The Movie I chose to reflect on is Spotlight, which follows a group of journalist as they try to prove the cover up of sexual abuse involving the Catholic Church and their priest. The spotlight team from the Boston Globe was faced with multiple ethical issues, however, I feel SPJ Code of Ethics in section seek truth and report it stating, “Recognize a special obligation to serve as watchdogs over public affairs and government. Seek to ensure that the public’s business is conducted in the open, and that public records are open to all.” is the most prevalent throughout the movie. The team works effortlessly in trying to bring the scandal to light by finding reliable witnesses, as well as getting legal documents unsealed which ended up proving
Within this scenario, Mark is a pre-service teacher that aspires to make an impact on his students’ lives. On this note, Mark builds a connection with a reclusive student named Laurel. This sparks controversy amongst the school community as Laurel insists that Mark is her ‘friend’ and begins to share inappropriate information with him. With good intentions, Mark does not want to diminish Laurel’s newfound confidence. Conversely, Mark is unsure of his professional responsibilities in this situation.
Organizations have put a high priority on ethics, which can be hard to balance in the highly competitive business world. But with the advancements in technology and social media, consumers are highly aware of how an organization behaves – and this information travels the world quickly. There is little
With the abuse of power by President Nixon well documented in the following decades, we can see that the creation of a Code of Ethics in many public organizations to uphold public values and to hold the public officials accountable is valuable, though not without issue. (Grant 2014, Pg. 1-2) Code of Ethics is a good guideline for people to follow, yet at the same time, creating the ability to be twisted and interpreted to fit with one’s narrative. There are many people who have held public office positions, yet they commit unethical actions, President Nixon included, and have gotten away with it. With the notification of a scandal going viral, gives way for people to be more creative in committing their
There are several areas to the CRCC code of ethics that I can see as weaknesses or potential concerns. To answer this questions, I decided to look at the code of ethics as a whole. First, the code presents ethical considerations one at a time which to a reader, makes them seem very independent from one another. As we know that a lot of times, ethical issues involve more than just one issue. For example, you may be dealing with informed consent along with client welfare. When presenting one issue at a time, readers read it as such, and memorize it as such when reality may be constant overlapping issues which have many possible ethical considerations. Secondly, depending on how black and white a person views issues, the professional may believe
The case study that was analyzed is, “Unauthorized Disclosure: Hewlett-Packard’s secret Surveillance of Directors and Journalists,” by Anne T. Lawrence, Randal D. Harris, and Sally Baack. The ethical issues presented through the case deal with Hewlett-Packard Company (HP). HP is a major international company in the computer and technology market. The company describes itself as a “technology solutions provider to consumers, business and institutions globally.” Their credo is called “HP way”, which focuses on points such as trust and respect for individuals, high level of achievement and contribution, business conduct with uncompromising integrity, objectives through teamwork, and encouragement of flexibility and innovation (Newman). The problems faced by HP’s board of directors were a lack of accountability with HP’s credo. If the “HP way” was followed by them, these ethical issues would be avoided. It also promotes a bad example by the high-level of management of this globally powerful organization.
(Panza & Potthast, n.d.) Ethics is very important to a company’s success. Ethical behavior can bring benefits to a business. They can attract customers, which can lead to a boost in sales and profits. It can attract the right employees and increase productivity. It can also attract investors and keep the company’s share price high. Unethical behavior on the other hand can damage a company’s reputation and make it less appealing to stakeholders. It could also result in lower profits.
The Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics strives to secure the “free exchange of information”. It must be fair, accurate and thorough and also states that integrity is a key factor in being an ethical journalist. The Society asserts four main principles as the foundations to all ethical journalism and promotes their use in practice by all people in all media. The first code is to “Seek Truth and Report It.” It states that all ethical
Every organization also has a profession responsibility to conduct business honestly and ethically. Our readings reported, “Experts estimated that U.S. companies lose about $600 billion a year from unethical and criminal behavior” Kinicki and Kreitner (2009). The organization could avoid having ethical issues by meeting the
It is only during moral lapses and corporate scandals that interest groups and the broader public ask themselves the fundamental ethical questions, who are the managers of the organization and were they acting with the ethical guidelines. For a long time, the issue of ethics was largely ignored, with organizations focusing on profit maximization. However, this has changed, and much attention is now focused on ethics management by researchers and leaders. The issue of ethics has arisen at a time when public trust on corporate governance is low, and the legitimacy of leadership is being questioned. Leaders are expected to be the source of moral development and ethical guidance to their employees.
‘Ethics must begin at the top of an organization. It is a leadership issue and the Chief executive must set the example’ –Former Chief Justice Edward Hennessey, Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (3).
Ethics are vitally important in the field of Public Relations. PR practitioners are often called upon to serve as the “leader of ethics” for their company, organization or on behalf of their client.
Ethical is a word used to describe moral principles. While watching the movie Erin Brockovich, I was compelled by the unethical issues that presented themselves. These incidents were created by an decision that proved to be immoral. The movie displays several incidents in which unethical behavior is presented. While reading this paper, several unethical situations will be reviewed. Although Erin Brockovich intentions may have been for the greater good, several of the methods she used to gain information were immoral. She discovers the shocking secrets of Pacific Gas & Electric Company.
Ethics and moral obligations are issues we all encounter at one time or another. In the professional setting, all people should act in a manner that would uphold the good of society. To be ethical, one has to determine their obligations, moral ideas, and moral philosophy (Boatright, p. 19, 2009). The case analysis involving Jacob Franklin was a perfect example of how an individual can face the dilemma of doing what is right or wrong. Businesses have their own code of ethics, and the employees within the business have to determine whether or not they will follow the company’s code of conduct. I will discuss several ethical issues in the case analysis including; failure to report information, remaining silent regarding faulty equipment,
There are many ethical issues in the movie Erin Brockovich. This movie is about a mother of three who uncovers a water poisoning case by Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) in southern California. Erin has the responsibility to feed and educate her three children and she has a general distrust of people. She begins by forcing her lawyer Ed Masry to give her a secretarial job after he failed to get her a settlement from an auto accident.
A prime example of a documentary that breaks away from the shackles of the ethic code is Marjoe. Marjoe is a documentary that both explores and exposes the life of Marjoe Gortner, a child evangelist preacher before the phenomenon of televangelism. The documentary follows Marjoe as he preaches at evangelistic meetings and as the movie goes on we found out why Marjoe wants to expose the evangelist groups. During the film, Marjoe is telling the crew how to disguise themselves and talk when at the events, for them not to be found out, hiding the true objective of the documentary and having their plans ruined. Marjoe is a good example of trust being broken and the violation of the documentary’s subjects, as from the very beginning the audience learn that the church goers are not being told the truth about why the camera crew are there. However, while this film exposes these evangelist groups for the benefit of Marjoe’s life, who gave these filmmakers the right to expose these church goers who were unaware of the camera crew’s real objectives and again begs the question of if the filmmakers were breaking ethical codes to make this documentary? “The 1972 documentary Marjoe is an eye-opening expose of a revivalist racket. Marjoe exposes speaking in tongues and faith healing, and reveals the carny tricks he used, such as making a blood-red cross appear on his forehead using sweat-activated ink.”