Is the corporation a moral agent?

Yes.

Peter French à corporations have corporate internal decision (CID) structures that provide sufficient grounds for attributing moral agency to them.

a) organization chart b) rules

No

Manuel Velasquez à the CID structures are the product of human agency and design. They are rules of cooperation among persons who, given their actions, intentions, and aims.

55mud

How and in whose interests ought the corporation to be governed?

The ‘shareholder-stakeholder debate’

Stakeholder theory: a business firm ought to be managed in a way that achieves a balance among the interests of all who bear a substantial relationship to the firm—its stakeholders.

The firm-state analogy: a firm's stakeholders are like citizens in a polity.

Shareholder theory: “The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits.” In other words, it refers to legitimate morally managerial duties owed to a corporation's shareholders

At-will doctrine: an employment relation may be terminated by either party for any reason or no reason at all, without notice.

Just Cause doctrine: an employment relation cannot be terminated by either party, without notice unless there is a just cause regulated by law.

Employees can be protected from the ill-effects of arbitrary dismissal in two ways.

1. Favored by just cause advocates: legally.

2. Favored by at-will advocates: through the promotion of a vibrant labor market in which jobs are frequently created and readily available.

For example, The UN Global Compact enjoins business firms to support and respect internationally recognized human rights, avoid complicity in human rights abuses, uphold freedom of association and collective bargaining, eliminate forced and compulsory labor, eliminate child labor, eliminate all forms of discrimination in employment, support a precautionary approach to environmental challenges, promote greater environmental responsibility, encourage the development of environmentally friendly technologies, and work against corruption in all its forms, including extortion and bribery.

Media Ethics

• Dignity: leaving the subject as much self-respect as possible

• Reciprocity: treating others as you wish to be treated (positive restatement of the Golden Rule)

• Sufficiency: allocating adequate resources to important issues

• Accuracy: getting the facts correct, using the right words, and putting things in context

• Tenacity: knowing when a story is important enough to require additional effort, both personal and institutional

• Equity: seeking justice for all involved in controversial issues; treating all sources and subjects equally

• Community: valuing social cohesion equally with individual honor

• Diversity: covering all segments of the audience fairly and adequately

It may be illegal to publish certain “classified” (secret) information about a government agency’s mistakes, and yet there are cases where journalists go ahead and publish because they are following their ethical duty

For example, the tendency to emphasize extremely thin and unhealthy body shapes for women is often considered unethical

ASNE's Statement of Principles was originally adopted in 1922 as the "Canons of Journalism." The document was revised and renamed "Statement of Principles" in 1975.

ARTICLE I - Responsibility. The primary purpose of gathering and distributing news and opinion is to serve the general welfare by informing the people and enabling them to make judgments on the issues of the time.

ARTICLE II - Freedom of the Press. Freedom of the press belongs to the people. Journalists must be constantly alert to see that the public's business is conducted in public.

ARTICLE III - Independence. Journalists must avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety as well as any conflict of interest or the appearance of conflict.

ARTICLE IV - Truth and Accuracy. Good faith with the reader is the foundation of good journalism. Every effort must be made to assure that the news content is accurate, free from bias and in context, and that all sides are presented fairly.

ARTICLE V - Impartiality. To be impartial does not require the press to be unquestioning. Demands a clear distinction for the reader between news reports and opinion.

ARTICLE VI - Fair Play. Journalists should respect the rights of people involved in the news

PUBLIC TRUST: Professional electronic journalists should recognize that their first obligation is to the public.

Professional electronic journalists should:

• Provide a full range of information to enable the public to make enlightened decisions.

• Fight to ensure that the public's business is conducted in public.

TRUTH: Professional electronic journalists should pursue truth aggressively and present the news accurately, in context, and as completely as possible.

They should:

seek the truth

Resist distortions

disclose the origin of information

They should not:

Report anything known to be false

Plagiarize

Present images or sounds that are reenacted without informing the public

FAIRNESS: Professional electronic journalists should present the news fairly and impartially

They should:

Treat all subjects of news coverage with respect and dignity

Exercise special care when children are involved in a story

Seek to understand the diversity of their community

Present the opinions, and ideas in context

Respect the right to a fair trial

INTEGRITY: present the news with integrity and decency, avoiding real or perceived conflicts of interest

They should not:

Pay news sources

Accept gifts, favors, or compensation

Engage in activities that may compromise their integrity or independence

They should:

Identify sources

keep all commitments to protect a confidential source

Clearly label opinion

Refrain from contacting participants in violent situations

Use technological tools with skill and thoughtfulness

Disseminate the private transmissions

INDEPENDENCE: Professional electronic journalists should defend the independence of all journalists

They should:

Gather and report news without fear or favor

Resist those who politically influence news content

Determine news content solely through editorial judgment

Refuse to allow the interests of ownership or management to influence news

Defend the rights of the free press for all journalists

ACCOUNTABILITY: they are accountable for their actions to the public, the profession, and themselves.

They should:

encourage adherence to these standards

Respond to public concerns

Explain journalistic processes to the public

Refrain from ordering or encouraging course that force to commit an unethical act

listen to employees who raise ethical objections

THE MEDIA AND TERRORISM:

there is certainly a relationship of mutual benefit between terrorists and mass media

• Terrorists want prime time audience and worldwide publicity

• Mass media find in terrorism an endless source of sensational news stories

1972 Munich Olympic Games: Over 500 millions spectators watching on TV the seizure and massacre of Israeli athletes by Black September terrorists.

Teheran Hostage Crisis: 52 U.S. diplomats were held hostage for 444 days from November 4, 1979 to January 20, 1981, after a group of terrorists took over the American embassy in support of Iran's revolution

à Major television networks achieved an 18 percent increase in audience rating

Four traditions of reporting related to terrorist events:

1. Information: factual and reliably documented

2. Sensationalist: coverage includes emotions, alarm, threat, anger, and fear

3. Feature stories: the focus is on individuals as heroes, villains, victims, and perpetrators

4. Didactic: educating the public

media cooperation with law enforcement in support of government is more likely than media cooperation with terrorist aims.

Sexuality and Ethics

Some Issues:

• Pre-marriage sex

• Extra-marriage affaires

• Sexism Health related questions (HIV and AIDS)

• Rape and Sex trafficking

• Pornography

• Sexual Harassment

• Tolerance: e.g., “Don’t ask, don’t tell”

• Acceptance: Gays and lesbians should not be discouraged from expressing their sexual orientation

• Endorsement: gay and lesbian “lifestyles” should be presented as a valid and valuable option --e.g., in school curricula.

Act-consequentialism

• Consider who is going to be affected and whether he/she/they are going to get benefit or harm from the action

• Consider physical, psychological and social consequences

• Consider whether short term pleasure is not outweighed by long term harm or suffering

An Incomplete List of Possible Negative Consequences:

• Physical harms (for example, sexually transmitted diseases)

• Psychological harms (for example, being deceived or ‘used’; trauma of forced sex)

• Social harms (for example, underestimating women’s contribution)

An Incomplete List of Possible Positive Consequences:

• Pleasure itself

• Determining or rebuilding our identities

Non-Consequentialism:

• Look at what seems acceptable

• Consider the other person point of view

• Free and informed (not lying) relationships:

Premarital sex: against

Undermining of traditional morality and family values

Encouragement of promiscuity (‘one-night-stands’ against stability)

Social disease and AIDS

Compatibility and experience fallacy

Premarital sex: pro

Obsolescence of old traditions

Contraception and responsibility

Sexual experience and compatibility

Sexual Pleasure

Pornography: The difficulty of defining pornography as displaying obscenity

Arguments Against:

degrading to humans

escalate to a greater level of criminality

degrading family values

It encourages sex trafficking, rape, homosexuality (?), child molestation, prostitution and all kinds of sexual ‘perversions’

Arguments Pro:

individual discretion: freedom of expression

no proof that it will degrade our societies

enforce existing laws

Whether people should be free or be prevented by law

John Stuart Mill: ON LIBERTY

Three reasons for restricting liberty:

• A’s restriction of B’s liberty is paternalistic if it is done for B’s own benefit

• A’s restriction of B’s liberty is moralistic if it is done to ensure that B acts morally or immorally

• A’s restriction of B’s liberty is an application of the harm principle if A restricts B’s liberty in order to prevent harm to someone other than B

the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others

The Harm Principle states that the law might rightly restrict a person from doing what he/she wants only if this action will harm other persons.

Social harm principle: the law might prevent people from doing what they want when their actions cause harm to society

Legal Paternalism: people’s liberty may be restricted to prevent them from doing harmful things to themselves

Legal Moralism: the law might rightly interfere preventing people from doing what they want simply because it is immoral

Feminists critique of pornography: Most of pornography involving women involves a degrading portrayal of women and as wanting to be raped or dominated