MORAL LEADERSHIP

1. MORAL LEADERSHIP Constructing ethical frameworks in a morally challenged America Presented by Mitch Land, PhD, director

2. Voltaire “Virtue has escaped our hearts and taken refuge on our lips” Histoire de Louis XIV

3. "No legacy is so rich as honesty." William Shakespeare

4. "Oh, what a tangled web we weave,When first we practice to deceive!" -Sir Walter Scott, Marmion

5. "Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom." -Thomas Jefferson

6. “Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened.” Winston Churchill

7. Moral Dilemmas • Robert Dilenschneider • Richard Kosmicki “Spin is bad for you, it’s bad for your company and it’s bad for your clients.”

8. Conflicts of Interest • Janet Cooke’s 1980 Pulitzer Prize withdrawn because of composite story On April 13, 1981, Washington Post reporter Janet Cooke was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for a story titled "Jimmy's World" about an 8-year-old heroin addict. On April 15 she confessed that there really was no "Jimmy," that he represented a composite of child addicts and that her story was, in fact, fiction. She returned the prize and resigned.

9. Corporate and Government Spin • Johnson presidency using “spin” to justify Vietnam War: Gulf of Tonkin • Clinton administration casts doubts on female accusers • Redefining sexual relations

10. Tabloid Journalism • ABC PrimeTime Live uses deception to obtain sensational video images of Food Lion • NBC rigs trucks to explode • CNN reports serin gas accusation against the Pentagon

11. MEDIA ETHICS “Why, that’s an oxymoron!”

12. Defining Ethics • Derived from ethos • Ethos = spirit of a culture • Moral standards of right and wrong

13. FRAMEWORKS FOR ETHICAL DECISION-MAKING • Utilitarianism • Deontological • Or somewhere in the middle? THE CASE FOR COMMUNITARIANISM

14. Utilitarianism • Jeremy Bentham 1781 • John Stuart Mill 1863

15. Utilitarianism • Greatest Good for the Greatest Number • The End Justifies the Means

16. Deontological Perspective • Immanuel Kant 1798

17. DEONTOLOGY • Study of necessity, duty or obligation • Moral worth is an intrinsic feature of human actions, determined by formal rules of conduct • Moral obligation rests solely upon duty, without reference to the consequences.

18. The Basic Tenets of Utilitarianism • Greatest Good for the Greatest Number • moral relativism • the end justifies the means • interpretation subjective • principles are negotiable and disposable • End Justifies the Means

19. The Basic Tenets of Utilitarianism • It regards "utility as the ultimate appeal on all ethical questions – COMMON SENSE • Rightness or wrongness is determined by the overall value of the consequences • End Justifies the Means

20. Subtle Weaknesses in Utilitarianism • Utilitarianism depends upon an accurate assessment of the consequences– both long term and short term • Consequences-dependent theory lacks sufficient guidelines for long-term assessment • Its individualist bias oversimplifies complex relationships of family, neighbors, community

21. Subtle Weaknesses in Utilitarianism • Utilitarianism’s singular focus neglects competing principles • Utilitarianism privileges possible consequences over past responsibilities • Utilitarianism confuses an aggregate of individual goods with the common good • Individual liberty has priority over the moral order, and therefore ethics is exterior

22. Moral Relativism • Hitler’s Final Solution • Separate but Equal: Segregation in America 1600-1964 • Milosevic’s Ethnic Cleansing

23. Problematic of Deontology • If a precept is true for one, it is true for all. • Kant’s Categorical Imperative leaves little room for Consequential Imperative. • Principles dominate Consequences.

24. Principles Or Consequences ? Or somewhere between:COMMUNITARIANISM

25. Communitarianism • Individuality exists in a context of social reality—not in isolation • Human identities are constituted within a social conception of the good • Individual rights are NOT the cornerstone of the political order

26. Communitarianism • The communal, our commonness, communitas is the context in which the nature of persons is understood • Morally appropriate action assumes community

27. Critique of Communitarianism • Utilitarianism also considers the group, collective or society generally. • Good conduct is that which results in the greatest good for the greatest number. • Communitarianism is a smoke screen for collectivism—a socialist agenda. • Communitarianism threatens the primacy of the “sacred” individual. • Mill/Kant see individual as the measure of value against the collective of state and society.

28. Critique of Communitarianism • Communitarianism is a disguise for theological mishmash. • An attempt to force universal principles derived from theological belief systems upon others. • Communitarianism would shift the objective of news from unbiased information transmission to an agent of community transformation.

29. Critique of Communitarianism • Communitarianism seeks to foster a common philosophy, which would result in deep psychological turmoil and public sadness. • Such like-mindedness would lead to social destruction, psychological alienation and personal immorality.

30. Principles • Truth • Stewardship • Justice • Freedom • Humaneness

31. Values Varied expressions of principles • Stewardship = generous, frugal, good managing • Truth = integrity, honesty, trustworthy • Humaneness = kind, gentle, caring • Justice = fairness, equality • Freedom = liberty, self-expression

32. The Potter Box FACTS PRINCIPLES STAKEHOLDERS VALUES

33. Two-Dimensional Analysis • Or they lie buried beneath social pressures • Analysis always builds on assumptions • Even though assumptions often hide

34. Three-Dimensional Analysis • Moral reasoning is always built upon a philosophical foundation whether or not the decision maker is aware of it. • 3-D Analysis builds upon a philosophical foundation

35. 3-D Analysis The base of the pyramid of moral reasoning represents the philosophical foundation. The pyramid of our moral reasoning is always constructed upon this philosophical base. From our mental arrangement of the case facts through the prioritizing of the principles and values to the eventual list of stakeholders we move to a point of decision.

36. FOUNDATION BASED ANALYSIS Philosophical assumptions Utilitarianism Communitarianism

37. PRINCIPLES FACTS VALUES STAKEHOLDERS

38. Bullet the case facts that give rise to the ethical dilemma. Cut through the fat of details to expose the raw nerves of moral crisis. FACTS

39. Just as the surgeon’s scalpel exposes unprotected and unsedated nerve tissue to air and light results in pain, The gradual exposure of essential facts results in the angst of conflicting moral principles. This triangular panel should list in order of priority the principles at stake. PRINCIPLES

40. Principles and values are closely related. Principles can be understood as the major nouns that organize the nouns and verbs of values. Moral values can always be linked to five major principles: truth, justice, liberty, humaneness and stewardship. VALUES

41. The principle of truth informs my honest behavior, trustworthy actions, my decisions of integrity and so on. • This triangular panel should list in order of priority the principles that emerge from an elaboration of the essential facts. The principle of humaneness should prompt merciful acts, kind behavior toward my neighbors, and the gentle treatment of children, animals, the weak and so on. VALUES

42. The fourth triangular panel lists the stakeholders in order of priority. Who has the most to gain and who has the least to gain as we move toward the point of decision. Conversely, who has the most and least to lose? Analyzing the facts and the competing principles and values will evoke the following questions: STAKEHOLDERS

43. POINT OF DECISION STAKEHOLDERS VALUES PRINCIPLES FACTS FOUNDATION

44. Establish the facts • Texaco involved in litigation over racial discrimination. • Texaco executives are recorded using racial slurs. • Jesse Jackson calls for nationwide boycott. • Peter Bijur addresses Texaco employees.

45. Facts • Peter Bijur dismisses three executives. • Bijur announces Texaco’s intolerance for racial discrimination. • Bijur announces steps for re-education. • Jesse Jackson calls off the boycott.

46. Principles • Truth telling • Justice • Humaneness • Freedom • Stewardship

47. Moral Values & Non-moral values • Fairness • Full Disclosure • Honesty • Frugality • Professionalism

48. Stakeholders & Loyalties • Texaco Employees • Stockholders • Texaco CEO • Customers • The three guilty executives

49. Which Framework for Bijur? • Utilitarianism • Alternatives • Rawl’s Veil of Ignorance • Aristotle’s Golden Mean • Judeo-Christian Agapism Communitarianism

50. Communitarianism Applied • All principles were involved in the Texaco Case. • Principle of Humaneness clashed with other principles • No possibility of “redemption” or “rehabilitation” for Texaco Executives. • Texaco Executives didn’t “Apologize”