Monday, May 5, 2014

The article “Ethics Online” provides three ethical aspects of communication: scope, anonymity, and reproducibility. Not since the mid-15th Century has the consequences of these three aspects been brought to the forefront of communications ethics. The invention of the moveable type printing press by Gutenberg provided a prompt jump in the communication of ideas. With this advancement in technology, authorship became attributable and traceable and anonymity was no longer obscured. Reproducibility of the printed word during the Renaissance period by Europeans outpaced their counterparts in the Far East by a factor of 90. The Gutenberg press increased the spread and reproducibility of the written or printed word and ideas. Unlike the today’s communications technologies however, the Gutenberg press decreased the anonymity of authors. Between the time of the invention of the Gutenberg press and the advancement of today’s communication technologies, another revolution took place. The sexual revolution of the 1960’s changed the sexual morals of Western societies. “Relationships” and “partners” became euphemism for what was once referred to as “shacking up” and “gay sex”. An upside of this revolution is that the female half of society is allowed to make their own way in the world, have careers, and raise children without the necessity of having a relationship with a man. While the sexual revolution was intended to liberate adults, this liberated sexuality is communicated to those not sufficiently mature to make appropriate decisions. Sexting is a convergence of the modern communications and sexual revolutions and has affected all segments of society, including teens and supposedly responsible lawmakers. Texting is far less damaging than its thousand-word counterpart, but it too has its disastrous results. Both proposed and enacted legislation is intended to counter the effects of these two media. The virtually unlimited scope of distribution and relative ease of reproducibility coupled with the, anonymity or in some cases false sense therein, takes the ethical and moral repercussions of the distribution of the results of these modern day Gutenberg presses to new heights. And too, sexting and texting have raised their ugly heads in the workplace. Inappropriate use of these media can lead to accusations of privacy violations and sexual harassment. Although these have results similar to those found in the private sector, a more formidable issue lies with corporate financial implications. The news of events occurring within the workplace, a fire, injury, death, even organizational changes or financial disclosures are often communicated before the corporate Chief Executive Officer (CEO) can issue a press release. Recently, an earthquake occurred at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) in California. Within seven minutes of the event, the President of the United States called the control room of the nuclear plant to get a report on the safety of the facility. One of the challenges facing corporate communications is the speed, scope of distribution, anonymity of sources, and reproducibility of information, at which news travels and the escalated need for damage control before damage does indeed occur. If corporations expect to provide for their fiscal security they will need to adapt to evolving communications technologies. The primary preemptive strategy is to limit the distribution of information. Communications awareness programs make employees aware of the implications of divulging information to the news media, whether intentional or not. The corporate catch-phrase to be used by employees approached by the news media is, “Our Corporate Communications can answer that question.” Another strategy is that corporations hire consulting agencies which monitor the blogosphere and provide information on the corporations own blog site. Rumors are quickly and succinctly challenged and dispelled with accurate and credible information.

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