Media Ethics - My View and Experience

Ethics is not only important in media and business but also in all walks of life. Media is an extension of our lives. Whether it is a story we read, a product we see for the first time, a company's message, or the sale of a product, ethics will always be involved in the process. It is up to the creator or the distributor to decide if they are going about it with the proper ethical manner.

I'm still not positive of the profession in which I plan to enter, however, for the sake of this blog I'll use my upcoming internship and prior sales experience to provide my ethical approach. I've worked in sales for two years and my internship will be within the integrated media department at NBCU. Both positions have a sales and marketing components to them. Both sales and marketing have an interesting line between profit and ethics. The goal is to make the sale, increase profit and successfully market the brand. As a commission sales consultant my livelihood depended on getting the sales anyway possible. Ethics were not always stressed. However, I have trouble blatantly taking advantage of someone and providing false information in order to make the sale. I had to learn ways to combat adversity and promote the product in which ever way appealed to the consumer. If a client had an issue with a particular component of the product, rather than misleading them, I would empathize and then shift to another component that may help them look past what they didn't like and focus on another feature that could help. "A dialogic ethic does not ensure the "right" answer; it works to assist in meeting what­ ever diversity is before us, whether we like it or not." (Arnett)

Sales is mostly connected to the Arnett's Dialogic Communication Ethic. A good salesmen knows how to develop dialogue. Arnett says "A dialogic communication ethic acknowledges multiple goods that give rise to and emerge in ongoing conversations, protecting and promoting the good of learning." Learning is important, if you can learn your client you can better fit them to your product. Arnett goes on to say "A dialogic ethic is the protector and the promoter of the emergent, the unexpected, and the unforeseen-it is the communicative home of hope for an idea, a viewpoint, or an action that has not yet been apparent." When trying to connect with someone to make a sale or market a product pulling out the unknown viewpoint, experience, idea, or action can be critical in connecting the product to your client.

When it comes to me and my tools for ethical decision making, I believe I posses inherent qualities that will help me avoid making any major mistakes. First of all I consider my self a considerate person and don't like the feeling of taking advantage of someone. In sales it is almost your job to take advantage of someone but I never made anyone do anything they hadn't already given a good amount of thought to already. Secondly I am selfless individual. I've never been one looking to outshine others, and I think that's important when it comes to ethics. I don't think I would risk being unethical and putting out information that could be harmful to people just for the sake of my career. I believe in karma and anything that I feel would be wrong or harmful to someone is hard for me to execute. Thirdly I am a thorough thinker. Rarely do things go by me without me considering the consequences. I have been tempted to put edgy statuses on my social media however, I almost always refrain due to thought of what may come from it now or in the future.

Throughout my course work and readings I have learned skillful ways to communicate with clients in many different settings. So far from the readings in this class I have learned the many different theories based on how to handle and resolve dilemmas. I was unaware of all the different theories that are out there and I was glad to see that I use a mix of many in my own natural decision making. Also, the Plaisance readings offered the code of ethics for PR, Advertising, and Marketing, all of which I had never seen before and found quite interesting. None of the codes were very surprising to me because in most cases things should be handled with the correct amount of considerate thought. What I wonder is how often the professionals in these fields reference and abide by the codes, and how they find ways around them. I will take the information and theories that we will learn during this course and consider which may be the correct process when I come across a dilemma in the future. Due to my background, what I would like to see discussed in class and in the readings during this course would be ethical decision making on the business side of media.