Media Ethics Essay 2 Guidelines – Ethics in Public Relations

Option 1) You head the PR department of a small community college. Your department is responsible for running a “student success” video campaign. Your spouse owns Video Growth, a video-based advertising firm in the city. The college does not know that your spouse owns Video Growth. You have not suggested the use of Video Growth. The college’s president suggested using Video Growth to create the videos for the new “student success” video campaign. What do you do?

Option 2) You are a PR director at Buzz World, a Tuscon-based PR firm. You represent a national trade group called American Cement Association (ACA). The ACA has been following high-growth cities across the country that are preparing to vote on road improvement plans. The ACA hired your firm to organize and manage a citizen’s group in Tuscon called Tuscon Citizens for Building Better Roads. The purpose of the citizen’s group is to persuade local voters to pass ***

Option 3) You are a PR director for a housing developer. Your company’s next project is a multiunit housing complex for middle-income families. The company knows that the land for the complex was a former landfill site. An EPA report shows low levels of contaminants that are not life-threatening hazards. You discuss this information with the president of the company and recommend ways to explain the landfill history in promotional materials. He does not want the company to proactively discuss this information. What do you do?

CHECKLIST FOR ETHICAL DECISION MAKING (by Tom Bivins in Mixed Media: Moral Distinctions in Advertising, Public Relations and Journalism)

Choose one of the three options and answer the following questions from the checklist for ethical decision making. (This checklist and a detailed example are in your textbook, pp. 100-111). The purpose of this assignment is to have you critically analyze an ethical dilemma and apply the laws, a professional code of ethics, and theories of ethics to arrive at an ethically sound decision and justify it.

1) What is the ethical issue or problem? Define it in one or two sentences.

2) What immediate facts have the most bearing on the ethical decision you must render. Also, include potential economic (e.g., news is a business and wants to increase its audience, etc.), social (e.g., a community may be socially conservative or liberal, etc.) or political pressures. List all relevant facts as a bulleted list – one sentence per fact.

3) List all possible claimants (e.g., community members, specific social groups, media professionals, media organizations, etc.) in this issue and explain in what way you are obligated to each of them based on the following prima facie duties. One or more duties may apply per claimant. List each claimant, their claim, and your duty to them. List each claimant as a bulleted list – one paragraph per claimant.

a) Fidelity – A promise or contract you made.
b) Gratitude – Gratitude for something one of the claimants did for you.
c) Justice – The merits of the claimants when compared with each other.
d) Beneficence – Your ability to help someone out who needs and deserves your help.
e) Self-improvement – Your obligation to self-improve (e.g., preserve integrity, further education, etc.).
f) Non-injury – Your ability to avoid harming anyone unnecessarily.

4) List three alternative courses of action. For each alternative course of action, answer the following questions (*Ask these questions of all three of your alternative courses of action):

a) What are the best- and worst-case scenarios if you choose this alternative?
b) Will anyone be harmed if this alternative is chosen, and how will they be harmed?
c) Would honoring an ideal/value (personal, professional, organizational, or other) automatically invalidate this alternative?
d) Are there any laws, rules or principles (legal, professional, organizational, or other) that automatically invalidate this alternative? For example, breaking a law or violating a professional code of ethics. The SPJ code of ethics is posted on Canvas.

5) Apply the following situation-based ethical theories to each of your alternatives (*Ask these questions of all three of your alternative courses of action). Do they support or reject your alternatives? Explain why in a short sentence or two.

a) Mill’s Harm Principle
b) Machiavellian Ethics/Egoism
c) Mill’s Utilitarianism
d) Aristotle’s Golden Mean
e) Virtue ethics (relative to profession)

6) Apply the following absolutist (not based on consequences) ethical theories to each of your alternatives (*Ask these questions of all three of your alternative courses of action). Do they support or reject your alternatives? Explain why in a sentence or two.

a) Kant’s Categorical Imperative
b) Rawl’s Veil of Ignorance
c) Social Responsibility

7) Determine a course of action based on your analysis.

8) Defend your decision in the form of a letter. Address it to your most adamant detractor (this will be one of your claimants). I expect your justification to be thoughtful, grammatically correct, clear and composed. Do not list your reasons. Your justification will be a one to two page letter/essay.

Paper guidelines:

Choose one of the media ethics options. Answer every question listed in the checklist.

Formatting your paper:
Your finished paper must be no longer than 12 pages, double spaced. It must be formatted using Times New Roman, 12-point font, double spacing, and 1-inch margins. I expect your analysis to be thoughtful, organized and grammatically correct, so please revise and proofread carefully before submitting your final paper. Use the accompanying grammar and style sheet when you edit.

Submitting your paper:
Bring a printed and stapled hard copy of your paper to class the day it is due. Failure to follow these instructions will result in a 5-point reduction from your overall paper grade.

A FEW STYLE SUGGESTIONS:
NOTE: This guide is provided in order to limit the number of errors that tend to recur in student papers.
Titles
Class assignments are not written in AP style (news writing style); therefore, the names of newspapers, books, magazines, radio and television shows should be in italics (i.e., USA Today, The New York Times).
Commas
• Use a comma to separate two independent clauses (complete sentences) connected by a coordinating conjunction (and, but, for, or, yet, while, nor, etc.).
Ruth wanted to buy an Elvis record, but her parents forbid her from listening to Elvis.
(subject #1 = Ruth) (verb #1 = wanted) (subject #2 = parents) (verb #2 = forbid)
• Do not add a comma to a compound predicate (two or more verbs that serve the same subject).
Ruth loved movies and went to the theater every weekend.
(subject #1 = Ruth) (verb #1 = loved) (verb #2 = went)
Colloquialisms
•This paper is based off of my interest in music.
The correct grammatical construction would be:
This paper is based on my interest in music.
•Other common colloquialisms include being as or seeing as instead of because.
Being as it was in the public’s best interest, I decided to do it.
The correct form would be:
Because it was in the public’s best interest, I decided to do it.
Another option:
Since it was in the public’s best interest, I decided to do it.
•Another common colloquialism is using anyways instead of anyway.
The decision turned out to be in everyone’s best interest anyways.
Anyways is not a word. Anyway is the correct usage.

 

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