Kants Stand on Ethics - Essay Example

Sur Media Ethics Getting nothing in excess in pursuit of a virtuous and good life is the golden mean of the Great Age of Greece (Christians, Ferre, and Fackler, 10). Among others, Aristotle's virtues are justice, shame, truthfulness, friendliness, good temper, and courage (Solomon, 83). People use reason as a main tool to choose a course of action in a scale of options for a single virtue. It is through this that people decide their satisfaction and pleasure. The individual is the center of this ethics model. Kant's stand on ethics is that reason directs the actions of a person (Patterson and Wilkins, 9). For Kant, principles of reason or a system of clear-cut needs is where morality is rooted in since every individual has the ability to reason. No matter what culture or society a person belongs to, these needs apply. Per Kant, every individual has an obligation to discern what the right conduct is in a given situation by exercising his mind. As much as an action's universal and logical application, the ultimate arbiter of correctness are not necessarily the consequences of one's actions. Per Kant, sense of duty requires every person to acknowledge another person's rights. This also asserts that the general satisfaction of many people cannot overshadow moral claims (Solomon, 127-129). Surname 2 Utilitarianism, on the other hand, asserts that the greatest good for the greatest number is the utmost legacy (Christians, Ferre, and Fackler, 11-13). It is totally contradictory to Kant's ethics model. It maintains that every person should have the consideration to act for his own benefit if it will also benefit the society as a whole. In pluralism, acknowledging the opposing ethical principles present in a diverse world is the ethics model. These competing ethics principles are called duties (Patterson and Wilkins, 12). These duties can be identified as not causing harm to other people, personal development, beneficence, integrity, appreciation, and loyalty. This vivid viewpoint for reflecting the every day challenges numerous professionals deal with and for acknowledging the several roles various individuals bear is praised. An individual recognition of the distinction between duty proper and prima facie duties is required in this ethics model. Duty proper involves particular awareness for the introduction of new or unusual situations and challenges while prima facie duties can be taken as daily responsibilities each person decides to advocate. Putting social justice at the core of its guiding principle is the communitarianism ethics model (Patterson and Wilkins, 14). As component of the human condition, it maintains that every person should be sensitive to the corollaries of their behaviors both worldwide and within a society (Christians, Ferre, and Fackler, 14). This ethics model highlights the dynamic relationship among social, financial, judicial, and biological systems and centers on the interdependence of people. Experts state that it is a framework exceptionally relevant in assessing the function and operation of the media in society. It increases the combined achievements that the media and their Surname 3 organizations have and silences the rivalry among media organizations in the society (Patterson and Wilkins, 15). 2. An example case study of information ethics is in chapter 2 of the Media Ethics book entitled "The New York Times vs. Wen Ho Lee." It is all about responsibility in gathering of information, biases, and political agenda. The investigative reporters failed to gather sufficient information that would allow them to weigh any possible biases that may be intentionally or unintentionally included in the reports. Also, political contexts that may have possibly hindered obtaining the actual and complete facts were not thoroughly investigated. It was a major blunder on the side of the publication at the expense of the "victim." They reported a major case against a Chinese-American without a thorough and independent investigation on their end. Their story was based on second hand information --- from a person they consider a "star witness" --- who happened to be possibly covering-up some political issues. It was an irresponsible act from people who ought to be reporting the truth. Another case of media ethics from the same chapter of the same book --- possibly patterned after the utilitarianism principle --- is "The Doctor Has AIDS" case study. Here, the Dallas news media stood by their principle of bringing out the truth for the greatest good for the greatest number. In cases like these, media people have a tough time weighing whether to expose the story or not, since the information being reported is actually "protected by law." It was a tough call, they have to possibly face the legal consequences of their act or endanger the lives of many people. Dr. Huse was not only one of the very few pediatricians in the area; he was also one of the most popular Surname 4 with the most number of patients. Dallas news media's reason for reporting the story was definitely based on concern for the society. 3. One of the essences of journalism is its loyalty to the public it serves and to the mission of the job. The duty of loyalty should never be compromised even in the event of conflicts of interest. It is said that a morally good life may be recognized by the several loyalties that an individual displays. In chapter 4 of the book Media Ethics, case studies shown by Patterson and Wilkins demonstrate the different conflicting personal and professional loyalties of journalists. For instance, in case study "She Chose Before Losing the Choice," (Patterson and Wilkins, 84) columnist Tom Lyons had to choose whether to run the column containing an interview with Orr, even if it appears that his column was used to make Orr's death create a stir for her cause. It was also a choice between his personal belief of what is right and important and should be publicly considered as right and important. Another case study on chapter 4 of the same book entitled "The Anchor as Activist" is where Frank Larue had to choose between acting on his own beliefs (loyalty) and acting based on what is expected of him as a known media personality. It is normally difficult to draw a line between personal and public life for a "celebrity." Another case study on chapter 4 of the same book entitled "The wonderful World of Junkets" reveals an issue of credibility. Florida's Disneyland paying for media people's expenses to attend its 15th anniversary --- for possible worldwide coverage --- would definitely raise questions on the coverage's credibility. It is similar to endorsing a brand of product one is paid for to advertise. Journalists here would have to determine whether it is more Surname 5 significant to maintain credibility or to give an account of an event despite possible doubts from the public. 4. The interaction between media accountability and media lobby groups is generally under public constraint. Media normally deal with trade-offs between a more biased content with a smaller audience share and a less biased content with a larger audience share (thereby acquiring more contributions). Accordingly, result of media regulations are based on several vital factors: nature and quality of interest groups that influence news (minor assessment of a specific media regulation, opinion biases, quantity), audience demand (flexibility of media product demand a propos the degree of media bias), technology (potential advertising and sales revenue in the status quo point, and marginal costs of media production), and others (Solomon, 47-51). It can be found that both the structure and size of the market are crucial to media regulation results. In theory, the bigger size of the market is where more media freedom and lesser media bias are rooted in. One good example for this is Russia, since media organizations in this country are allowed to run as profit-oriented businesses because of the non-existence of strict official media policy or formal censorship (Eaton and Lipsey, 1972). Still, media freedom in this country is debatable. For instance, in 2005, Russia was ranked as 138th (of 167) by "Reporters without Borders" (Egorov, Guriev, Sonin). Placed on the 167th slot was North Korea. Since 2003, Russia was also named by Freedom House as one of the nations having suppressed media (Egorov, Guriev, Sonin). The country was also the first nation to be placed on the watch list of the Surname 6 International Press Institute (IPI) (Eaton and Lipsey, 1972). It can be said that relatively balanced news coverage is influenced by a bigger size of advertisers or interest groups. 5. On public relations ethics issue, one could refer to a case study entitled "Role of Public Relations in the Alar Scare." (Patterson and Wilkins, 108) Here, the PR relations "may" have acted ethically on the idea that they created a controversial scoop based on a good intention --- to inform the public concerning a pesticide in apples that could possibly be dangerous to consumers. However, it was unethical that the story was just given importance because of the 25,000 USD fee (Patterson and Wilkins, 108-111) --- not to mention that it was somewhat biased since it was totally one-sided. Here, the end did not justify the means. Christians, Clifford G., John P. Ferre, and Mark Fackler. Good News: Social Ethics and the Press. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993. Eaton, Buford Curtis, and Richard G. Lipsey. The Principle of Minimum Differentiation Reconsidered: Some New Developments in the Theory of Spatial Competition. Kingston, Ont: Institute for Economic Research, Queen's University, 1972. 27-49. Egorov, G., S. Guriev, and K. Sonin. "MEDIA FREEDOM, BUREAUCRATIC INCENTIVES AND THE RESOURCE CURSE." Discussion Paper. 5748 (2006): ALL. Patterson, Philip, and Lee Wilkins. Media Ethics: Issues & Cases. Boston, Mass: McGraw Hill, 1997. Solomon, Robert C. Ethics: A Brief Introduction. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1984. Read More