Professor Tom Bivins speaks to an ethics symposium crowd. The answer to that seemingly simple question is at the heart of the recent furor over yet another president's indiscretions and the subsequent feeding frenzy that seems to have plunged the credibility of the media to newer and even deeper lows. Because the existing laws on privacy tend to give far more leverage to journalists than to public figures, the real question is not whether our actions are legal, but whether our ethical obligation as journalists extends beyond the letter of the law. It is common knowledge that legality doesn't equal ethicality.
Laws can only codify the most obvious societal offenses.
They cannot, and probably should not, attempt to dictate morality. The bottom line is that ethicality often goes beyond the law and instructs us in the finer points of compassion, integrity and civility. The more other people know about us, the less control we have over our own destinies. The bottom line is that ethicality often goes beyond the law and instructs us in the finer points of compassions, integrity, and civility. The Clinton-Lewinsky scandal is a perfect case in point.