Yuet Ling LawComms 300Ethic PaperCase III-D: The Plagiarism Factory1. The ethical issueThe advertising manager of the student-run newspaper Louisville Cardinal decided not to run the ready-made research papers advertisement on the newspaper. At least one of the newspaper advisor disagreed with the rejection because they worried that it would be the beginning of an advertising censorship. 2. Relevant factsThe newspaper is a student-run independent newspaper of the university that the newspaper advisors do not prohibit the newspaper from running any questionable advertisements. Moreover, the newspaper had run the advertisement weekly for years. The advertisement urges students to send two dollar to the company or to call the toll-free hotline for a catalog of ready-made research papers. Rejecting the advertisement leads to a lost of $111.36 revenue of the newspaper for weekly advertisement space for a year from the ready-made research company. The newspaper staff, including the advertising manager loses their commission from rejecting the advertisement. Some newspaper advisors concern about the rejection would become the start of an advertisement censorship. The newspaper do not run any advertisements that deceive or encourage other to deceive and it has only refused to run this one single advertisement.3. ClaimantsThe claimants in this issue include students, the ready-made research company, the newspaper itself, the advertising manager, newspapers advisors, the university, and the community.Students are the majority of the newspaper reader. They expect the newspaper to provide valuable information to them. Although we shouldnt judge their integrity, running a ready-made research paper advertisement will give them access to immoral activities. The newspaper should help maintain good moral standard of students. From the clients point of view, the newspaper has the obligation to run the advertisement once the company has paid for it and if it has space. The newspaper has run the advertisement for years that it didnt reject the advertisement before. This may have given the client an impression that the ad was suitable to be run on the newspaper. The newspaper itself provides valuable information to students. It concerns about students honesty that it does not accept any advertisements that encourage people to deceive. The advertising manager has the obligation to maintain the profit of newspaper from advertising revenue. It is also her obligation to check the content of advertisements run on the newspaper to make sure they comply with the newspapers ethical policies. The newspapers advisors have the right to check the press freedom of the newspaper. They think the advertising manager should not act as censor and hold editorial judgment on advertisements. They think that the newspaper should not reject any advertisements.The University has the obligation to teach students to be ethical. It emphasizes on students honesty and integrity that they hope their students to be honest and not to buy ready-made research paper.[footnoteRef:1] [1: University of Louisville. (2008). Ethically Conduct Teaching and Research. University of Louisville Institutional Compliance. Retrieved Mar 3, 2014 from http://louisville.edu/compliance/Code]

To the community, which includes those who do not fit into above categories, university newspaper articles and advertisements should comply with moral standards and encourage students to be ethical. They have the right to check the moral standard of the students since the students compose majority of the society. The community has high expectation on them.4. Alternative courses of actionThere are four alternative courses of action on this issue: continue to reject the advertisement and explain the decision to students, run the advertisement, run the advertisement but with edited wordings, and run the advertisement but in small space on the newspaper. The best-case scenario of continuing rejecting the advertisement is that this option complies with universitys ethical policies and students moral standard is not tested. By explaining the decision to students, the newspaper is said to be transparent. The worst-case scenario is that the newspapers reputation is damaged because of the advertising censorship. Newspaper revenue from advertising is therefore decreased.The best-case scenario of running the advertisement is that the newspaper is not judged to have censored advertisements and newspaper revenue is not affected that it has stable income. The worst-case is that more students order ready-made research paper because of the advertisements that their moral standard decreased.The best-case scenario of running the edited wordings advertisement is that the newspapers reputation is not damaged and fewer students notice the advertisement. Students moral standard is not tested easily. The worst-case of it is that the ready-made research paper company feels being betrayed and does not want to continue run their advertisement on the newspaper. Newspaper revenue will decrease. The best-case scenario of running the advertisement in small space is that fewer students notice the advertisement and fewer students order their products, but the newspaper still has stable income. The worst-case is that company does not want to continue running the advertisement on the newspaper. Harm:Any action will cause some harm to some party, in different degrees. Newspaper loses revenue and staff loses commission if they reject running the ad. On the other hand, newspaper loses its reputation and client is upset if the advertisement is rejected. There is no alternative that doesnt cause harm to any party.

Ideals: There are different ideals for different party in this case. To the client and advisors, they care about newspapers freedom from censorship. The clients want to ensure their profit, and the advisors want to make sure the newspaper is not running censorship campaign. To students, they care about their freedom of choice. They have the right to choose what to read on the newspaper and to decide their actions. They do not want to be controlled. To the university and parents, they concern about if the newspaper respects the ethical principles. Conflicting ideals:Although different parties want to ensure their ideals being upheld, different ideals conflict with each other. The freedom from censorship is most likely against the ethical principles that are upheld by the universities and community. To ensure newspapers advertisements comply with university ethical principles, advertising manager needs to check the newspaper and take out sensitive advertisements from it. Also, students freedom of choice on newspaper content, including advertisements is violated if newspaper honors the ethical principle. The majority of the community most likely supports the newspapers decision on upholding ethical principle, despite some disagreements within the society, such as the advisors and clients whom uphold freedom from censorship.Rules:The International Charters Ethical Advertising Standard 405 article 4 states that advertisements should not encourage people to do unlawful things.[footnoteRef:2] The ready-made research paper advertisement encourages students to purchase research paper written by others, and turn them in as students own work. Claiming other people work as ones original work is plagiarism. The advertisement is encouraging people to plagiarize, which is unlawful. [2: International Charter. (2012). Social Responsibility. EAS-405- Ethical Advertising Standard. Retrieved Mar 5 2014 from http://www.icharter.org/standards/eas405/index.html]

5. Ethical guidelinesThere are three types of ethical guideline one can use to examine the consequence of ones action. They are Mills principle, Kants principle and Aristotles principle. Mills harm principle suggests that a persons liberty might be restrained to prevent harm an action would be done to others.[footnoteRef:3] In this case, rejecting the ad is to prevent damages on students integrity by the advertisement. Students are still learning to be people with integrity. They might not be able to make perfect judgment at the moment. [3: Bivins, T. (2009).Mixed Media : Moral Distinctions in Advertising, Public Relations, and Journalism. New York, NY: Routledge. 94]

Mill also asks if the intent of ones decision making is based on egoism, that one makes the decision for ones own benefit. If the advertising manager wants to get benefits for the newspaper and for herself, she should run the advertisement since it could keep the newspaper revenue stable and avoid advertising censorship. However, one should not forget the advertising manager and newspaper staff is also part of the society. They should make the best decision for the society too. If the newspaper runs the advertisement, students might think the newspaper rationalize students buying ready-made research paper. Although it is an independent student-run newspaper, its staff and advisors are part of the University. Continue to run the advertisement may have bad influence to the students. Therefore, that may not be the best decision.Except the harm principle, Mill also stressed on the goodness of consequences of an act. He suggested the greatest good for the greatest number.[footnoteRef:4] That means, ones decision should be able to bring good to the society.[footnoteRef:5] In this case, the majority party is the student body. They make up large proportion of the society. They are the passive majority while the newspaper and the client are active minority in this case. What is harmful to students is harmful to the society. Under principle of utilitarianism, the best choice is not to run the advertisement. [4: Christians, C. G. (2007). Utilitarianism in Media Ethics and Its Discontents.Journal Of Mass Media Ethics,22(2/3), 114. doi:10.1080/08900520701315640] [5: Elliott D. (2007) Getting Mill Right, Journal of Mass Media Ethics: Exploring Questions of Media Morality,22:2-3, 100, DOI: 10.1080/08900520701315806]

Kants moral model suggests that one should respect others and to seek to advance the interests of others and work on behalf of their happiness. This implies that the decision one makes should be able to do goods to others. [footnoteRef:6] The advertising manager should strive to do good for others, including students, clients, and the society as a whole. One must remember the ready-made research company is also one party in the society. Under Kants model, rejecting the advertisement lowers students access to unlawful activities. Students integrity will not be tested easily. However, rejecting the advertisement will lead to damage of students freedom of choice and decrease newspapers income. [6: Bivins, T. H. (2004).Mixed Media : Moral Distinctions in Advertising, Public Relations, and Journalism. Mahwah, N.J.: L. Erlbaum Associates. 87.]

Kants model also asks if ones intent of thee action free from ones private interest or benefits.[footnoteRef:7] In this case, rejecting the advertisement does not bring any private benefits to the advertising manager or the newspaper itself. The manager makes this decision for the benefits of the students. She also shows respect to clients and staff that she has explained her decision to them clearly and politely. [7: ibid.]

Lastly, Aristotle golden mean suggests that virtuous act lies between extremes. The middle ground in this case is to partially running the advertisement. However, partially running the advertisement is still violating the Ethical Advertising Standard. It is still encouraging people to do unlawful things. Therefore, the golden mean principle is not fully applicable in this case.Aristotle also states that one should choose the right action out of ones intent to choose the right.[footnoteRef:8] It is not about the consequence of the action. The advertising manager chooses not to run the advertisement out of students benefits. Her action is rationalized. [8: Cunningham. B. S. (1999) Getting It Right: Aristotle's "GoldenMean" as Theory Deterioration, Journal of Mass Media Ethics: Exploring Questions ofMedia Morality, 14:1, 8, DOI: 10.1207/S15327728JM140101]

6. DecisionI will continue reject to run the advertisement and write a notice explaining the decision on removing the advertisement on the newspaper. I will explain clearly my reasoning to anyone who has questions about my decision.7. DefenseTo the newspapers advisor and client, rejecting running an advertisement is a violation of press freedom, and one is holding advertising censorship. This may applies to major newspaper in the society. However, the Louisville Cardinal is the only student-run newspaper of the university, while our readers are mostly college students. There are a great number of them in the society. We are to provide information to them, and we care about what message is brought to them when they read. They read the newspaper and they are influenced by its content. As an advertising manager, I have to make sure the advertisements we run comply with the university ethical principle that we do not encourage students to do unlawful activities. Explaining my decision on the newspaper can increase newspapers transparency and respect the students, advisors and the ready-made research paper company. There is high possibility that the students will see the advertisements and buy the products. Therefore, I think the best choice is not to run the advertisement.