Thinking About Ethics

When I applied to study this MA programme, I think one of the last things I would have expected to be doing on an afternoon following a day of lectures is sitting and contemplating my moral code. And yet, on the back of the class discussion surrounding ethics in the technical communication profession this week, that is precisely what I have been doing.

Specifically, we looked at six theories of ethics in our TW5212 lecture. Each approach sets out different philosophical arguments as to how one might judge ethical issues. As I sat and absorbed the information, I was quietly hoping that one particular theory would leap ahead of the others and present itself as the sole view to which I subscribe. Alas, this did not occur.

I found myself recognising my beliefs manifested across several of the philosophies we were examining. I combine aspects of:

• Subjectivism: There is no “universal norm” when it comes to ethics. People will have different opinions, and neither may be wrong.
• Cultural relativism: It is not always fair to criticise the ideals of different cultures when they conflict with one’s own.
• Kantianism: Treat others as you would want them to treat you.
• Egoism: Be trustworthy because it will benefit you personally in the long run.
• Consequentialism: Try to do the most good possible for the highest amount of people.
• Social Contract: where we consider something morally sound if the community is accepting of it.

Giving names to these theories, and seriously considering the different aspects of each, has caused me to realise that ethics truly is even more of a grey area than I would initially have thought. For me, there isn’t even a single set of guidelines which stands ahead of the others.

Our Tutorial activity for the week concerning this topic is to find examples of interesting cases concerning ethics and technology. The case which sprang to mind for me was an incident in the video games’ press which occurred in 2018.

IGN, one of the largest video game media outlets, became embroiled in a scandal when one of their editors was found to have plagiarised a review from a relatively little-known YouTuber. It was later discovered that this editor had also copied content from a whole range of other sources for his personal YouTube channel before he was hired at IGN. As a result, the editor lost his job, the review was pulled from the website and needed to be re-done by another editor, and IGN received severe criticism for hiring a journalist who displayed such questionable morality.

So, what can we potentially learn from that particular incident?

To me, it serves as a stark reminder of the importance of being incredibly aware of ethical issues when creating products. I believe IGN as a company should not have been subjected to the level of the backlash they were. After all, I would consider it an unreasonable demand for IGN to thoroughly cross-reference each potential employees’ previous work against every other similar piece of content that exists. The fact remains that their reputation as a trustworthy source was damaged. The uproar highlights how easy it is to fall afoul of an ethical scandal.

This exploration of ethics was one of the more intriguing subjects discussed as part of the programme thus far. I would hope that this topic has instilled in me just how vital ethical considerations are as I go forward to a career in technical communication. I think I will be more cautious about taking other peoples’ outlooks on ethical matters into account.