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Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved
96
CHAPTER 15 – BUSINESS AND MEDIA ETHICS
General Overview
As with the last chapter rights and obligations are explored but this time in relation to business
and the media. The basic dispute with respect to business is whether making profits is the only
obligation it has or whether it has other obligations to the consumer, the employee, the
environment, etc. Business might, for example, be obligated to make positions available to
certain groups because they have been discriminated against. In media ethics the topic of
advertising is problematic since pressure to sell the product might offend against truth,
responsibility, and other values. The basic moral issue in journalism often boils down to a
contest between the “public’s right to know” and the “individual right to privacy.”
Class Suggestions
There are a number of good recent cases that fit into the ambit of this chapter, including Enron,
the recent Supreme Court decision regarding affirmative action and the University of Michigan,
and numerous high profile cases involving the media (particularly the ones mentioned in the
textbook). Instructors should use these to bring out and focus on the main concepts and
questions. A mini research project on affirmative action at their own college might be
illuminating. Many students will already have work experience, so drawing on that could also
prove to be a very useful source of data for moral examination.
Chapter Summary
Rights and Obligations in Business
Both general and specific rights and obligations are involved in business, e.g., right to pursue
opportunities for employment as well as right to fairness, honesty, and truth in business dealings.
Two Ways of Approaching Rights and Obligations in Business
1. Competitive approach – “Dog eat dog” or “free enterprise” winner makes biggest profits,
losers go out of business
2. Government control – State ownership of business enterprises
3. Moderate position – Free enterprise with some government controls, as system of checks and
balances to overcome the excesses of the other approaches
Justice, Truth Telling, and Honesty in Business
Three types of justice in business:
1. Exchange justice
2. Distributive justice
3. Social justice
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved
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Honesty and Truth Telling
Honesty and truth telling are important in a range of activities especially concerning advertising
and safety.
Ethical Issues in Business
Advertising
Two main approaches:
1. Anything goes approach
2. The truthful approach
Business and the Environment
Three positions:
1. Primacy of business – Business gives consumers what they want. This is their only
responsibility.
2. Primacy of environment – Businesses must take responsibility for their part in maintaining
the environment or putting right any damage it causes.
3. Moderate position – All to blame, not just business. Must work together to safeguard
environment.
Affirmative Action and Reverse Discrimination
Argument for Discrimination:
1. Business practices are the employer’s own affairs.
2. Business should not be singled out to make amends for practices that occurred everywhere.
3. Businesses should not be prevented from hiring the employees they prefer.
Argument Against Discrimination:
1. Discrimination in employment is one of the worst kinds of discrimination since its effects are
so far reaching.
2. Owed recompenses for actions committed against them.
3. Affirmative action will right the wrongs of the past.
Moderate Position:
Affirmative action should be implemented but not by hiring less qualified workers.
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved
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Sexual Harassment
Unwanted sexual advances, or unwanted visual, verbal, or physical conducts of a sexual nature.
Arguments That Sexual Harassment Is Not Immoral
1. Enlivening the workplace
2. Women and men are naturally sexually attracted to one another
3. Positions of power imply certain rights
4. Often those being harassed ask for or cause sexual harassment
Arguments That Sexual Harassment Is Immoral
1. Unfairness of treatment
2. Creation of a hostile or offensive working environment
3. Positions of authority do not imply power over personal lives
4. Attraction does not imply involvement
5. Harassed often “ask for it” is false
Media Ethics
Journalism’s Ideal
The “pursuit of truth.” Does the pursuit of the ideal legitimate any method of acquiring
information? Is lying to get the truth acceptable?
Public Right to Know versus Individual Right to Privacy
Perhaps the most significant moral problem. Test problem in relation to examples, e.g., Princess
Diana, President Clinton, etc. Where should the lines be drawn?
Corporate Greed - Enron
1. Lied about profits
2. Conflict of interest with auditors (Arthur Anderson)
3. AA’s shredding of evidence
KEY TERMS AND CONCEPTS
Rights
Obligations
Business
Justice
Truth-Telling
Honesty
Affirmative Action
Reverse Discrimination
Sexual Harassment
Right to Know
Right to Privacy
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved
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ESSAY QUESTIONS
1. Do businesses have any obligations other than profits? Use examples in your answer to
critically evaluate this question.
2. Is it immoral for a company to exaggerate or even “stretch the truth” in their advertising if
jobs are at stake? Discuss the moral principles involved here and try to justify your position.
3. Is affirmative action morally justifiable?
4. If one person takes offense at a titillating office email does that constitute sexual harassment
or is this a case of someone being overly sensitive? Discuss the moral concerns that relate to
this issue.
5. When Princess Diana died, were journalists pursuing a story that the public had a “right to
know”?
TRUE/FALSE
1. According to the author “business ethics” is an oxymoron.
2. An obligation is what I am entitled to by law.
3. There are two highly divergent ways of approaching rights and obligations in business.
4. Social justice is concerned with how business and the media treat consumers and members of
society.
5. Doing anything you can to get the customer to buy the product is known in advertising as the
fairest approach.
6. Prejudice means literally “prejudgment” before having any experience of that which one
judges.
7. One argument for discrimination is that a company’s business practices are its own affair.
8. One survey found that 4 in 5 students have been sexually harassed at some point in their
school life.
9. Enron had a 65 page long code of ethics.
10. The media represent events – they do not create them.
MULTIPLE CHOICE
11. According to the author, no right is so important that it __________ supersedes all the others.
a) often
b) always
c) mostly
d) never
12. The approach to rights and obligations in business – which stresses a laissez faire attitude
without controls – is sometimes called
a) the government control approach.
b) the moderate position.
c) the competitive approach.
d) the ethical approach.
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved
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13. The type of justice that involves reimbursement for services rendered is called
a) Exchange Justice.
b) Distributive Justice.
c) Social Justice.
d) Retributive Justice.
14. The moral approach to advertising is the __________ approach.
a) anything goes
b) buyer beware
c) truthful
d) moderate
15. Business has no responsibilities to the environment or society, only consumers and
shareholders. This is known as the
a) primacy of the environment view.
b) primacy of business view.
c) moderate view.
d) primacy of society view.
16. The moderate position on affirmative action says that
a) blacks and women are inferior.
b) a business employer’s practices are private.
c) quotas, goals, and timetable must be established.
d) AA must be taken at all levels and employers should have the freedom to hire who they wish.
17. The bases for arguments against sexual harassment are that
a) all people deserve to be treated with respect.
b) it is now socially unacceptable.
c) in the end it brings profits down.
d) it’s unfair on the men and women who don’t get any attention.
18. Who said that the ideal of journalism was the “communication of truth”?
a) The Disney corporation (who own ABC amongst others)
b) Patterson and Wilkins
c) Princess Diana
d) Bill Clinton
19. One of the main moral dilemmas in the media and journalism is
a) to get as many viewers/readers/listeners as possible.
b) the public’s right to know versus the individual right to privacy.
c) journalists expense accounts.
d) what to do about Ted Koppell’s hair.
Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved
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20. What does the Enron episode show?
a) How useless a code of ethics is unless embedded in practices.
b) How greedy human beings can be.
c) How important ethics is.
d) All of the above.
Answer Key to Chapter 15 Test Questions
True or False:
Multiple Choice:
