KOM4361 Communication Ethics

EXERCISE 1: HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY, DEFINITION

a.) Enlisted below are three ethical principles that are being practiced by
contemporary media practitioners. Briefly define, elaborate, and provide
example for each of them:
i.) Absolutist
ii.) Antinomian
iii.) Situationist
1.0 INTRODUCTION
The media is best defined by the roles they play in society. They
educate, inform and entertain through news, features and analysis in the
press. Media also act as a bridge between the state and public. It plays a role
of informer, motivator or leader for healthy democracy at all levels. In
democracies, the media is fundamental to political life. It provides facts to
allow the public to be better informed about the issues that matter to all. It
provides criticism and debate to ensure that that information is tested and
examined from all points of view.
Ethics are the inner superintendent decent moralities, ideals and
opinions that people use to analyse or interpret a situation and then decide
what is the right way to behave. Media is free to discharge their duties in the
society but media needs to follow ethics in collecting and disseminating the
news by ensuring objectivity and fairness in reporting of information to society.

Media ethics is concerned with how a moral media person should

behave. The media ethics are values like trustworthiness, respect,
responsibility, fairness, truth and self-restraint to be practiced by the media
people voluntarily, to preserve and promote the trust of the people and to
maintain their own credibility and not betray the faith and confidence of the
people.

Professional journalistic practice or following rules of what is true or what

is not to the letter, no matter the situation. This is often embraced by journalists
with a stronger religious and moral consciousness. Ethics can be concisely
defined as the reasoning behind human action and morals. Whilst morals refer
to the practical value choices a person makes, ethics refer to the principles
behind them. The ethics of journalism have many aspects including legal,
instructional and professional.

Let us look at three ethical principles that are being practiced by

contemporary media practitioners namely absolutist, antinomian and
situationist.
1.1 Absolutist
Absolutism or the Age of Absolutism (from c.1610 - c.1789) is a
historiographical term used to describe a form of monarchical power that
is unrestrained by all other institutions, such as churches, legislatures, or
social elites.

What is then absolutist theory of ethics? Ethical absolutism is the

concept that ethical rules are the same everywhere. Moral absolutism is
an ethical view that some actions are intrinsically right or wrong.
Stealing, for instance, might be considered to be always immoral, even if
done for the well-being of others (example: stealing food to feed a
starving family), and even if it does in the end promote such a good.

Research on this principle began with Ancient Greek philosophers

like Aristotle who wanted to figure out the meaning of virtue. Later, they
were studied by philosophers like John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau,
and Immanuel Kant. It argues that everything is inherently right or
wrong, and no context or outcome can change this.

Absolute principles are unchanging and universal. They are

based on universal truths about the nature of human beings. For
example, murder is wrong because it goes against the natural order of
things. These are also sometimes called normative moral principles, or
those that are generally accepted by society. Another example of ethical
absolutism is the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, from which some of those rights are, everyone has the right to
life, liberty, and security of person. Some examples of absolute moral
principles include are; don't kill, speak the truth, be careful with what you
say and do to others, respect the property of others, treat people in need
or distress as we would want to be treated if our situation were reversed.

1.2 Antinomian
The concept of antinomianism is the opposite of the legalistic
principle. They are those that believe man should not be pinned down or
labelled into any particular way of life in the name of a written code.
 They argue that man is a rational being; he should be guided by his
feelings, instincts, or intuition as he battles with moral or ethical
problems.

Historically in some Christian belief systems, an antinomian is

one who takes the principle of salvation by faith and divine grace to the
point of asserting that the saved are not bound to follow the moral law
contained in the Ten Commandments. Antinomians believe that faith
alone guarantees eternal security in heaven, regardless of one's actions.

In Islam, one of the example is when the

10th century Sufi mystic al-Hallaj was accused of antinomianism
and was executed for shirik for, among other things, his statement ana
al-Ḥaqq, meaning "I am the Truth". As al-Ḥaqq or "the Truth" is one of
the 99 names of Allah, this would imply he was saying: "I am God."

The antinomians are easy going losers that owe no loyalty to any
person or group. The lived their lives the way they deem fit and are
simply unpredictable when it comes to taking ethical decision. Unlike the
absolutists, no one can say with precision that an antinomian will
suppress a story, tell a lie, collect brown envelope without running the
risk of being wrong. This is because the circumstances or situation at the
moment determines what the antinomian does, not existing codes or
adherence to already existing principles of morality. Antinomian ethics is
thus the anti-thesis of legalistic ethics. Also called “against laws ethic
“(Merrill & Lowenstein, 1979), antinomianism is based on a rejection of
all ethical standards and principles, and is therefore a kind of non-ethics.
The antinomians in journalism do not subscribe to any ethics.

1.3 Situationist

Situation ethics is a theory where the situation is taken into

account first, before deciding on the rules of right and wrong. There is no
set of rules, because what might be considered immoral in one situation
could be considered the most moral thing to do in another. It was in the
1960s that American professor Joseph Fletcher created a formal theory
explaining situational ethics. He proposed that the context and
circumstances leading up to an act must be considered before
subjection to absolute moral standards.
Situationism (Bowers, 1973), was the idea that complex human
behaviours are driven by aspects of the situations rather than by any
stable intrinsic characteristics of persons. Since 'circumstances alter
cases', situationism holds that in practice what in some times and places
we call right is in other times and places wrong. For example, lying is
ordinarily not in the best interest of interpersonal communication and
social integrity, but is justifiable nevertheless in certain situations.

In situation ethics, right and wrong depend upon the situation.

There are no universal moral rules or rights - each case is unique and
deserves a unique solution. Situation ethics rejects 'prefabricated
decisions and prescriptive rules'. It teaches that ethical decisions should
follow flexible guidelines rather than absolute rules, and be taken on a
case by case basis. So a person who practices situation ethics
approaches ethical problems with some general moral principles rather
than a rigorous set of ethical laws and is prepared to give up even those
principles if doing so will lead to a greater good.
REFERENCE

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absolutism_(European_history)
2.  "French Absolutism". SUNY Suffolk history department. Retrieved 2023-04-29.
3.  "Antinomianism". Dictionary of the English Language (online ed.). Merriam-
Webster.
4. Puritans and Puritanism in Europe and America.
5. Marie, André (17 September 2013). "Simian Antinomianism". Catholicism.
Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
6. Street, N.L.; Wimberley, A. (2019). On the Frontlines: Exposing Satan's Tactics
to Destroy a Generation. WIPF and Stock Publishers.
7. Weir "Differences Between Bektashism and Islamic Orthodoxy Archived 2005-
07-28 at the Wayback Machine"
8. Merrill & Lowenstein, (1979) Media, Messages, and Men: New Perspectives in
Communication. Longman, 1979 
9. Bowers, K. S. (1973). Situationism in psychology: An analysis and a critique.
Psychological Review, 80(5), 307–336.