Why Ethics in Media are Needed

Dominic Bush

db583018@ohio.edu

Everyone has morals

In the realm of public relations and advertising, people are different, and therefore you can never please everyone. However; a code of ethics has been developed for professionals in the field of PR to maintain proficient work and to do it morally right. This code of ethics is always changing with the time, but the core values remain the same. This code, however, is seeing a surge in negligence towards morally right PR and Advertising, especially with the ever-rising fame of social media.

According to the Institute for Advertising Ethics, the first core principle of any good ethical public relation is the truth. For any media, advertisement, or PR campaign truth is above all else. Theoretically, this should not be an issue. 

If you are reporting news it is expected to be truthful information. If you are advertising the ad must be truthful about the product or service's performance and price. This core principle of truth is horribly overlooked in the present time. 

According to statisica.com, only 26% of all media consumers said that they are confident in their ability to discern fake news from truthful news. 

We are currently in a society in which only a quarter of people can tell what is true and what is not. This is clearly due to the lack of consistency from news and media regarding the truthfulness of their work. Fake news is becoming more prevalent, harder to fact check, and more monopolized than ever, which is causing distrust from the American people.

Picture source: Gallup 

Another problem currently in American PR is advertising. Advertising has taken over information and entertainment. Companies use different variants of media to get their product or service out to the public, but these ads are often mistaken for entertainment or information which can mislead a consumer.

 

According to the Institute of Advertising Ethics, the third principle of ethical advertising is not to mislead consumers by disguising advertisements as news or entertainment; and to clearly distinguish what is advertisement and what is not.

    

This problem with advertisements has especially come into play with the surge of social media influencers and entertainment television. An example of this is false advertisements. 

Volkswagen was sued by the Federal Trade Commission for false advertisement. This occurred when VW claimed their new diesel vehicles were "clean", or that they did much less to harm the environment than normal diesel vehicles. This was found to be false as VW had cheated on their vehicle's emissions tests for seven years up until their announcement. 

Although the truth was finally shed on the situation, this false advertisement from VW deceived over 550,000 people who bought their "cleaner" diesel vehicles. False advertisements can cause confusion and will eventually lead to consumer loss as a result.

Another example of the problem with modern advertisements is the fact that people use entertainment to draw viewers in when they are really just watching an ad.

This comes into play especially in the world of social media. Influencers on TikTok and Instagram will make posts that seem like their normal content, but the main focus of the post is to promote a business or product. This is misleading to consumers who see these celebrities and influencers and want what they have.

    

The problem is the fact that there is no way to know if the person is getting paid to say what they're saying, or if it is a genuine opinion on the good or service. Word of mouth goes a long way, and the more sincere an ad sounds, the more likely it will sell.

    All in all, morals and ethics in media are important to keeping consumers of media safe. By misleading people in terms of news, advertisement, entertainment, or information, the industry is teaching the public to not trust the media, and as a result, media will be made worse. To stop the chain of events comes down to individual integrity and company transparency.