Danubius International Conferences, 19th International Conference on European Integration - Realities and Perspectives
Ethics of Communication in Mass Media. What is (I)Moral?
Last modified: 2024-03-29
Abstract
Communication ethics refers to a set of principles and values that guide the way we communicate with others. It is important to behave ethically in communication, to build relationships of trust and respect, to avoid conflicts and to promote a better society.
There are known as elements of morality: honesty, authenticity, respect, protecting private life, compassion, responsibility. And as elements of immorality: lying, slander, manipulation, insult.
As a result of the development of communication in an unprecedented manner, based on social media channels, which often transmit unfiltered and unverified information, to a population hungry for new and sensational, the issue of ethics in communication has reappeared in debates, more and more often, together with the moral limits of information and the way to send certain information to the population.
Communicators of any kind, be they mass media, influencers, spokespeople, advertising agencies must understand and respect the limit of public information, which is related to ethical principles. But how do we separate what is moral from what is immoral in situations of crisis, panic or in the run to reach the targets imposed by the job? Is there a dilution of the immoral in the moral when the environmental conditions are adverse?
