Luke, a senior journalism student, is facing a dilemma. Earlier this term, his final semester, he was given the major assignment of doing a feature story on an interesting person of his choosing. The assignment is due tomorrow. However, he hasn’t yet decided whom to interview, let alone conducted the interview and written the story. (One reason is that he
has been busy with his work in other courses; another, more significant reason is that he is socially hyperactive.)
Luke could ask his instructor for extra time but he knows that there will be a penalty of at least one letter grade, possibly two, and he is barely passing now. Moreover, if he were to repeat the course, he could not graduate until the following year because the course is offered only in the spring semester. For these reasons, Luke is considering two alternatives. One is to search the Internet, find an obscure but well- written feature article, and, after making strategic changes to disguise it, submit it as his own. The other alternative is to create an imagi- nary person, conduct an imaginary interview, and write a bogus feature story. Given the difficulty of Luke’s situation, would either of these alternative approaches be ethical? Let’s apply the criteria and see.
Step 1. Luke has the obligation to do the work assigned to him and to submit it on time. The relevant moral ideal is honesty, which in this case prohibits both plagiarizing someone else’s work and passing fic- tion off as fact.
Step 2. The most obvious action Luke could take would be to present his case to the instructor and hope for a lenient penalty. One clear consequence is that he could take satisfaction in his honesty and willingness to accept responsibility for his laziness. Beyond that, the consequences are uncertain. He could receive a low passing grade and graduate on time, or he could fail the course and have to wait until next year to graduate.
If Luke submits the article he found on the Internet as his own and his deception is not discovered, he would graduate on time. However, if the instructor discovered the plagiarism, Luke could fail the course and even (depending on the college’s conduct code) be expelled.
Creating an imaginary person and writing a bogus feature story is more likely to fool Luke’s instructor than plagiarizing an article. How- ever, the consequences of this action could be harmful in the long-term. Luke might be tempted to adopt it as a strategy for meeting deadlines after he graduates and is working as a journalist. And if he gave in to that temptation, he would run the risk of ruining his career. (If this seems overly dramatic, be assured that it is not. In recent years, a num- ber of journalists have suffered professional disgrace when their dis- honesty was discovered.)
Step 3. In this case, the ethical judgment is clear: both plagiarizing and creating a bogus story are unethical responses to the situation. Although we might understand how a weak person might choose one of these responses, there is no way to justify either response ethically.
Thinking critically about ethical judgments
183
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Select one of the following ethical issues and examine it using the
three-step approach for evaluating ethical issues. Record all your work on a separate sheet of paper.
A.
Harry and Ruth are a financially successful married couple aged 53 and 50, respec- tively. Harry is the president of his own company. Once a fashion designer, Ruth no longer works but maintains an active social schedule. They live in a large house on Lake Michigan in suburban Chicago. Recently, Ruth’s 80-year-old mother, Angela, suf- fered a fall in her modest apartment, where she had lived alone for the last ten years since her husband died. Because Angela suffers from osteoporosis, the doctors rec- ommended that she no longer live alone. As an only child, Ruth had to decide whether to let her mother move into her home or move her to an assisted living facility. After talking the situation over with Harry, Ruth decided on the assisted living facility.
B.
Lawrence Preston is a first-term congressman. The theme of the campaign that got him elected was to take government out of the hands of the special interest groups and return it to the people. Since taking office, however, he has been under consider- able pressure from several special interest groups to endorse bills he believes are against the best interests of his constituents. He has asked two senior members of his party for their advice and they said: “Look at it this way, Larry. In order to represent your constituents’ interests, you’ve got to stay in office. And you’ll never get re-elected without the support of the special interest groups. So you’d better do as they say for a while. Postpone being a hero for a few terms.” He decides to take their advice.
C.
Ramona is a 35-year-old police woman who looks no older than 25. Her latest assignment is to go undercover and pose as a student at a university because the police suspect that a major drug operation is being run there. After a month on the job, she has made a number of friends among the students and faculty. Though she has no evidence that any of them are involved in the drug operation, she be- gins to feel guilty about not being able to be honest with them. Is it morally ac- ceptable for her to continue on the assignment?
exercise 69
Find an ethical issue currently being discussed on campus. Analyze the issue, using the three-step approach for evaluating ethical issues. Detail your findings below.