Writing and Ethics

[Redlass]

Lynne's thread in the Business Beat forum got me thinking about some of the experiences I've had in my workplace. It raised questions for me about what it is ethical or not ethical to do as a writer.

Is it ethical to write about something that you personally find immoral or wrong? Is it ethical to take an assignment where you must express views that you don't hold? Or is that simply a part of the work world--you're writing for someone else for pay and your opinions are irrrlevant?

To give some examples:

I'm very pro-union. I was once the vice president of the newspaper guild local to which I belonged and a member of the negotiating team. Yet, I've had to write a seminar for managers teaching them how to avoid having their property unionized and how to legally get rid of the unions they had (I refused to write anything that suggested illegal techniques or even ones that were borderline).

I've had to write a justification for discriminating against women and minorities (primarily women) on the basis of the first amendment (freedom of association).

Was it unethical to do either of those?

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

Depends on how tightly you hold on to your personal values and what the ethics of your profession might be.

I work in child welfare and was a trainer for a while. I did not personally agree with some of the things I was required to train, but I understood the reasoning behind the issues and my profession (Social Work) had done research which supported those things. Additionally, they were *minor* things - for example, I don't think it's necessarily bad to slap your child's hand if he reaches for the hot stove that you've told him not to touch. I don't advocate belting him with your fist and knocking him into next week, but I don't consider hand-slaps as child abuse. The curriculum I had to teach listed that as a verboten action.

Everyone needs some value congruity - your values/mission will never exactly match those of your employer, but the farther apart the values are, the more unhappy you will be (and the poorer a worker you will be, thus making the employer unhappy too!). Your question seems more a question of value congruence than ethics. A question of ethics might be "I was paid to train them how to get rid of unions but I left out important facts."

mj

[brian_igo]

One of the best things I got from J-school was a working definition of ethics and morality. Ethics are the accepted values and standards of your profession, morals are your personal values and standards. Abortion is a good example. You can believe that abortionists are nothing more than baby killers, but the ethics of your profession demands that you use "Dr." in your story.

I don't see anything unethical about writing on subjects that go against your personal beliefs. The moral dilema about coaching others in a practice you believe to be reprehensible is another matter, and something you have to decide with the person you see in the mirror.


Brian

[phoenixx]

Very well said - I agree with you Brian, but you were much more succinct than my post was going to be!

Leslie