Research Paper on "Ethical Decision Making Media"

Research Paper 6 pages (1904 words) Sources: 1

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Ethical Decision Making

Media are faced with a number of ethical dilemmas in the course of their business. One of the many dilemmas that could potentially be faced is with respect to reporting on criminal activity. A member of the media may come into possession of information that is relevant to the story but, if published, could compromise the legal investigation. In such a situation, the media may be asked by law enforcement to postpone the release of that information. However, the media are compelled not only to tell the full story as they know it, but also may be at a competitive disadvantage to competitors that are willing to release that information.

The statement "Ethics begin when elements within a moral system conflict. Ethics is less about the conflict between right and wrong than it is about the conflict between equally compelling values and the choices that must be made between them" can readily apply in this situation. Journalists have an obligation to report facts in an unbiased, non-selective manner. Selective editing of the facts to suit the needs of law enforcement represents ethical conflict for a couple of important reasons.

The first reason is that there is direct conflict between the interests of the news media and law enforcement in this situation. News media play an important role is society, providing unbiased information to the public. The media are ethically bound to remain unbiased in their reporting, which inherently means that publishing facts and data selectively cannot occur. To deliberately omit critical information for any reason is to display bias, something that cannot occur no matter how noble the circumstance.

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The second reason that there is an ethical dilemma in this situation is that it creates a precedent. If a situation exists where publishing information could lead to a criminal escaping, most people would consider that this information should be withheld. However, in doing so a precedent is created where the interests of the media are subsumed by the interests of law enforcement. In the next situation, the family member of a high-ranking law enforcement official could be implicated in a crime and the media asked to omit that information as well. There is tremendous potential for abuse when the media subsumes its interests to those of law enforcement.

Yet, both the media and law enforcement share the same critical stakeholder -- the public. Both serve to protect the public's interest. In this particular scenario, the risks posed to the public by a single criminal are small and in all likelihood limited to a handful of unfortunate individuals. Yet because of the severity of the suffering of those particular individuals, there is a mandate on the part of law enforcement to ensure that they do everything in their power to protect the public. For its part, the media has a right to inform the public and indeed a mandate to do so. Informing the public of all relevant facts and events is a core part of the media's mandate. To compromise on that mandate could have grave consequences. Those consequences would be spread among the public as a whole. There may not be specific individual consequences at all, and in this situation it is unlikely that the damage to omitting information would be significant.

This is where the ethical dilemma comes in. There is a compelling case to be made for the protection of the rights of a handful of individuals who could be severely affected, just as there is a case for the protection of the rights of the broad public, even if under any one specific scenario the adverse consequences are expected to be minimal. Different ethical perspectives would derive different responses to this dilemma -- if they did not it would not be a dilemma at all. In the situation described, however, a person who subscribes to Mill's utilitarian ethics would surely come to the conclusion that the media should release the information -- the benefit to the public at large outweighs the adverse consequences that may be born by a few, especially given that those adverse consequences are not guaranteed to occur at all. A person who subscribes to Kant's categorical imperative, however, may find that the media should assist law enforcement in any way possible. The prevention of a crime is at stake, and because the law of the land is a higher class of imperative than an implicit and potentially subjective professional code, the only reasonable choice would be to defer to the law of the land, leading to a decision to assist law enforcement.

Mill's utilitarianism represents an excellent model for resolving this ethical dilemma. Under utilitarianism, the doctrine of 'greatest good for the greatest number' applies. The media is bound by the principle of truthtelling, which implies that it must tell the truth under all conditions. This doctrine would imply that the media not withhold the information. This is supported by the utilitarian view. In any given particular instance, for the media to compromise on truthtelling may not seem a major issue. However, it does create a slippery slope whereby truthtelling could be compromised repeatedly. The net effect of this compromise could have strongly adverse consequences to the public.

There are two additional considerations worth noting. The first is that the outcomes being debated are both potential. A criminal "getting away" because of information released by the press may not commit any further crimes -- any risk of further victims is speculation, a potential occurrence. Likewise, the truthtelling slippery slope theory assumes future such requests from law enforcement or other compromise of the truthtelling principle. Such events are also theoretical, and may never occur. It is at least somewhat spurious to resolve an ethical dilemma based on potential consequences. At the very least, the abstract utility equation being contemplated should include probabilities of the adverse events occurring.

The second consideration worth noting is that the obligation of the media is to the public at large, rather than to any specific member of the public. It is not incumbent upon the media to grant special consideration for any individual or stakeholder group. Indeed, to do so may well violate principles regarding the lack of bias in reporting. The general population is also the group of people served by law enforcement, making it the common ground between the two groups. When only the broader public interest is taken into account, utilitarianism makes it clear that the media should release the information.

In this situation, utilitarianism represents the best approach to resolving the ethical dilemma. Aristotle's golden mean does not provide sufficient contextual understanding to help resolve this dilemma. In this situation, the decision is between two mutually exclusive options. They lie at the extremes and there can be no middle way between the two inputs in consideration. This is especially vexing when it is considered that the outcomes most adverse are theoretical. Without known outcomes, it is also difficult to find the middle path between them.

Kant's categorical imperative would most likely offer a clear solution in this situation. Kant would find that the imperative here is with regards to the crimes that may be committed by the criminal. In such a situation, the media would be bound by their duty to the laws of the land. Moreover, it is reasonable to expect that the general public, bound by irrational fear of crime that overestimates their odds of becoming a victim, would agree that apprehending the criminal is more important than some theoretical and in all likelihood miniscule infringement on their right to information. There are two problems with the use of the categorical imperative to resolve this dilemma, however. The first problem is that the categorical imperative assumes that the duty of the media should be subsumed to the laws of the land. Yet, in some instances the media is protected under law in other ethical conflicts -- for example the sanctity of anonymous sources. This indicates that the media's duties and codes have a higher weight than may be ascribed -- it may not be reasonable to subsume them to the laws of the land. The second problem with using the categorical imperative to resolve this dilemma is that it places undo focus on the small number of potential individual victims of the criminal. The duty of the media in this remains to the broader public. For the media especially, it makes little sense to resolve a dilemma affecting a broad group of people by considering primarily a scenario that impacts very few people -- this is not congruent with the media's mandate.

Ross' pluralism also is insufficient to resolve this dilemma. Ross argued that there are a number of obligations and adherence to these obligations is important. These obligations include fidelity, reparation, gratitude, non-malfeasance, justice, beneficence and self-improvement. In the case where obligations appear to be mutually exclusive, there is one absolute obligation that outweighs the others. In the situation described, justice is one consideration, and applies in particular… READ MORE

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