Ethics hypotheticals | Comm Law and Ethics 400

Ethical reasoning process for ethics hypotheticals

Describe or restate the problem in its context
Identify stakeholders and their goals
Identify the relevant professional, traditional and moral ethical codes
Consider a variety of possible decisions
Apply balancing tests to determine which of the ethical codes can best guide the decision
Explain / defend your decision

Ask the right questions — According to SPJ’s Fred Brown: “The best way to arrive at an ethical decision is to ask the right questions. If you can do that, and if your answers to those questions make sense to you — and if you can then explain your reasoning sensibly to other people — you’ve done what you needed to do to reach a sound, defensible ethical decision. That’s true even if someone else, given the same set of circumstances, might arrive at the opposite decision and consider it just as defensible. (Brown, Fred . Media Ethics (pp. 9-10). Sigma Delta Chi Foundation. Kindle Edition.)

Example: “Holocaust on Your Plate:”

Background: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, is a nonprofit animal rights organization known for its controversial approach to communications and public relations. In 2003, PETA launched a new campaign, named “Holocaust on Your Plate,” that compares the slaughter of animals for human use to the murders of 12 million people in WWII. The question whether Holocaust on Your Plate” is unethical posturing or a truthful and appropriate comparison.
Stakeholders: This is a public relations effort by a well-known advocacy organization which is using a great historical tragedy that is not associated with their issues, so Jewish people worldwide are also stakeholders. Another group of stakeholders are government regulators, especially in Europe, who keep close control over hate speech. In Europe, advertising standards authorities banned the ad, and the European Court of Human Rights turned down PETA appeals saying that it “trivialized” the Holocaust. The US Federal Trade Commission did not ban the ad since hate speech is not regulated in the US the same way that European governments regulate it, but Jewish organizations in the US were opposed to the ad.
What are the ethical traditions and how would they apply?
1. Duty ethics: PETA members believe they have an ethical duty to protect animals and to send that message in a compelling and attention-grabbing way.
2. Bioethics, especially the question of relative value of animal life, is also a compelling side of PETA’s argument. Animals rights advocates believe that all living creatures have rights beyond their utility to humans. Hindus and Buddhists also believe that it is not moral to harm any living thing.
3. Consequence ethics: Human rights organizations object to the use of one of history’s deepest human tragedies to advance PETA’s point of view. Also, from the utilitarian perspective, human rights groups believe that one consequence of the ad is that the real Holocaust is cheapened.
4. Justice ethics: Should the great injustice of the Holocaust be compared with that of raising animals for meat?
5. Public relations professional ethics codes emphasize responsible advocacy. From a practical standpoint, an argument that is offensive or goes too far may fail to persuade.
Balancing tests: PETA’s campaign to protect animals by reminding people of the Holocaust has to be balanced against a perceived offensiveness. Given that the Holocaust is an enormous human tragedy, and that butchering of animal meat is a longstanding practice in history that has not traditionally been held on the same level as murder, PETA’s comparison is a very strong and potentially offensive exaggeration.
Options: PETA could consider alternative campaign themes. And PETA could (and did) run the campaign in the US, even if some find it offensive.
Decision: PETA should find a less offensive way to campaign for better treatment of animals.

Example: 1. Photojournalism

A photographer for the newspaper has taken a very strong photo of the face of a middle aged woman at the scene of a fire. You learn that she was a co-owner of the house that was on fire, and that her husband and three children were lost in the fire. The look on her face is so very strong because she is experiencing a great tragedy.

The editors believe that the photo is too invasive, but the photographer feels it tells a cautionary story and would be good for fire prevention efforts. The photographer also believe this may win him a Pulitzer, and thinks it should run. What do you think?

Use the Ethics Evaluation (above) as well as the SPJ Code of Ethics, Virtue, Duty, Utilitarian and Justice ethics and (also if you think it’s appropriate) your religious and ethical traditions.

Example: 2. Advertising a nuclear waste process

You have been asked to help with a GoFundMe campaign for an inventor who says he can turn radioactive waste into harmless water with a secret process. He wants to raise investment money for his company, which he says is a non-profit and therefore eligible for charity donations. He won’t provide any proof for his claim, and says if he does, someone might steal his invention.

Clearly, the guy is out to make a buck, but what’s wrong with that? Maybe it’s true that he has a process – You’re no scientist. Besides, he’s offering a commission of 25% on donations to his research.

Evaluate the situation from the standpoint of the American Advertising Federation Code of Ethics; from the standpoint of Virtue, Duty, Utilitarian and Justice ethics; and (also if appropriate) your religious and ethical traditions.

Example: 3. Bomb scare

In June, 2020, a fundamentalist Christian group took out a full page ad in the Nashville, TN newspaper claiming that a nuclear bomb would be detonated and that the attack will be carried out by unspecific interests of “Islam.” Clearly this did not happen, but the editorial side of the paper was “horrified” that the advertising management let the ad slip through.

Question: Should you publish bomb scares of any kind? What if anything is different about the Nashville scare?