QUESTIONS
* STATE THE BASIC FACTS OF THE CASE
* WAS THE STORY NEWSWORTHY? WHY?
* WHO WERE THE MORAL AGENTS AND STAKEHOLDERS? WHAT IS THEIR SPECIFIC JOB OR ROLE RELATED ACTIVITIES?
* WHAT ARE THE THEOROTICAL ETHICAL ISSUESS THAT CAME UP IN THE CASE?
* WHAT ARE THE ETHICAL DILEMMAS THAT IS OR ONE OF THE MORAL AGENTS INVOLVED IN THIS CASE
* WHAT ACTION WOULD YOU TAKE AND WHY?
INTRODUCTION
On January 27 2010, a Journalist and Editor of the New Punch Newspaper, Ebenezer Ato Sam also known as Baby Ansaba, made a confession of how he has fabricated stories about President Atta Mills, the then candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), now the President of Ghana.
BASIC FACT OF THE CASE
Baby Ansaba said he made false reportage about the health status of President Mills in other to ridicule him and make him unpopular among his opponents as they contested for the presidency of the country. In his reportage Baby Ansaba published stories about how sickly Professor Mills was and suggesting that he was going to fall dead in no time.
Again Baby Ansaba denounced his unethical past and turning over a new leaf as far as his professional practice as a journalist is concerned. He said he was grateful to President Mills for the opportunity given him to travel with the President on an official trip to Trinidad and Tobago. He asserted that former President Kuffuor never gave him such an opportunity in his eight years in power despite the favors he rendered to the government, saying he was used by former President Kuffuor to malign others prior to the election.
In the end, he declared his regret for using his paper to publish lies about the then candidate of the NDC Professor Evans Attah Mills.
NEWSWORTHY OF THE STORY
The pronouncement of Baby Ansaba was news worthy because in the first place the story involved personalities like the former flag bearer of the NDC and now President of the Republic of Ghana, Professor John Evans Atta Mills, and former President J. A. Kuffuor. Also, as he Baby Ansaba is a respected veteran Journalist and owns his own news paper.
For him to again publish stories about the health conditions of the then Presidential hopeful of the NDC and later come back to denounce his own reports that he had made and people had believed in was news worthy. The issue of the health of President Mills had generated a lot of interest in the past and still continues to bother most Ghanaians.
Therefore for him to report on such an issue and later come back to say all his reports were falsehoods makes the issue news worthy.
A newsworthy story is determined by its Timeliness, Prominence, Consequence and above all Human Interest and Baby Ansaba’s confession had all these determinants.
Timely because his pronouncement came at a time when most Ghanaians were still battling within their thoughts whether President Mills was still sick as asserted by some sections of the public prior to the 2008 elections. Another aspect is prominence because the story involved important people in the society that is, the President and Former President.
Consequence because his publications about Prof. Mills then demoralized his party members and the voter population and had an impact on his chances of winning the election only for him to later pronounce that all was falsehoods. Also, a story is newsworthy if it relates to people thus, it has human interest and the issue about Baby Ansaba’s fabricated stories and confessions is one that is of interest to Ghanaians.
MORAL AGENTS AND SPECIFIC JOB OR ROLE
In this issue the person who makes the decision or who is responsible for the decision is Ebenezer Ato Sam, popularly called Baby Ansaba. He is the moral agent of this issue as he was faced with making a decision that will affect others. He found himself in a fix by which he had to make a careful choice that will in effect be justified.
As a journalist, he is supposed to command credibility from his readership as well as the general public. Credibility is a measurement of how well a journalist is trusted and if the public perceives him as truthful and unbiased Folkerts and Lacy (2001).
As a result Baby Ansaba chose to come out and publicly confess that he had lied and that he had regretted his actions and hence decided to turn a new leaf as far as the practice of professional journalism was concern.
This placed his credibility status in jeopardy as people will begin to perceive him as biased and dishonest and also because he had gone contrary to the codes of ethics that guide his conduct which requires that he publishes unbiased, accurate, balanced and comprehensive information.
STAKEHOLDERS AND THEIR SPECIFIC JOB OR ROLE
The stakeholders involve in this case are President Mills and former President Kuffuor. This is because Baby Ansaba claimed that former President Kuffuor used him to discredit President Mills and his party when he was aspirin for the presidency. President Mills was the object of the act as the fabricated stories were about his health status.
THE ETHICAL DILEMMAS THAT THE MORAL AGENTS FACED IN THIS CASE
As a Journalist, one is always faced with options in order to make an ethical decision which becomes an ethical dilemma. “An ethical dilemma is a complex situation that will often involve an apparent mental conflict between moral imperatives in which to obey one would result in transgressing another.”(www.wikipedia.org)
Balancing Conflict Of Interest
The interest of the moral agent’s individual conscience: In this instance, Baby Ansaba before making a decision to publish stories about President Mills would have battled with his individual conscience as to publish the story or not. This individual conscience would influence his decision to report the story and if his conscience tells him it is fine to that then he had to publish the story.
On the contrary if that conscience does tell him that it is not good to publish falsehoods then he would not have done that. Relating to Baby Ansaba’s publication on President Mills’ health and the NDC his conscience may have succeeded in convincing him to publish untruth stories knowing very well that he owns it a duty to ensure Truth and Honesty in his reportage. In essence, Baby Ansaba’s interest of his individual conscience took precedence over that of Truth and Honesty.
The interest of the objects of the act (whom the writing is against): Also, the interest of the objects of the act thus the stakeholders influenced Baby Ansaba’s decision to finally come out and profess his unethical behavior. This is because the story bothered on Prof. Mills who has eventually won the elections and is currently the President of Ghana and also because former President Kuffour who he claimed used him to malign others is in opposition as well as his party.
The question one may ask again is that would he have come out to make these confessions if Professor Mills had not won the elections?
Personal Interest: Media Professionals in their everyday work are always under pressure to avoid allowing personal activities or interests to interfere with their professional responsibilities. They have an obligation to strive for unbiased, objective and accurate reportage of issues. Again, Baby Ansaba was faced with an ethical dilemma of coming out to confess the falsehoods he had published earlier. This confession was a decision he had to make after comparing the choices available.
It raises the question of whether Baby Ansaba’s declaration of guilt was not sparked off by his personal interest or personal gain. His confession came after he had gone on a trip to Trinidad and Tobago with the President stating that he is “grateful to the President for giving him the opportunity to travel with him on an official trip to Trinidad and Tobago”.
One may ask that would he have come out to make this declaration if he had not been privileged to travel with the President or was his confession because he indeed regrets his actions and needs to make a U-turn.
THE THEORETICAL ETHICAL ISSUES IN THE CASE
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY THEORY
According to the social responsibility theory, the media should operate in a given system of social values. The theory espouses that the media be driven to benefit the public as it expects journalists to answer society's need for truth and accurate information and requires an honest updates of current events. In this case, Baby Ansaba while ensuring his freedom of speech granted him must optimally demonstrate his responsibilities towards society through the supply of information that is truth, accurate, objective and balancing of their report.
Also, the media is supposed to avoid spreading materials that might offend minority groups. Relating to this case the NDC as a political party falls in that category of being a minority group at the time of Baby Ansaba’s supposed lies publication and his report offended them. Moreover the publications damaged the image of the character and person of the candidate of the party and reduced the morale of the supporters of the party. Baby Ansaba went contrary to this theory by publishing untruths about the NDC.
IMMANUEL KANT’S CATEGORICAL IMPERATIVE
Immanuel Kant’s Categorical Imperative comes into play as Baby Ansaba makes an ethical decision to confess or not. This theory is based on the notion that it is the act itself, rather than the person who acts in which moral force resides.
For Kant, an action is justified only if it was performed from a duty. In this case, Baby Ansaba’s confession stemmed from the performance of the strict duties. The strict duties which are generally negative require media professionals ‘not to lie’. He realized that he had lied to the public about the health condition of President Mills and in making the decision to come out and confess he made an ethical reasoning to perform a strict duty.
This theory again indicates that as long as you perform the right act based on the Categorical Imperative and duty demand, the consequences of the act are not important. Hence he did not care about the criticisms he was going to face from the general public or the consequences of his pronouncement on his credibility as a result of his confession.
One most vital issue about this theory is that it allows people to learn from their mistakes and that Baby Ansaba exhibited by stating that he regrets his actions.
As a Media Professional, one is guided by a set of principles which is the Code of Ethics. These codes of ethics standardize journalist’s behavior in the discharge of their duties. It guides them in their bid to make decisions that affect others in the society. For instance according to the Ghana Journalists Association Code of Ethics Article 1(1):
“The duty of every journalist is to write and report the truth bearing in mind his her duty to serve the public.” This ensures that media professionals must display high ethical standards in the practice of their duties. Ethics direct media professionals when they find themselves between two competing moral choices.
IDEAL ETHICAL DECISION
In this situation as a media professional, one should not have come out in the first place to publish a story that was untrue about a person. That is one should not have published stories about Prof. Mills knowing very well that was not the truth. This is because it is the media professional’s fundamental duty to ensure Truth and Honesty in his/her reportage.
OR
Secondly should that happen, thus publish untruth stories about Prof. Mills, one should immediately come out and publish the truth and apologize to the general public for lying to them. Instead one must not wait to receive a favor from President Mills then afterwards come out to make a confession. This will be considered as being tainted by the favor you received from the President Mills.
However should one find him/herself in this situation, the ethical choice that will be considered is that of the Kant’s Categorical Imperative which allows that I can perform the right which is ‘not to lie’ based on a duty therefore the consequences does not matter.
REFERENCES
Folkerts Jean & Lacy |Stephen, (2001) 2nd Ed. The Media In Your Life: An Introduction to Mass Communication, Allyn and Bacon; USA
Ghana Journalists Association Code of Ethics
www.myjoyonline.com (February 2010)
www.wikipedia.org
