DM Misrepresents Self in Media Under Fake Name

2/27/2014
Ethics Case Study 29 | INSIGHTS
INSIGHTS
BY INSIGHT S | NOV EMBER 6 , 2 0 1 3 5 :0 8 PM
Ethics Case Study 29

(Read t his useful art icle before solving Et hics Case St udies)
Ev ery District Collector wants the local newspaper to run positiv e stories about his works in his district. Few, thankfully , hide
behind a fake nam e to write only positiv e articles.
Am an, DM of a fam ous district, felt the m ajor local paper, was not writing enough positiv e articles about him , so he decided to
subm it his own stories, under a fake nam e.
The paper encourages citizen journalists to subm it stories to get a m ore local angle. I thought about all the people just reading
about crim e in our city and nothing better, said the DM.
Although he was not paid for his articles, he established a relationship with the paper, a telev ision Web site, and a weekly paper
all by using em ail and phone conv ersations. Using his alias, he wrote m ore than a dozen articles. In som e he quoted him self. He did
not apologize for his actions.
Howev er his alias was a real person. DM had used the real photo to conv ince the publishers. Now the real person is hurt and
enraged. He accuses DM of ly ing to the public.
Do y ou think DM should resign?
Should the gov ernm ent take any action, such as a censure?
Is this action serious enough to prom pt a recall?
Can the public trust an official who has m isrepresented him self?
(Modified Case Study Original Here)
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Sunaina
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Nov em ber 6 , 2 01 3 at 6 :07 pm
A DM is an responsible executiv e who has to abide by the form al rules and regulations of law. Though DM has acted on the
principle of com m on good which im plies interest of one person should be com prom ised for the larger public interest .But it
should also be kept in m ind that a dem ocratic society env isages personal dignity also.Here person has fundam ental right to life
and liberty which includes priv acy of indiv idual also and his priv acy cant be com prom ised until and unless there is rarest of the
rare case i.e. there is danger to integrity and security of country or life of an indiv idual in danger.But here is the case totally
different.
Here DM is using the nam e and picture of a person without his prior perm ission for expressing his v iews and his works done by
him .if he wanted to m ake aware people of good things of the locality ,he could adopt sev eral other legal m eans.But DM has
adopted illegal m eans v iolating the law of the land.So he m ust resign on m oral and ethical grounds from the post accepting his
fault.
there is need for properly define a law with proper definitions and nitty gritty details including all the things affecting the
priv acy of a person.
Public trust and rely on those indiv iduals who adopt ethical and truthful m eans to achiev e an end.The DM has adopted wrong
m eans to achiev e right end so he m ust hav e lost public trust in him .He is a public figure,a civ il serv ant so he has to better take
care of all the dim ensions of his actions take by him .
i did not understand this question Is this action serious enough to prom pt a recall? properly .please explain a lit m ore
Reply
Cardoza
Nov em ber 8, 2 01 3 at 1 1 :4 2 pm
Actually the original case study is about May or, so recall option has been giv en. In this case recall is not applicable. Howev er,
y ou m ay think on departm ental action.
Reply
jyoti
Nov em ber 6 , 2 01 3 at 6 :08 pm
The DC here has tried to depict a rosy picture regarding the adm inistration of the area through wrongful m eans. Media should
reflect the public opinion and here the concerned DC has use the sam e platform to m odify it in his fav our which is ethically
wrong as well as v iolates the civ il serv ices code of conduct rules. Anony m ity is one the feature of the cov il serv ices. If the DC has
done som e good work then thats his duty and not a fav our to som ebody and bragging about it unapologetically should be
censured.
He also used som ebody elses nam e, picture, etc. Which again calls for interv ention.
The case would also caution others who m ight be following such practices. Civ il serv ants are generally respected by public for
their im partial serv ices but if they ll follow such practices then certainly itll ham per their im age.
Reply
athi
Nov em ber 6 , 2 01 3 at 6 :2 9 pm
DM did the unethical act for a selfish reason.He wanted ev ery body to know his positiv e doings.For this he used false
identity .According to m y opinion he should take responsibility of his action and accept punishm ent from the Gov t.His public
trust will be reduced due to his action but if he accept the punishm ent it will create a positiv e im pression also
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Reply
vipul
Nov em ber 7 , 2 01 3 at 1 2 :3 3 am
No,
DM has freedom to conv ey his opinion about his adm inistration but he should not hav e used false identity . Though unethical
and crim inal act, DM did not cause any harm to the indiv idual. He should adm it his m istake to the senior and prom ise to rectify
his behav ior in future. His superiors m ay take any suitable disciplinary action against him .
Public officials are expected to discharge their duties with high honesty & transparency .Public officials should put their personal
interest abov e the public interest. DM has not only lied to the people to build his self-im age but he has also v iolated the priv acy of
an Indiv idual. Gov ernm ent should seek the reasons for such behav ior from DM and accordingly can take appropriate actions
(censure/ suspension) taking opinion of his superiors in adm inistration.Gov ernm ent needs to ensure that such acts are not
repeated by other officials.
NO
In case, the person whose identity DM used, decides to file a case then DM m ight hav e to go through punishm ent as per law. But
DM can also apologize to the person and settle the dispute him self. Though unethical but bad behav ior is not intense enough to
issue a recall. Such behav ior can be rectified with lim ited punishm ent or penalties.
DMs responsibility of deliv ering serv ices to public can be considered sim ilar to that of an on line shopkeeper selling som e
goods/serv ices. If a custom er com es to know that all the good rev iews which prom pted him to buy the goods hav e been put on
website by the shopkeeper using fake id, he will hesitate to buy the item ev en if the rev iews are genuine. In our case, DM has
m isled the people by using the fake ID to prom ote his self-interest that will definitely dev elop the m istrust in public.
Reply
Sidwho
Nov em ber 7 , 2 01 3 at 2 :1 3 am
the DMs instance is not a one off incident , but he has contributed m ore than a dozen articels on v arious fora.and rather shows
the audacity to defend him self.he is using unfair m eans to depict a picture which m ight not be true.
and qotuing him self in the articles he wrote under a stolen identity also shows his narcissistic tendencies.
such DM who does not hav e a sense of duty and tries to underm ine freedom of press by biased reporting and also identity theft
without any rem orse shouldnt continue in position of DM he has underm ined public faith and degraded the office of DM.
it surely requires a strict action against erring indiv iduals who using an alias has underm ined anony m ity principle of civ il
serv ices. he is there to serv e the public and not propogate stories using unethical m eans about hs work.
he has tried to m anipulate people using the so called 4 th pillar of dem ocracy .
oh how badly i wish we had this option.dam n we should exile him .
it not just underm ines the offical in question but the office of DM itself.it m akes people cy nical about gov ernm ent
functionaries.these things larger dam age than just erosion of trust in one official.
Reply
Aditya Jha
Nov em ber 7 , 2 01 3 at 1 1 :03 am
Anony m ity is an im portant v alue in Civ il Serv ices. Besides, there are restrictions in the All India Serv ices(Code of conduct)
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Anony m ity is an im portant v alue in Civ il Serv ices. Besides, there are restrictions in the All India Serv ices(Code of conduct)
regarding freedom of speech of officers. There can be little doubt that the intentions the DM were nov el, but his actions were in
v iolation of both the conduct rules and v alues.
The DM should not resign for breaching the code of conduct is not equiv alent to a crim inal offence. It only inv ites censure and
disciplinary proceedings from the gov ernm ent short of dism issal and rem ov al from the post or serv ices. And, it should in such a
case of m isrepresentation. Censure should be strict enough to serv e as an exam ple.
If the issue is probed deeper, anony m ous publications are opinion form ing. The state gov ernm ent m ay be sway ed, in the fav our
of the district and the DM, reading positiv e stories. He m ay ev en be prom oted for his good work. This can be m isused by any civ il
serv ant for better opportunities. Therefore, the actions in serious enough to prom pt a recall.
There are official channels to publicize good works by the district adm inistration. And, a m eeting could hav e also been conv ened
with the local newspapers citing the griev ances of the DM. But, such m isrepresentation or fake identity is worry ing and sets a
bad precedent. Thus, the public can not trust the official in such a case.
The ends of an action do not justify the m eans alway s.
Reply
Shantan
Nov em ber 8, 2 01 3 at 6 :4 2 am
Im personation is a crim e Adity a.
Reply
Aditya Jha
Nov em ber 8, 2 01 3 at 9 :2 4 am
Yes Shantan it is a crim e. I forgot to include it. But, v iolation of code of conduct is not.
Thanks for y our v iews.
Reply
Nikku
Nov em ber 1 1 , 2 01 3 at 8:05 pm
The DM here should be suspended im m ediately and an enquiry be established to probe deeper into the m atter, and if found
guilty (which seem s to be the case based on the facts prov ided), the DM should be im m ediately rem ov ed from duty .
The DM has not only abused the press, and broken the trust of the people, he has also com m itted a crim e by faking as a person.
First of all, the DM was not doing som ething great by just following his duty towards the people. In fact, that is the bare
m inim um that was expected from him .
Thus to want the public to acknowledge it and create a positiv e im pression shows the im m aturity on the part of DM.
Then, by faking as a real person, he chose to break the law to achiev e self-prom otion. How can that be justified at all??
If he was really doing such good work, the public would hav e realized them autom atically and he wouldnt hav e had to take such
unfair m eans.
Reply
harvinder Singh
Nov em ber 1 2 , 2 01 3 at 8:2 2 pm
DM is a public serv ant and looking after the com m on welfare is his utm ost duty irrespectiv e of any rewards or criticism he
welcom e in taking those steps. Rightly anony m ity should hav e been m aintained in the case of civ il serv ants as he is posted there
to im plem ent the gov ernm ent policies on the behalf of gov ernm ent.
2 . As the issue had becom e public, it has brought m ore em barrassm ent to DM than he m ust hav e glorified him self.
3 . The person whose alias has been used by the DM could file a case of im personation and could drag the DM in courts. DM should
try to settle the issue and if possible should apologize publicly and personally to the aggriev ed person. But before taking these
steps, he should inform his superiors about the whole episode. Any action or suggestion taken by the senior form ations should be
taken into account before arriv ing at conclusion, by DM.
4 . No doubt the act disclosed in the public would bring an in repairable dam age to the DM/civ il serv ant as whole and the
gov ernm ent in the ey es of public.
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2/27/2014

gov ernm ent in the ey es of public.
Reply
harvinder Singh
Nov em ber 1 2 , 2 01 3 at 8:2 3 pm
Guy s pls rev iew
Reply
neeraj
Nov em ber 1 5, 2 01 3 at 6 :4 7 pm
DM has used a fake nam e of a real person and has hurt his sentim ents. His intentions seem s noble, as he wants the general
populace to hav e a feel good factor about their city , but the actions are wrong. Buddhism philosophy looks at the intent of the
actions. Since his intentions were noble, he should apologise to the populace through newspaper, tv and website. Resignation
would lead to loss of a good natured civ il serv ant. He should also be ready for any disciplinary action against him by the gov t.
Gov ernm ent should not allow such ty pe of behav iour. Transfer and/or reducing seniority by one y ears seem s to be an
appropriate action. Such activ ities m ust be censored. Its the duty of DM to giv e right inform ation to the general populace about
the state of their city . Also, using another persons nam e and picture for such propoganda is a bad precedent for the new recruits.
Im personation is a v ery serious issue. It calls for a prom pt recall. The DM should prom ptly apologise for his behav iour.
As already stated, the intentions of the DM were noble, ie to instill som e positiv e feeling and hope in the people. A state of despair
within the populace is not a desired trait. It will increase the crim es and the populace will loose faith in the gov t. It will also lead
to chaos in the society . There hav e m any cases where the state has dissem inated hopeful inform ation to people in cases of war
and com m unal strife, to keep our hopes high and it has worked v ery well and has helped the people to get out of its m iseries. This
act m ay lead to loss of public faith in the official, but the public is sm art enough to understand that the m isinform ation giv en
were not for self aggrandisem ent rather to curtail the despair within the public. The official will gain trust of the public shortly .
Pls rev iew.
Reply
IAS Aspirant
Nov em ber 1 7 , 2 01 3 at 1 1 :1 1 am
Is not the objectiv ity is at stake??
Reply
Keerthi Narayan
Nov em ber 1 7 , 2 01 3 at 1 0:4 4 pm
I dont think the DM should resign. I believ e he should apologise to the person he im personified and to the press and public. He
should realise that being a public serv ant he should do dev elop a liking for anony m ity and do his duties irrespectiv e of the
lim elight he reciev es.
The gov ernm ent should issue a stern warning to the DM that any sim ilar recurrence would result in censure.
A recall is not recom m ended as this is the first occurrence. Ev en a DM is a hum an and to err is hum an. Howev er, he should be
inform ed that im personification of another person is an act highly unm indful of the responsible position he holds. He should be
warned and allowed to continue.
The DM has com m itted an act that seriously dents the trust that public hav e upon him . The public can dem and an apology from
him . If he realises his m istake and apologises, he can be giv en a chance to correct him self. Else, the public can dem and a change
of DM through their political representativ e.
Reply
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2/27/2014

Ethics Case Study 29 | INSIGHTS

Ethics Case Study 29

Share This On:

Ethics Case Study - 8: Decision

Ethics Case Study 29 | INSIGHTS

Ethics Case Study - 2 - Honesty and

Ethics Case Study - 23

Enter your email address

15 responses to Ethics Case Study 29

Pow ered by WordPress.com

Nov em ber 6 , 2 01 3 at 6 :07 pm

Ethics Case Study 29 | INSIGHTS

Ethics Case Study 29 | INSIGHTS

Ethics Case Study 29 | INSIGHTS

Ethics Case Study 29 | INSIGHTS

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