3.1 Ethics Today
Lana Iapicco and Marie Torres
3.1 Ethics Today
Every day, people make ethical choices about how they communicate. For example:
- Is it ever okay to lie to an audience if you believe it’s for their benefit?
- Should you use evidence that might be inaccurate if it supports your message?
- As a listener, should you ignore speakers you strongly disagree with?
These are just a few ethical dilemmas that speakers and listeners face. In this chapter, we’ll explore what it means to be ethical in public speaking—both when giving a speech and when listening to one.
We’ll start by introducing the , a model that helps explain ethical communication. Then, we’ll look at how the National Communication Association’s Credo for Ethical Communication applies to public speaking. Finally, we’ll discuss the role of in ethical communication.
Ethics can mean different things to different people. Whether it’s a business scandal, a political controversy, or a debate about medical decisions, ethical issues are everywhere. In public speaking, ethical questions often come up around things like:
-
- What sources and evidence are okay to use?
- How much should a speaker adjust their message for the audience?
- What makes a speech truly ethical?
Licenses and Attribution
CC Licensed Content, Original
Speech Communication was created by Lana Iapicco and Marie Torres. Independently created original and AI-assisted content developed specifically for this book is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.
This educational material includes content generated or revised with the assistance of large language models. Lana Iapicco and Marie Torres reviewed, edited, and take responsibility for the final published content.
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“Ethics Today”
Adapted in part from “5.1 The Ethics Pyramid” and Chapter 5: Ethics by Douglas Marshall, James Yeargain, June Pulliam, Sara Kim, and Victoria VanNest, published in It’s About Them: Public Speaking in the 21st Century by LOUIS: The Louisiana Library Network.
The source material is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. The material was revised, reorganized, condensed, and supplemented with original and AI-assisted content for this edition.
Adapted portions derived from these sources, including revisions to those portions, are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Independently created portions developed specifically for Speech Communication are licensed under the book’s Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.
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developed by Elspeth Tilley; involved three basic concepts: intent, means and ends
according to Merriam Webster’s Dictionary of Law, free speech entails “the right to express information, ideas, and opinions free of government restrictions based on content and subject only to reasonable limitations (as the power of the government to avoid a clear and present danger) esp. as guaranteed by the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution” (Freedom of speech)
