Tammy T works in New York City as a communications
manager for an adult beverage company focusing on brand public relations and
influencer entertainment. She was raised with the old adage, “If you don’t have
anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all,” but has found living by it to
be a challenge.” She states that her nine years of experience is “a study in
ethics.” Her company produces products
that have duality consequences joy or “if abused unimaginable sorrow.” A
challenge to reconcile during the temperance movement and progressive 18th
amendment: Prohibition.
The Temperance Movement
I can only imagine the ups and downs of a product
attached to historical controversy. I’m sure the effort of the American Temperance
Society that began in 1826 was under the influence of Kant intoxication. The
founders of the society probably never lived to see their success. They also
never lived to see its damaging consequences on society.
The Prohibition
Her corporation acknowledges the duality of their product
and the right for society to consume. The corporate social responsibility is
advertisements enforced by strict codes. The ethical dilemma she faces is the
morals of the community who oppose workers in this industry and the rational
right of a business. She notes the authors, “Codes by themselves
do not always offer solutions to the dilemmas we face on a day to day basis. It
is where the code ends that our personal ethics must take over.”
The instant decisions she faces
everyday may cost her the time to make the best decision. It is only human that
one working in such an environment would appeal to emotion. And so, she shares
her supervisor’s comment to “practice “stopping time” – focusing less on
‘getting things done’ (fast and in a hurry), but instead paying closer
attention to how I get them done (with insightful consideration)."
The inner emotional life is
complicated. Our own feelings can betray us so with great caution one must
practice: Stop time. It is the Bok's model for decision-making. Check
in with yourself. Question the through
ethical moral principles. And most
importantly keep yourself open to dialogue or multiple views. Most times even
after such insightful evaluation you might arrive at a better logical answer.
The duality in the practice of Stop Time are the times when you’re immediate
gut (or the heart) was right at the start.
Lauren: Blog 2 We All Have Our Secrets
If media experts
wonder why journalists aren’t trusted then obviously they haven’t read the
Boston Globe. Lauren swears to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but
the truth. The case study on the recent capture of long time criminal James “Whitey”
Bulger marks the success of one of FBI’s top ten most wanted fugitives. Journalists Shelley Murphy and Maria Cramer were
on the beat of a Hollywood story. Murphy caught on to the FBI press release of
the stating the new marketing strategy. In the past we would see pictures of fugitives
on shows like America’s Most Wanted. Today this PSA was designed to target the
criminal’s long time girlfriend Catherine Greig.
 |
| Shellly Murphy |
Lauren shares that
“Whitey” was a name everybody knew in Boston. In 1943, Bulger was charged with
larceny and eventually joined a gang. He spent time in juvenile reformatory and
then joined the Air Force. Between 1956-59, he was in prison for armed robbery
and hijacking. He reached criminal
acclaim in 1979 when he succeeded as the head of the Winter Hill Gang. There seems to be various stories, myths, and
sides of “Whitey” that are hard to confirm. But it is certain that while he
worked for the Winter Hill Gang, he was also an FBI informant.
Furthermore the FBI
agent John Connelly partnered with Bulger to exchange secrets between the FBI
and the mob. Connelly was eventually convicted of second-degree murder and
Bulger’s right hand man while in prison wrote a book. Matt Damen and Ben
Affleck are in the process of making it into a movie. Other rumors are Mark
Wahlberg trying to get a meeting with Burgler at the jail. Another twisted fact
is Bulger’s younger brother William was the former President of the Mass. Senate.
He allegedly had been in contact with his brother while in hiding.
 |
| Media Mobster Jennifer Peter |
You could not write a
better script. Shelly Murphy had known this was a hit. She did the research and
reporting even before the launch of FBI’s PSA. As the story started to cool,
Shelly Murphy, Maria Cramer working under media mobster Jennifer Peter released
the name of the tipster.
Lauren points out that
secrets exist for a reason. She faults these Jennifer Peter on the grounds that
consequences were not taken into action.
“A Great deal of thought and discussion went into the decision to name
the tipster……it seemed imperative to give as accurate and full accounting as we
could,” said Peter’s the Globe ‘s deputy managing editor. I think she should take Lauren’s advice on a
Utilitarian approach to disclosure. Publishing the identity of a person who
brought justice to all the families who were hurt by a master criminal is
entitled to their privacy. An editor should be responsible for maintaining her secret
on every level its universal law.
It appears to me that
Lauren uses this example to support her belief that secrets disclosure relies
on its content.
You want the truth?
Fox News: Protect Tipster
Time
For Change January 26 2012
“The Freedom of Information and Privacy
Acts……… information that makes an impact on someone’s personal privacy—may be
withheld.” FBI Protection of Personal Privacy
Fox News: Protect Tipster
Billy Skelos Blog 4
According to Billy, in
a new age, a definition regarding the practice of Public Relations requires a
sort of responsibility to the ever-changing ways of its form. However he states
the old “ vague” definition, “public relations helps an organization and its
public adapt mutually to each other” was relevant pre-internet. The change in
communication technology demands for new meaning with new implications. He
points out that “the main issue here is that the old definition does not fit
the mold of the public relations industry anymore.
Many bloggers in our
group have stated that the definition was outdated. The question here is how do
we redefine a new infantile medium? According to Billy, change requires reason.
He discusses Gerry
Corbett’s article about where public relations was in the past and where it is
headed. His main issue is the lack of privacy on the Internet. Billy addresses Corbett report that the “PRSA
and the FTC are monitoring various public relations practices.” This statement is problematic because it is
still “vague”. Billy takes an Utilitarian approach with his redefinition: “Public
relations should be defined as managing the stream of ever changing information
between the public and it’s organizations, while maintaining relevance to the
society in an ethical manner.”
This is approach would
require public relations professionals to acknowledge the common sense in
practice. I am not sure why PRSA is
having such a hard time defining a code. Do they know Wikipedia?
“An ethical code is adopted by an organization
in an attempt to assist those in the organization called upon to make a
decision (usually most, if not all) understand the difference between 'right'
and 'wrong' and to apply this understanding to their decision.” (wikipedia/ethic code).
This could help: Defining
and Developing an Effective Code of Conduct 2007.
Corporate social
responsibility is being adopted by the emerging changes of Internet
transparency. Whether they do it for profit or not, it is still serving the
community as Tammy freely stated about her company. Public relations should at
bare minimum identify the transformation of a society. A code has a right to
evolve within the structure of the public communication.
Melissa’s Blog
In her blog Melissa
shares her framework of ethical decision-making by first defining ethics is a
set of moral principles. She asserts that ethics cannot be based on one’s own
feeling. If desire to action was the basis of approaching a public dilemma then
individual feeling may distort the ethical set of moral principles. She follows
by distinguishing that laws are not ethics but a rule of what one can or can
do. Therefore she believes that “being ‘ethical’ is not the same as following
the law”. Neither law nor feelings may be required for the principle of moral
obligation to be honest and compassionate. This ethic framework is why Melissa
believes everyone deserves to know what is going on in society.
By citing an article
from the US News (Why
Classified Secrets Should be Kept from the Public), she argues against
Gabriel Scheonfeld’s discussion on his latest book titled,” Necessary Secrets; National Security, the Media and the Rule of
Law. Schoenfeld argues why the
public is better off not knowing what happens. He stated, “The public has a
right, through electing government, to have some information kept from them and
from our enemies.” But Melissa opposes that his statement violates her right to
know. Decisions made today will impact her future
She proceeds by
referring to an article by Robert Novak column July 14, 2003,
where Novack, accidently spilled the identity of CIO covert agent Valerie Plame
as Valerie E. Wilson. He disclosed the organization of the cover up name but
was never charged. He was protect by the legal for Novack did not know Valerie
Plame was the covert agent. The whistleblower was eventually traced back to
former Vice-President advisor “Scooter” Libby who also leaked it to members of
the press including NY Times Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist Judith
Miller.
In 2005, Miller was jailed for 85 days
for refusing to disclose her source in the government probe. She was schedule
to receive the First Amendment Award given by the Society of Professional
Journalists at their convention on Oct. 2005.
Miller’s ethical
principle relied on what is legally known as the “Reporters' privilege.” In the
United States, a reporter's protection under constitutional or statutory law,
from being compelled to testify about confidential information or sources. It
may be described in the US as the qualified (limited) First Amendment right
many jurisdictions by statutory law or judicial decision have given to
journalists in protecting their confidential sources from discovery. The
protection of journalist’s sources is also known as Shield Laws. I believe NY
State does honor this act.
Melissa’s Pluralistic
views of disclosure depend on the potential harmful consequences to the public,
a person or business. With known negative knowledge it makes it difficult to remain
a secret’s secret.
Kimmee
Kimmee’s blog deals
with the current dilemma in which our country treats our amateur athletes. Her
blog is a auto-biographical account regarding the revocation of her college
scholarship due to a sport injury. She
found herself divided between exposing a secret and balancing the
consequences. A phenomenon that is just
reaching the surface with NCAA’s lack of social responsibility.
“The United States of America
is the greatest nation on planet Earth. However, as long as our nation remains,
there are three groups that you can always expect to be corrupt—Our
politicians, Wall Street, and the NCAA. In the last few years, the NCAA has
gone from questionable to laughable” (Bleach
Report).
Kimmee discloses how
her scholarship became an issue after she was injured. She admits a slight lack
of trust on behalf of 2 coaches. And in the end she learned it was just a
matter of lies.
And lies are what NCAA
‘s criticisms are centered. If you go their website it appears as if they are
the scientist of amateur athletics.
Current media would disagree with many of their practices. Not too
mention the stress of the student/athlete and maintaining complete control
without any guarantees. The have a been
accused of low scholarship and unfair contractual agreements. They require a
four-year commitment but the university is only committed to one. The NCAA
bylaws seem to compromise the amateur’s talent by restriction of professional
contracts. Not only are student/athletes
being short-changed, they are restricted to sell their any team brand product
they own. The NCAA feels it is fair that they sell the talent athlete
brand. Here is there mission statement:
The NCAA
enforcement program strives to maintain a level playing field for the more than
400,000 student-athletes. Commitment to fair play is a bedrock principle
of the NCAA. The NCAA upholds that
principle by enforcing membership-created rules that ensure equitable competition
and protect the wellbeing of student-athletes at all member institutions. The
enforcement program is dedicated to creating positive student-athlete
experiences by preserving the integrity
of the enterprise. The mission of the NCAA enforcement program is to reduce
violations of NCAA legislation and impose appropriate penalties if violations
occur. The program is committed to the fairness of procedures and to the timely
and equitable resolution of infractions cases.
Kimmee did not share her secret. She not only took
into consideration her reputation but she understood the impact on her team
members. An element of sports is to foster the idea of community through team.
Many student/athletes seem to remain loyal to their university and team. In the
cases where a player cannot play their last year, they seem to lose their
scholarships. This is the worst case of corporate or non-corporate social
responsibility. They just landed a $11 billion dollar deal with CBS/ESPN and
Fox Sorts. I think her ending quote about journalist seems to apply to NCAA ""In other words, some journalists may believe it's acceptable to lie to a
crook to get a story, but they professionally resent being lied to by
any source, regardless of the motive" (Patterson & Wilkins p. 34).
Studies have shown that women in sports are more
likely to be injured.
I did not find or was
not allowed to see any of their policies. All of their videos are being
controlled and I can safely say they are the anti-ethical philosophers. Kimmee’s
blog to silence is moral character in action. An admirable ethical decision that
qualifies as a universal law. I do not have that kind of emotional self control but through her blog I am definitely inspired.
