The Process behind Professionalism: An Interview on Media Ethics
In this day and age of social media, misinformation runs rampant. This interview features Letisha Graham, a current communications specialist at Carestream Dental Inc., who willing pulls back the veil of ethics in the media. She sites her emergence in the field, her mentor Dean Graves, and learning the importance of mass media all as contributors to her professional success. This is how she gained the position she is in today. Graham’s responses and experiences in the communications industry reflect multiple ethical theories and codes: virtue ethics, ethics of care, duty-based ethics and consequential ethics.
Looking back through her career, in her first job after college she was fortunate enough to work for a leading graphic design company in the field. This is where she met Dean Graves, a former colleague and eventual mentor. His frequent mantras regarding marketing communication still ring in Graham’s head even today: “You are never too busy to put yourself in someone else’s position.” Graham explains that his frequent words of encouragement were often applicable to both marketing communications and personal life. This professional outlook resembles virtue ethics of Greek philosophers like Aristotle and Plato. Aristotle’s “Golden Mean” relates to Graves’ teachings through their paralleled understanding that moral maturity would naturally seek the action that furthers moral character, translating into success. Ethics of care are also exhibited through Graves’ encouragement of professional empathy for his peers, clients, and consumers. Graves apparently strived to become the kind of leader people would follow even though he wasn’t in a leadership role. Graham sites Dean Graves’ wholehearted commitment to the industry as an essential characteristic of successful employees and an inspiration to all around him.
Moving forward in her career, Graham then worked at Pricewaterhouse (now known as PricewaterhouseCoopers or PwC). Graham states, “As a marketer in business communication, you are primarily enlisted to promote things.” She explains it as a typical marketing practice to just take employer or clients’ word on the ethical side of whatever is asking to be promoted. Promoting this product becomes more about advertisement competition than the product, itself, according to Graham. She elaborates further, “When broken down to brass tacks, mass media is essentially just an evolved form of human communication. It’s umbrella of classifications that include television, radio, advertising, movies, the internet, newspapers, etc. Mass media is definitely a force to be reckoned with, and a major aspect of modern society as it shapes public perception and opinion. Its presence has, arguably, even become saturated in the today’s world, making it an increasingly competitive field.” This required professionally blind dedication to the task at hand resembles duty-based ethics through its focus on the product and its competitive advertisement rather than the outcome associated with consumption of said product. However, Graham mentions that as she progressed in the field of communications, she development a moral obligation more closely associated with consequential ethics than duty-based ethics.
Keeping media’s effect on the world in mind, it is impossible to ignore the relationship between mass media and culture. Mass media is a significant force in modern culture as supported by Graham’s testimony. In essence, the maturing of media management and commercial media has been propelled by the fundamental framework of how to examine media from various business perspectives. It focuses on topics such as convergence, audience demands of new media, and the evolution of media markets. Graham explains how consequential ethics are essential in combination with these professional aspirations. Graham says, “As companies grow and have increased influence on all of our lives through the advancements of mass media, media professionals must, now more than ever, hold themselves accountable to the outcome of society’s consumption of our content.” This declaration of responsibility for the public’s perception resembles consequential ethics in practice.
The current level of media saturation has not always existed. Not only has availability increased, but programming is increasingly diverse with shows aimed to please all ages, incomes, backgrounds, and attitudes. This widespread availability and exposure make media increasingly present role in local business, global markets, and international politics plays a powerful part in the social patterns of its citizens. Graham sites this as the reason for her ever-evolving inclusion of ethics in her work. Graham explains, “The human ambition to compete for wealth, power, and influence are limitless.” Therefore, the older media vehicles of propaganda and misinformation have remained relevant, standing as the primary reasons for ethical content to prevail. The ethical standards set by society are intended for all. Ethics are designed around the common moral principles that resemble the public good, reflecting what’s right and wrong. If media professionals and public relations professionals ignored these values, it is Graham’s belief that society would eventually reflect these unethical choices. According to Graham, without the framework of a media ethics system, audience members will make uninformed decisions. This is why ethics in the media are so essential.
Speaking with a media professional was extremely enlightening. The real-world effects of media are interesting to consider and hear from first-hand. The social responsibility associated with the professional tasks of the media industry are complex. The ambitions of the real world are combatted through ethical theories and codes used throughout media. Graham helps to point out the consequences of allowing ethical communications and media to go astray. This further exemplifies the importance of ethics in media.
