University College of Bahrain Code of Professional Ethics and Practices Questions

Part one: Journal (one page)

Complete this moral identification exercise exercise – Alternative Formats , and compare your answers to that in the answer key answer key – Alternative Formats .

Then go to the left side of Blackboard and click on Journal and then this week’s entry. (The link above is a shortcut.)

In your entry, answer the questions below. Show each question followed by your answer.

1. How many of the 13 moral problems did you identify correctly? This question is not designed to grade you, or make you feel bad. Some students will get a score of 0, others 13, and others something in-between. The point is for you to see what your current level of awareness of moral problems is.
2. Review any of the moral problems that you may have identified correctly. How did you know to flag these areas? Among other things, consider how you might have drawn from past coursework, professional development, personal experience, the experience of others, and media consumption.
3. What, if anything, surprised you?
4. Review the codes of conduct from the Public Relations Society of America and American Association for Public Opinion Research. Then identify at least 1 value or principle from each document that was not observed in the moral identification exercise (thus you should discuss a minimum of 2 values). Cite as appropriate.
5. How can you enhance your awareness of the moral problems that you may encounter throughout your career as a communication professional?

Part two: ( In few sentences)

In Week 04, you will start a critical examination of one or more actual moral problems that have surfaced in your current career as a communication professional or one or more potential problems that may arise in your future dream job as a communication professional. In particular, you will submit four different sections of a Memo. If you have not already done so, review the requirements for completing the Memo assignment.

Then go to the left side of Blackboard and click on Discussions and then this forum. (The link above is a shortcut.)

Then think of one or more actual moral problems related to a communication study or communication project that you may want to address. This may be the hardest part of the assignment, so by starting to think about this now, you are giving your instructor time to provide feedback and yourself an opportunity to refine the moral problem or problems before the first section of the Memo is due. In your post, indicate (a) what decision the organization must make and (b) what the one or more moral problems are.

Example from classmates:

1)I chose the Relx for my ethical analysis. Relx is an e-cigarette brand, similar to Juul. What differs from Juul is that Relx has a wide range of flavors for customers, such as fruit, soda, ice cream, etc. Also, they have a lot of good-looking appearances to attract consumers. Instead of telling the public about the dangers of smoking and artificial flavors in their advertisements, they are constantly introducing new flavors and good looks to attract more young people and even teenagers.

a) Relx should stop selling all flavored e-cigarettes. This would make teenagers less obsessed and less attracted to e-cigarettes and would allow adults who really like to smoke to have their needs met.

b) I think Relx is suspicious of using all kinds of new flavors and cool looks to attract teenagers to smoke. Many teenagers are not able to accept the taste of tobacco at first; Relx has taken advantage of this by introducing many flavors to get teenagers addicted to the feeling of vaping and gradually drive them to become addicted to smoking.

Example two:

McDonald’s is the company I want to discuss in this memo. McDonald’s is a multinational chain of fast food restaurants originating from Southern California in the United States and the largest fast food chain in the world.

A) McDonald’s should disclose to customers the source of its raw materials and the effects of fast food on the human body.

B) McDonald’s has been accused in Hong Kong of using expired poultry in its raw materials. And McDonald’s has been accused of negatively impacting the environment in more than one way.