Emmanuel Inyanza

 Media Ethics Name: Institution Affiliated: Date: Question 1; Lying and the Media Lying is the act of saying or speaking false information to unsuspecting individuals. Lying is considered a vice by society. There is also a biblical law that prohibits lying, a vice listed among the ten commandments of God. However, modern-day society experiences numerous episodes of lying daily. A lot of people tell lies, journalists, politicians, lawyers, among others. From a situational point of view, lying can be considered both a good and a bad thing. In my opinion, lying is not always a bad thing. However, as a media personality, I would not lie for a story. There are well-established laws and codes of conduct which journalists are called to adhere to (Simons, 2017). The code of conduct should always be upheld by all employees affiliated to any given profession. No code of conduct permits individuals to provide false information. Integrity is a virtue that should be practiced by every individual regardless of the circumstances. Thus, as a media person, I would not contravene any ethical regulation, including lying for a story. The media is a sensitive profession since it is responsible for information dissemination to the general public. The media has been tasked with providing information to the public; people read and believe what is in the news (Simons, 2017). I would not imagine giving false and misleading information to the public, who innocently rely on the information in media to get updated. Question 3; Law and Ethics The law as a set of rules and regulations that govern and control how people relate with each other and with the global environment. On the other hand, ethics or code of conduct is a set of rules and regulations, which may not necessarily be written down, that help in determining what is morally right or wrong. Our daily decision-making is controlled by both laws and ethics (Tsahuridu, 2019). However, compared to ethics, the law has a more powerful effect on people. Laws are there to be followed; it is like they are imposed on people. One has to obey rules; there is no compromise to it. Individuals are not forced to do what is morally right; they have the power to choose (Tsahuridu, 2019). For instance, euthanasia provides a clear explanation of why laws are more potent than euthanasia. Considering the result, euthanasia is killing. However, from a medical point of view, it is a practice that can be regarded as ethical, given prevailing patient situations and circumstances. However, in a case where subject A takes someone's life, outside of the medical context, the law applies; subject A will be referred to as a murderer and will face murder charges. This shows how the law is more powerful than ethics. Laws change from one jurisdiction to another; they are not universally uniform. Ethics have a global nature; they are not dictated by boundaries (Tsahuridu, 2019). Take the case of traffic rules; they change from county to country. Some countries keep right while others keep left. Once this is contradicted, one is arrested. However, whether one keeps left or right, ethics do not dictate. Question 2; Advertising and Ethics Advertising is the process through which businesses and organizations communicate their services and products to the general public, the consumers. Advertising can be done in various ways, some of which include print media, televisions, radio, as well as social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. While advertising provides important communication to consumers, there are issues surrounding some of the advertising techniques. There are controversies in the field of advertising which bring the issue of ethics. Advertising is not ethical. Individual privacy is something that should be upheld and respected, not only by human beings but also by organizations. The right to privacy is a fundamental human right. However, advertising, in most cases, contravenes this law. Consumers complain of receiving annoying broadcast messages on their phones and emails (Trisha, 2014). Additionally, even social media sites such as Facebook have become channels through which adverts reach consumers. Most communication companies have been accused of giving out client contacts (emails and phone numbers mostly) to advertising companies (Trisha, 2014). These companies then send out broadcast messages and emails without consumer consent. This is not ethical. Some consumers find this to be annoying. Annoying pop-up videos in the form of advertising is also another unethical issue. A lot of You Tube users complain of several pop up adverts which come up while they watch videos (Antonelli, 2017). On various occasions, when one is watching videos on YouTube, there are several pauses in the video due to different adverts popping up. For instance, an individual can end up spending close to five minutes to watch a two-minute video. The three minutes different is as a result of pop up videos. It should be noted that the consumer pays for the data used to load videos; the adverts do not consider this. While the consumer incurs such data losses, both the media platform and the advertising company gain profits. The advertising company gets to communicate its product while the advertising media gets money from the advert. This is not ethical. Consumers have got the right to choose what to watch and how to watch it without interruptions from pop up videos in the name of advertisements. Advertising should be aimed at communicating the right content, at the right time, taking care not to annoy the public (Antonelli, 2017). The issue of advertising should take into consideration the content to be advertised and when to promote it. Moreover, how the content is created should follow ethical guidelines. In some instances, this is usually not the case. When it comes to advertising, care should be taken for the advert not to be seen offensive to certain audiences (raisingchildren.net.au, 2019). It should be noted that parents are not under any obligation to determine the time which children spend on visual media such as televisions and mobile phones. Moreover, children get quick and uncontrolled access to social media sites where the adverts are plenty. Thus the children can quickly get access to adult-rated adverts easily. Such kind of advertising is not ethical. In situations where children get unlimited access to social media sites and other online sites, where adverts are not well controlled, they can easily access such kind of prohibited content. This is a question of accountability, more on the advertising side than the consumer side. References Antonelli, P. (2017, September 14). States of Design 04: Critical Design. Retrieved from https://www.domusweb.it/en/design/2011/08/31/states-of-design-04-critical-design.html Raisingchildren.net.au (2019). Advertising: how it influences children and teenagers. Retrieved from https://raisingchildren.net.au/toddlers/play-learning/screen-time-media/advertising-children Simons, M. (2017, April 15). Journalism faces a crisis worldwide – we might be entering a new dark age | Margaret Simons. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/apr/15/journalism-faces-a-crisis-worldwide-we-might-be-entering-a-new-dark-age Trisha. (2014, November 10). How to Disable Cell Broadcast Messages in Android. Retrieved from https://www.trishtech.com/2014/11/disable-cell-broadcast-messages-in-android/ Tsahuridu, E. (2019). Why ethics and law are not the same thing. Retrieved from https://www.intheblack.com/articles/2015/04/01/why-ethics-and-law-are-not-the-same-thing