Communication ethics are complex because we live in a postmodern world, an era of disagreement where there is no common understanding of “good”. There is no single, universal right or wrong. We found that the “good” is different for each person or group of people. This was mind-opening for me, which I loved!
Communication ethics involves an encounter. It is a process. And in an ideal world, it begins with reflection. First is to understand ourselves and what “good” we are protecting or promoting and why. Because every message is biased, after all, we construct it, it is important to recognize that our content is value-laden and frames information. We need to consider factors that impact communication ethics: civility, respect and concern for the other, attentiveness to self, other and the historic moment, culture, gender, and care and responsiveness. In ethical communication, a space open for listening needs to be created if any common ground is to be found. A commitment to learning, to appreciate “common” senses different from our own can open up possibilities and lead to potential understanding and momentary compromise or resolution.
We read Les Miserables by Victor Hugo which provided a wealth of examples of communication ethics. Characters illustrated that being true to their own “good”, which made total “common” sense to them, could create terrible things for others who were pursuing their own separate and different “good”. Without communication, without a process for listening and understanding another’s perspective, bad things were done in the name of good. We see that play out today in the news, between friends, and in movies.
I analyzed two movies, The Constant Gardener (2005) and Good Night, and Good Luck (2005) from a communications ethics perspective. Viewing a movie from an ethical communications standpoint was a new lens for me, and one which I have found I call on as I watch other movies. I enjoyed the use of literature and movies as a way of applying communication ethics and taking the abstract and theoretical and moving it to the practical - it was a great learning tool!
The approach to ethics in communication has reinforced my thinking about the ambiguity we live with in most facets of our life today. This course, more than any other, made me understand post modernism and the theory of social constructionism. Just as there is no "right" or "wrong" in communication ethics, there is no absolute with anything in our world today. These premises affect how I view the world, and make me more willing to listen to others, more open to different points of view, more able to see multiple perspectives. The challenge is to be able to act in the historic moment in spite of the overabundance of perspectives and choices, and to recognize that what works today may differ tomorrow. Communication with regard and adaptation to/with others as I pursue my personal values with integrity - in the end that's where I wind up in my reflection on communication ethics.
The course syllabus: Ethics Syllabus
Reflections: A look at the "good" using the book Les Miserables to illustrate conflicting goods and ethical communication issues Ethics Reflection #1. Next, a paper on narrative, reflection and action as it pertains to ethical communications with illustrations from Les Miserables and other sources Ethics Reflection #2. A reflection on Truth and the various approaches to communications ethics Ethics Reflection #3. A paper on communication ethics literacy using The Constant Gardener film to highlight differing versions of "good" Ethics Reflection #4. A paper on the Mideast Peace Talks to illustration dialogic ethics. Attempts at mediated dialog between the Israelis and the Palestinians are hampered by many of the issues identified in our chapter Ethics Reflection #5. A reflection on communication ethics explored using dimension of public and private space, the need for reflection and the state of discourse as exemplified with reality TV shows today Ethics Reflection #6. A paper on interpersonal communication ethics informed with my personal experience with a childhood friend - the attentive concern for the relationships between persons Ethics Reflection #7. A reflection on intercultural communication ethics looking at the difference and similarity of cultural content and its influence using an experience I had with an international visitor, Artur, at the US National Kayak Polo Championships Ethics Reflection #8/9.
My ethics paper was an analysis of the movie Good Night and Good Luck (2006) from a communications ethics perspective "Good Night, and Good Luck" ethics paper .
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