids racist on the ground of a short deceptive film of the encounter. However, when other videos of the incidence emerged, media houses and public came to learn that the high school we actually on the receiving end of verbal abuse from the Black Hebrews Israelites. Proven in the extended videos, Nathan was the one who approached the Covington students, the majority of whom were engaged in pep rally cheers. The so-called “SMIRK” was a smile tailored towards defusing the already tensed situation. The new light shed by the latest videos compelled several media outlets to revise their coverage, and several pundits apologized for their quick judgment. Frustratingly, others doubled down while some continued to persistently insist that the truth would remain unknown on the happenings of that day, despite being abundantly clear as it is.

Issues Raised by the Article that is Relevant to Public Relations and Advertising Ethics and Social Responsibility.

This section will subdivide the three main points of the part; the first section will look at Public Relations Ethics, the second section, and advertising Ethics, and lastly social responsibility of media.

Public relations ethics- the media needs to be rooted in three primary guides when it comes to the public; the media needs to remain truthful, committed, and integral.  Ethics majorly focuses on how the community needs to live with each other. Ethics question on what wrong and write is, uncaring or caring, unfair or fair, among others. Media houses such as The Washing Post is a professional institution, need to have professional ethics that assist them in designing their actions to establish the Greater Good for communities and clients instead of enhancing a position of authority and power. Public relation ethics help media houses gain credibility by telling the truth and acting right, thus being ethical. Public relations is something of a respectable statue; an ideal strategy for convincing the mass on what is wrong is wrong.

As earlier stated, one principle of being ethical is integrity; from the article, it is clear that The Post was never integral during the covering of the Covington student story. To prove that the media house among others such as CNN and NBC lacked integrity, we can assess the lawsuit claim that stated that Nicholas was on the receiving end of targeted accusations and bullying just because he was a white catholic student wearing a MAGA cap. In addition, the media houses were accused of taking part in what the complainants termed as “modern-day McCarthyism”; competition between the three major media houses covering the story to claim leadership of social media and mainstream bullies threatened and attacked Sandman, a kind who was all along innocent. Even after the truth emerged, The Post never apologized but instead decided to review the copy of the filed lawsuit against them and come up with a vigorous defense.

The Sandman incidence at the Lincoln Memorial Park was really serious, and The Washington Post failed to assess the implication that would result from their article. Prior to the release of the extended video version, there were conservatives that were in support of the alleged racist boys and another majority who wanted to beat him up with the aim of teaching him a lesson. This tension in itself is already a warning sign, let alone the young adult, but also his entire school was in danger. Even with the knowledge of the implication their article would have on the boy’s life in terms of security, The Post went a heard and published their article, even going to the extent of attaching his name and picture to it. At that moment, Sandman was already a young man with a target on his back; however, The Post never cared about that; their concern was being the first to publish the juicy story. Their neglect to have some level of concern for the students’ lives or even do further investigation proved to the entire country that the media house is actually incompetence.

Communication professionals such as news anchors and news editors need to uphold the highest level of personal ethics while creating and disseminating public viewing information. When the video first emerged on social media such as Twitter, the users were on a rampage calling the kids, saying they need to be punished for their actions. Twitter is not a mainstream source of information for the general public as it is also an avenue for spreading rumors and lies. However, The Post basically believed what was going on in this social media platform and decided that the information being shared was worth to make up the news. The parties that took part in creating and disseminating the news basically ignored the element of rumors and lies, furthermore, the principle of internal ethics to find out the truth first before going public.

Mass media is a platform that gives the weak strength and the voiceless voice, however, was the Washington Post article a power, voice, or a loaded gun given to the community? Media does recognize the power is has as it controls people’s minds. Media is given the responsibility of communicating to, and for the public, however, the authority and responsibility are now becoming a selfish venture that is now desensitizing and demoralizing the community. The primary role of media is communication; that is, media has the responsibility of making sure that information passes from point A to point B without any alteration. In the case of Sandman and Philips, there was some sort of distortion in this basic role of media. The Washington Post entirely focused on criminalizing Sandman and making a hero out of Philip. This was only a one-sided story, to begin with. We have seen it is the role of media, for instance, The Post to ensure that communication is successfully transferred from point to point; therefore, it was the primary responsibility of this media house to acquire both sides of the story from the affected parties before airing. Therefore, The Post went against primary responsibility when it decided to publish the story before a proper investigation was done.

The adversarial role is another responsibility of media, in that the media acts as watchdogs in a society. It warns the people of immoral deeds such as racial discrimination and segregation. However, assessing the comment made by The Post concerning the appearance and the social stand of the boy proves the highest level of segregation. The wrongful targeting and bullying of Nicholas was basically based on the idea that he was white, wore a MAGA cap, and was attending a catholic school.  These are no solid evidence to prove he was the one who started the confrontation between the two.

Application of Effective and Ethical Practice of Global Strategic Communication

Effective and ethical practices in media need to promote and protect independence and freedom in communication as well as promoting ethical standards within the industry. Media houses need to abide by the code of conduct set aside for them; thus, anyone who is subject to the Act has to write an accurate, fair, and unbiased story when it comes to the issues of people’s interest.

In case there is more than one party involved, every side of the story needs to get published, especially when it comes to risky information such as the Covington situation. Media houses need to sought comments from people who are mentioned within a negative context, and evidence of these intentions needs to remain kept.

There are instances when misleading, inaccurate, or distorted information is broadcasted or published, and then the responsible media house needs to accept its mistake, apologize, and make the relevant correctly promptly. In addition, when these corrections are done, they need to represent the correct information and should not restate previously made errors.

Anyone who is subject to the Act should not publish or broadcast any story that is limited in terms of facts and accuracy. A journalist needs to be away from stories that have no relevant backing and should state when they include comments, facts, and conjecture. While presenting stories, the broadcaster or anchor needs to be free of any form of biasness in expressing the significance and relevance of the story. Basically, there is no need to demonize an individual due to their acts; anchors need to give factual information, not expressing their emotional standings.

Conclusion

The Sandman VS The Washington Post was a very bad experience in media history, showing the existing evil within the system. The serving of non-factual and biased stories to the public, thus demoralizing and decentralizing the public. However, any mistake needs to be translated to a lesson; the occurrence exposed the media’s wrongs but at the same time, highlighting the areas that needed corrections. Now the media are more alert in terms of the information they decide to broadcast or publish to the public.