22 August 2011 - Lecture Week 5

Right now, I am not in a very good mood as my mouth tastes really salty. I was cooking by following a recipe and it calls for salt and pepper for seasoning. I forgot that I had to put soy sauce later and I put 3 pinches of salt. As I put the soy sauce I thought it would be fine because I will let the salt evaporate, later, I found out that salt do not evaporate. It is now incredible salty...and I still have to eat it because that is the last meat for the day... So, even if I have a very salty mouth right now, I have to write week 5 lecture because I am late for 2 weeks already...

Week 5 - Lecture

This week's lecture is about ethics. First let's look at grid below:

The grid above is used to measure value of public communication (i.e. advertisements, movies, books). The top left corner means the best and the bottom right one is the worst. The problem is how do we measure ethics?

There are 3 ethical theories:

1. Deontology --> includes rules, principles, and duties. All ethic codes are deontological.
2. Consequentialism (theology) --> relies on results. As long as the result is good, the process does not matter. 
3. Virtue --> relies on characters. Goodness come from virtues such as courage, justice, temperance and prudence which are mean of behaviour

In journalism, there are 4 codes:

1. MEAA code --> honesty, fairness, independence and respect for the rights of others
2. AFA code:
   1. Stand up for what you believe is right.
   2. Honour all agreements.
   3. Don't break the law. Don't bend the law.
   4. Respect all people.
   5. Strive for excellence in everything you do.
   6. Give clients your best efforts and advice, without fear or favour.
   7. Look after your colleagues.
   8. Compete fairly.
   9. Think before you act.
   10. Be honest.
3. AANA code --> treat sex and its references with care,  use appropriate language, avoid violence except when it is justifiable in the context, avoid discrimination in any forms.
4. PRIA code

Journalism codes, however, did not work effectively due to gaps in its jurisdictions. Ethics and values are choices. A good journalist, I believe, should follow this ethics from the heart and not by forces of others.