The Ethics Of Media Laws: An Analysis Of Immanuel Kant’s Categorical Imperative

Kant’s Philosophy of Categorical Imperatives

Question:

Discuss about the Media Laws and Ethics for Online Journalism.

In the essay, the media laws and ethics that govern the social media are studied in the light of Immanuel Kant’s philosophy as presented in his book “The Critique of Pure Reason”. Immanuel Kant in his book pointed out a number of laws and customs and their effect on changes in social behavior and customs. The Media laws and ethics are a set of rules and laws governing the modern media and the society (Christians et al. 2015). Considering the rise in the importance of media as a medium of communication with the society the set of laws are considered extremely important to govern its operations. In the essay, the implications of the working of the media laws in purview of Kant’s categorical imperatives are studies in detail.

The laws of categorical imperatives as put forward by Kant are based on a set of maxims or a set of rules, which are supposed to be followed based on the social norms (Kant 2014). Kant’s laws of the categorical imperatives are extremely important in setting a set of laws, which govern the morals of the media without causing any social harm. Kant’s philosophy says that the social customs are changing with time according to the social acceptance of the changes. They are considered positive or negative depending on the maxims or the acceptable moral behavior of the society (Murphy 2015). The media ethics and laws are supposed to be followed by people working in the field of Media to govern the information, which are being imparted to people. The categorical imperatives suggest that the moral of a person working within the society should subscribe to societal norms. In case of media, the media should keep in mind that the information it provides is far reaching and considered a credible source of information (Perse and Lambe 2016). It should not provide the any information harming the social position of the person or the hurting the sentiment of the society or a group of people without any proper proof supporting the claim. According to the Kantian philosophy, the people in the media should treat the audience considering themselves a part of the audience and be honest to their job (Friend and Singer 2015). The media laws are set such that while giving information they are not biased and they should just give open-ended information and not pass the judgment regarding the issue. Moreover, the information should not invade or hamper anyone’s privacy or hamper any ones fundamental rights in any way. The categorical imperative suggests that there should be no exception to the set of rules that are to be followed by a media person. If a person chooses to against the rule it is supposed to become a norm in due time. Such norms when they are negative do harm to the society.

The Importance of Media Ethics and Laws

The changes in the media today do not subscribe to the concept of ethical media. The media has become more of an entertainment media than an informative media. Kant presumed the power of the media and in his book suggested that the media should be kept away from bureaucracy (Allen and Hindman 2014). The Kantian philosophy of the social acceptance of the changes in the society helps in understanding the norms of the behavioral pattern of the society. The modern media has become the entertainer rather than the mirror of the society. This has taken place because of the norm shifting due to shift in the role of the certain organizations that focused on succeeding through unethical effort (Moreno et al. 2015). The success of this form of media caused a change in the paradigm overall media due to competition. The concept of the Political alignment of news channels is another example of this concept of Kantian Philosophy where the norm was against the social ethics. The present norm making fun of people, body types and ethnicities is against the ethics of the media. The constant increase in this media is an example of the categorical imperative, which do not follow the maxims (Nyholm 2015). The categorical imperative is of the media takes into purview the laws governing the media as well the rights of the Society. The media laws allows the freedom of the speech but it also forfeits it from revealing personal information without prior person and not make personal comments about the topic. The law of the states also assigns the people with a set of fundamental right, which the media should not be curbed by the media. The media should be a profitable business as it causes a discrepancy and use unlawful measures for the profits.

The work of Kant helps in understanding how media being the far reaching and a credible form of communication should perform its duties ethically for the society to perform functionally. The media today is responsible for the changes in trends in the society. Mostly the people see what the media as an acceptable behavior show and the changes in the society occur accordingly. As Kant’s categorical imperative, theory suggests, with time the behavior of a single individual becomes the norm of the society. The society might any negative behavior promoted by media affecting the society negatively (Valenzuela 2013). Similarly, any news shown by the media is considered credible by the sources and has effect on the audience so the media should not misinform without assessing the results. One of the considerable examples is the Jafr alien invasion report, which caused mass hysteria (News.bbc.co.uk, 2017). It was an April fool’s joke but the example shows the effect the media has on the lifestyles and habits of the people. The media should understand its social responsibility and should not misuse its power.

Media Ethics in the Modern Society

The importance of the media and the laws being followed by the media is easily understood. In the future number of steps should be taken to make the media perfect. Firstly, it should operate under the principles of categorical imperative following its maxims without any exception.  The norms help in curtailing the media from misusing its rights of freedom of speech. Moreover, a universal code of conduct for the media should be made allowing it certain freedoms and curtailing some so that there are no go around ways for doing something illegal according to the social norms. The working of the media houses should be kept from any economic influence. The media should be a profitable venture but it should not run with the aim of profit. The economy of the media houses should be kept from influencing its functional roles in the society. In the future, the media should adapt itself and merge with the society. The social implications of the media houses should meet the social norms of the society it functions in and the media houses should follow the ethics and norms of the society for proper functioning.

Therefore, in the essay, the different philosophies of the working of the media and the ethical issues are brought forward. The media in the present society and is a strong determinant of the growth and development of the society. It is necessary for the media to keep itself in strict supervision to follow the norms of the society and be ethical in providing information. Kant’s categorical imperative system is the determinant benchmark for the ethical changes being caused in the society due to any external changes. Based on the moral of the change according to the accepted maxim the behavior is taken as positive or negative. The positive changes should be accepted while the media to curtail their far-reaching effects should overlook the negative changes. The media laws should be stringent to make the sure the laws are being followed.

References

Allen, D.S. and Hindman, E.B., 2014. The media and democracy: Using democratic theory in journalism ethics. Wyatt, The Ethics of Journalism, pp.185-203.

Christians, C.G., Fackler, M., Richardson, K., Kreshel, P. and Woods, R.H., 2015. Media ethics: Cases and moral reasoning. Routledge.

Friend, C. and Singer, J., 2015. Online journalism ethics: Traditions and transitions. Routledge.

Kant, I., 2014. The Good Will and the Categorical Imperative. The Ethical Life: Fundamental Readings in Ethics and Moral Problems, pp.87-99.

Moreno, A., Navarro, C., Tench, R. and Zerfass, A., 2015. Does social media usage matter? An analysis of online practices and digital media perceptions of communication practitioners in Europe. Public Relations Review, 41(2), pp.242-253.

Murphy, K.C., 2015. Ethical crisis communication on social media: Combining situational crisis communication theory, stakeholder theory, & Kant’s categorical imperatives (Doctoral dissertation, Gonzaga University).

News.bbc.co.uk. 2017. BBC News – ‘Alien invasion’ April Fools’ story angers Jordan mayor. [online] Available at: https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8604122.stm [Accessed 13 Nov. 2017].

Nyholm, S., 2015. Kant’s Universal Law Formula Revisited. Metaphilosophy, 46(2), pp.280-299.

Perse, E.M. and Lambe, J., 2016. Media effects and society. Routledge.

Valenzuela, S., 2013. Unpacking the use of social media for protest behavior: The roles of information, opinion expression, and activism. American Behavioral Scientist, 57(7), pp.920-942.