Brittani Wilkins
Journalism 4470: Ethics, Law & Diversity in Strategic Communications
Topic: The need for ethics in media and business decision-making.
Ethics in media and business relations are essential in order to justify a particular situation and make rational decisions that are in the best interest of the company as well as the audience and/or public. In class, we discussed how open communication between any organization and its audience builds trust and loyalty, both with the brand or organization and its target market. A formal code of ethics is necessary to choose the best course of action. Sometimes the morals and values of a business may not reflect the organization’s actions, following particular situations of crisis.
In recent news, there are several instances of which a public relations team has had to figure out how to handle different situations, both good and bad. The Carnival Corporation has been flooded (no pun indented) with several issues of which courses of action to take in regards to the tragedy of the Costa Concordia crash. The Costa Concordia ship managed to sail entirely too close to the coast, which resulted in a huge hole being torn in the bottom portion of the ship. The actions of the crew members, especially those of the cruise captain have managed to gain tons of negative publicity for both the crew members as well as the Carnival Corporation.
The New York Daily News presented an article stating that the Carnival Corporation has issued an offer of $14, 460 to each cruise survivor for their pain and suffering. Of course, this deal came shortly following a crew member who filed a $100 million suit against the Carnival Corporation. Over the years, Carnival has been a very well-known and prestigious cruise line, but the actions demonstrated in the midst of the tragedy has caused Carnival’s crisis management team to sort through all of the madness and figure out the best possible method to handle a situation of this stature. In my opinion, the recent offers to victims of the tragedy seems a bit lackadaisical, to say the least. Initially, when I heard that the cruise line was offering incentives such as a ten percent discount on the next cruise they book with Carnival , my mouth dropped. Time Magazine released an article of a statement issued by Costa Cruise line denying this offer. First, we will take a look at a portion of the statement and then I will proceed to dissect it through understanding. It is as follows: With reference to news reports on discounts and promotional offers, Costa Cruises feels bound to point out that the company has never offered any discount on future cruises to guests who were on board the Costa Concordia for the cruise of January 13th and involved in the tragic accident. The information published by a newspaper and reported in various news outlets is totally unfounded, as is confirmed by the English passenger who was quoted by the newspaper.
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On a joint basis with rescue teams, the Company worked to provide evacuated passengers and crew members with all the necessary assistance to ensure they were able to return home. Subsequently it contacted guests by telephone, after they had returned home, to check on their physical and emotional wellbeing, and to confirm that they will receive a refund for the cruise and all material expenses relating to it.
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Driven by its sense of ethics and the values of fairness and responsibility which guide it, the company has also given all customers with bookings for future Costa cruises the possibility, if feeling afraid, to cancel their cruise booking by giving notice no later than February 7th. All travel agents who work with the Company were informed of this days ago.
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Time Magazine provided this portion of the statement. Please click the link to view more about the story.)
This portion of the statement obviously denies any efforts to offer any form of discount towards future cruises and even had this confirmed by one passenger. Only one? I’m wondering if any other passengers were offered a discount or promotional advantage of any sort. Aside from my questionable opinion, the statement proceeds to point out the ethics and values driven by fairness and responsibility. I feel that companies should always provide a reminder of its organization’s beliefs and values when issuing a statement. This sends a constant reminder to any audience that the company understands the value of taking action and making an effort in trying to serve the victims in the best interest. I’m not too sure if $14, 460 and a refund quite do that in my opinion. We’re talking about victims who have lost their loved ones here. These are lives we are dealing with.
Overall, this news story has been very interesting to follow. Seeing how the company has been attempting to handle this situation and applying them into discussion of my ethics class really gives me a sense of the tough decisions that PR professionals have to make.
An Ad Major.
Sources: The New York Daily News, TIME Magazine
