Communication ethics is a sub-branch of moral philosophy pertaining to the understanding of manifestations of communicative interaction.[1]
Every human interaction involves communication and ethics, whether implicitly or explicitly. Intentional and unintentional ethical dilemmas arise frequently in daily life. Rhetoric, media studies, intercultural/international communication, relational and organizational communication are all infused with ethical issues.[2][3]
Communication ethics affects enterprises, corporations, and professional entities as well as individuals. A company with unethical communication techniques could damage its reputation and shareholder value.[4][5] At the same time, companies must balance transparency with privacy, confidentiality, and profit.[6][7]
It is related to disciplines such as sociolinguistics, media ethics, and professional ethics.
Historically, communication ethics began with concerns correlated with print media and has advanced towards digital technologies. Critics began assessing the harms of the unregulated press in North America and Europe during the 1890s, which forced creation of principles in the United States during the 1920s.[8] Four major books that emerged from this decade were: Who's Who of journalism luminaries: Nelson Crawford's Ethics of Journalism (1924), Leon Flint's The Conscience of the Newspaper (1925), William Gibbons's Newspaper Ethics (1926), and Albert Henning's Ethics and Practices in Journalism (1932). These authors left a legacy on the meaning behind communication ethics and confronted in their books issues with ethics. Perpetual issues have always been with privacy and confidentiality concerns and have progressively been debated with the freedom of speech.
Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics aside, which is somehow always relevant, formal considerations on the ethics of communications arose from the early codes of journalistic conduct. The Journalist's Creed written by Walter Williams in 1914 is a good example; he also wrote Newspaper Ethics in 1926.
A small list of contemporary thinkers of media ethics, which, since its formalisation in the 1980s, has been an almost synonymous field, can be found on the corresponding page.
Also, Hans-Georg Gadamer's book Truth and Method has become an authoritative work in the field spawning several prominent ethics theories, and guidelines. The most profound of these is the formulation of the dialogic coordinates, a standard set of prerequisite communication elements necessary for inciting dialogue. Adhering to Gadamer's theories regarding bias, communicators can better initiate dialogic transaction, allowing biases to merge and promote mutual understanding and learning.[9]
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Main article: Fake news |
Ethical communication is crucial due to its emphasis on the responsibility of people to keep society civil. With the concern of fake news becoming more prevalent in today's society, the importance of ethical communication has been significant. Fake news has always been overall. It has been shown on different news channels such as radio stations. "Now that online platforms, particularly social media, are becoming the main sources of news for a growing number of individuals, misinformation seems to have found a new channel."[10] Due to the rise of social media,[11] misinformation is easier to put out in the world.[10][12]
The National Communication Association was founded in 1914 by 17 speech teachers who left the National Council of Teachers of English. There are now thousands of scholars around the world in NCA dedicated to the study of teaching communication. They believe unethical communication can threaten society and counter civility in everyday conversations. NCA endorses honest communication and focuses on educating others through effective dialogue, discussion, and debate.[13]
The obligation for truth is not a legal matter, as no single code of ethics applies to everyone. An example of a code is The 1996 SPJ Code, which is framed around the four principles: to seek truth, to minimize harm, to remain independent, and not to hold themselves accountable.[14] These principles reflect today's challenges in the growing internet presence.
A Code of Professional Ethics for the Communication Scholar/Teacher, adopted in November 1999, has the behavior guidelines of integrity, fairness, professional and social responsibility, equality of opportunity, confidentiality, honesty, openness, respect for self and others, freedom, and safety.[15] These codes are set as disciplinary acts to guide people in professions that deal with communication practices.