Applying Research Ethically

Both Media and human theory from Ruddock (2017) and Littlejohn, Foss, and Oetzel (2017).

Different ideas about Communication as a discipline or field. With scholars in disagreement about how media, and human consumption and influence, should interact (as well as who is in charge of who) we should understand that it cannot be assumed that media industries are at the center of conspiracy…although they are in fact strategic. As you are a Strategic Communication scholar, it is important for you to consider what normative questions we should be asking (i.e. about what media SHOULD be doing vs what it IS doing). Also, it connects us with the opportunity to consider what professional practices should be implemented (i.e. so as media scholars we need to better understand HOW media industries actually work in daily practice).

Discuss these normative questions and professional practices from a research standpoint, which may include some thoughts of morality and ethics, in light of the theories compiled by Ruddock (2017) and Littlejohn, Foss, and Oetzel (2017) using the directions from the “Discussion Board Forum Instructions” section of this course.

ANSWER

Applying Research Ethically

In strategic communications, normative ethics arrives at the difference between ‘what media SHOULD be doing versus what it IS doing’ through the examination of duty, the consequence on others and values to aspire. In the modern world, the role of the media increasingly becomes complex and with it a much more widespread normative analysis. For instance the issue of emergence and growth of democracy where initially the role was easy and directed as spreading of information which could have been political, commercial, military or diplomatic. The media was responsible for the delivery of reliable information to the public. However, this role has changed and evolved into more than what it originally was. Today, the media has opinions on politics, environment and economy among many other parts of human activity. People turn in not only for information but also for perception and opinion. This is widely driven by the fact that information has become so much with the prominence of the internet that mainstream media is given another task to verify information from the internet. With just this example, the normative ethical queries from it are countless considering even mainstream media is run by people and business and they too have opinions and agendas.

Both Ruddock (2017) and Littlejohn et al (2017) in their media and human theories were able to anticipate these changes. For instance, Ruddock (2017) goes deeper past the role of media to the use of social media platforms like Twitter by big names like Donald Trump. With this observation, he remarks that the media is all around us altering our view, opinions and beliefs.

References

Littlejohn, S. W., Foss, K. A., & Oetzel, J. G. (2017). Theories of Human Communication. 11th Editions.

Ruddock, A. (2017). Exploring media research: Theories, practice, and purpose. Sage.