Conflict's Slippery Slope

Courtney Perrett

cp160517@ohio.edu

The internet combined with technological advancements has made it difficult for people to distinguish between what is real and authentic and what is fake. This applies to news content, images, videos and basically everything that appears on the internet. Conflicts of interest are another major ethical concern for both journalists and public relations professionals. A conflict of interest occurs when a person or company has interests that may conflict with one of their obligations. As ethical journalists, this is a problem because it affects our impartiality and our ability to make independent decisions.

This cartoon is satirizing the importance of media ethics.

One of the reasons conflicts of interest are so dangerous and pervasive is because simply the appearance of a conflict can lead the public to distrust the media outlet or believe that they are reporting based on a particular bias. There are many different situations in public relations where there may appear to be a conflict, even if it doesn't manifest itself as an ethical problem. A good example of this could be if a PR professional were asked to run a campaign for a company they know is unethical. In this case, this professional's personal beliefs would conflict with their ability to serve their client. Unsurprisingly, the best way to avoid conflicts of interest is to avoid them completely.

However, it's not always easy to avoid the appearance of a conflict, therefore, it's important that media outlets know how to handle conflicts of interest as and when they occur. First and foremost, a PR firm or media outlet should disclose their conflict of interest to their client or the public. This is one of the most effective ways in making sure the company maintains their transparency and the client or public's trust in them. Another great way to handle a conflict is by referring back to the company's code of ethics. Most companies have codes of ethics that make it easy to them to make ethical decisions and keep their employees accountable for their actions.

A good example of the slippery slope that can result from conflicts of interest in the media is the scandal and pervasive unethical culture within Rupert Murdoch's News Corps. The Sun, a U.K. based tabloid, was accused of bribing government officials and the police for information. Once money becomes part of the interaction between journalists and their sources, this relationship will never be the same again. Part of The Sun's problematic culture was that their editors were so used to bribing non-officials for information that when it came to interviewing public officials for information that was high in demand, they were more than happy to pay for a good tip.

As Murdoch's news outlets tended to ignore the ethics of journalism, it came as no surprise that they were some of the first organizations to encounter some of the repercussions that occur as a result of public distrust. However, it is in cases like this that journalists should learn from the mistakes of their predecessors and understand that there has never been a time that requires news outlets to be more truthful and transparent with their reporting than right now.