Article archive / July 1, 2010
Originally published: . Volume 1, No. 11. Source pages: 2, 15.
In the June edition of PT I reported that Dr. Comaty had written to me with some complaints and concerns, and that I had written back. I found out that PT had been placed on the board’s May 14th agenda, but I hadn’t heard anything myself. So I asked to speak at their next meeting, which was last Friday. I was allowed to make a “comment,” so I dragged Dr. Tom Hannie along for moral support, and made the following remarks.
“I didn’t understand the reason for Dr. Comaty’s letter, or why it was copied to the board members, or the lack of a reply. So, I’ve come to comment today. I’m available at other times for an honest and mutually respectful discussion about a good working relationship between the board and Psychology Times.
For today, I want to say first that the mission of the board and of the Times is not all that different. The board enforces ethical standards and I want to facilitate people protecting their own rights by freedom of information.
The APA code uses words that many journalism codes use:
“…respect and protect civil and human rights and the central importance of freedom of inquiry and expression… …strive to help the public in developing informed judgments and choices… …seek to promote accuracy, honesty, and truthfulness…”
Politics have negatively influenced the ethical climate of our community to an excessive degree. LAMP, and to some extent LPA, are understandably organizations with self-interest goals. But there is a troubling decline in moral reasoning within our community. This is one of the main reasons I created the Times.
This erosion in our ethical climate should also concern the board.
I provide this chart [below] to help see that an organizational climate of self-interest (high egoistic, low benevolent, low principled) relates to unethical behaviors in individuals, and should not be ignored.
In regard to my role as a journalist, I investigated the matter by consulting with two experts in ethics for psychologists. I laid out the issues with the APA ethics investigator. I also consulted Dr. Michael Gottlieb, who is writing the new APA ethics handbook. Both said the ethics code does not bear on my work as a journalist.
There are a number of journalism codes of ethics, all having to do with seeking the truth, reporting it the best you can, and being sensitive to the impacts. My father said it this way, “Tell the truth and don’t libel anybody.”
There’ll be some growing pains for all of us as we get used to having a community newspaper. Thomas Jefferson said that the free press is the only security, and “The agitation it produces must be submitted to. It is necessary, to keep the waters pure."
It is not my goal to cause more agitation than is absolutely necessary in my efforts to find and report facts to those who have a right to know. If I’ve reported something incomplete or inaccurate, I’m happy to clarify. Call upon me to do so and you will find that I am willing and cooperative.
I know that the board is committed to a principled ethical climate as well as the individual’s right to information. I am devoted to these goals too, and I can see no valid reason why we cannot work together.”
They all listened politely and Dr. Rovaris later thanked me for my presentation. I left a set of questions, a “written inquiry,” about the board and 251.
Adapted from “Bad Apples, Bad Cases, and Bad Barrels: Meta- Analytic Evidence About Sources of Unethical Decisions at Work.” J. Kish-Gephard, D. Harrison, L. Trevino. In J. of Applied Psychology, 95, 1. Copyright 2010 APA. Reproduced with permission.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.