By Elizabeth Webb
Prior to this class, I had only gotten a small taste of ethics in previous advertising and journalism classes. I had no idea the topic of ethics was so vast and overwhelming. I learned a lot in this class from the different theories copyright and trademark. Also, it was interesting to see examples of how companies have messed up and how they’ve handled the situations.
I anticipate this class will help me in whatever future career or job I will hold. Learning some of the different ways companies messed up and how they handled the situations was eye opening. When people accidently tweet on their corporate accounts, words and actions have a lot of weight. They can come back to bite companies in the butt.
A newer case to look at is the Blue Bell Ice Cream controversy with ice cream being recalled due to listeria outbreak. I applaud their decision to pull product from the shelves and do a deep cleaning of the Blue Bell factories. I think they handled the situation well, and I am honestly ready to o have Blue Bell back in stores. That is just one example of an ethical case to look at.
Ethics are important. I believe this class should be a requirement for students in any sort of business major, not just journalism. Ethics can be related to any field. I will definitely use what I learned in this class in future careers. I think everyday people have the opportunity to act unethical. For example, I work at Denton Regional Medical Center as an EVS tech. In short, I’m a housekeeper and I clean up the rooms after the patient is discharge. To clean the room faster, I could make the unethical decision to clean quickly and not bother to wipe down some of the high touch areas or the patients bed. That would be unethical though. My failure to clean a room thoroughly could cause another patient to get sick. This class has taught me that sometimes you have to think of how to benefit others and do the most good.
Thoughts of an #SAPro 