speech ethics

7/21/2019 speech ethics

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WEEK 4

ETHICS & PUBLIC

SPEAKINGCOURSE: GENERAL LANGUAGE

TRAINING

LECTURER: SABRINA MAHMOOD



1) THE IMPORTANCEOF ETHICS

Speechmaking is a form of power andtherefore carries with it heavy ethicalresponsibilities.

Ethics is the branch of philosophy that dealswith issues of right and wrong in humanaairs.

Questions of ethics arise whenever we ask

whether a course of action is moral orimmoral, fair or unfair, just or unjust, honestor dishonest.



Questions of ethics also come into play

whenever a public speaker faces an

audience.

Power of speech is often abused,

sometimes with disastrous results.

dolf !itler was un"uestionably a

persuasive speaker. !owever his aims

were horrifying and his tactics despicable.

!e remains to this day the ultimatee#ample of why the power of the spoken

word needs to be guided by a strong

sense of ethical integrity.



s a public speaker, you will faceethical issues at every stage of thespeechmaking process$ from the initialdecision to speak through the %nalpresentation of the message.



2) GUIDELINES FOR

ETHICAL SPEAKING

I MAKE SURE YOUR



I MAKE SURE YOURGOALS ARE ETHICALLY

SOUND &our %rst responsibility as a speaker is to askwhether our goals are ethically sound.

'uring (orld (ar )), !itler stirred the *erman

people to condone war, invasion, and genocide.

+ore recently we have seen politicians and

public %gures e.g- ance rmstrong/ betray thepublic trust for personal gain, business leaders

who defraud investors of millions of dollars, etc. 0here can be no doubt that these are notworthy goals.



II) BE FULLY PREPARED

FOR EACH SPEECH

&ou have an obligation$ to yourself andto your listeners$ to prepare fully everytime you stand in front of an audience.

0he person who makes a bad 12minutes speech to an audience of 322people wastes only a half hour of his

own time. 4ut that same speakerwastes 522 hours of the audience6stime. 0his should be a hanging oense7



4ut neither the si8e nor the

composition of your audience changesyour ethical responsibility to be fullyprepared.

&our speech classmates are as worthy

of your best eort.

4eing prepared for a speech involveseverything from analy8ing your

audience to creating visual aids,organi8ing your ideas, to rehearsingyour delivery.



s a speaker you have an ethicalresponsibility to consider the impact

and to make sure you have preparefully so as not to communicateerroneous information or misleadingadvice.

9o matter what the topic, no matterwhat the audience, you need to e#ploreyour speech topic as thoroughly as

possible.)nvestigate the whole story, learn aboutall sides of an issue, seek outcompeting viewpoints, get the facts

right.



III) BE HONEST IN WHAT YOU SAY

9othing is more important to ethicalspeechmaking than honestly.

Public speaking rests on the unspokenassumption, that :words can be trustedand people will be truthful;.

(ithout this assumption, there is no basis

for communication, no reason for oneperson to believe anything that anotherperson says.

<nce the bond of trust between a speakerand listener is broken it can never be full



Subtle forms of dishonesty are just

unethical. 0hey include juggling statistics, "uotingout of conte#t, misrepresenting thesources of facts and %gures, citing

unusual cases as typical e#amples, etc.

ll of these violate the speaker6s dutyto be accurate and fair in presenting

information.



IV) AVOID NAME-CALLING

AND OTHER FORMS OF

ABUSIVE LANGUAGE(ords are powerful weapons that canleave psychological scars.

9ame$calling is the use of language todefame, demean, or degradeindividuals or groups.

Such terms have been used to debasepeople because of their ethnicsbackground, religious beliefs, or se#ualorientation.

&ou demean the dignity of these



V) PUT ETHICALPRINCIPLES INTO

PRACTICE(e are all familiar with people who sayone thing and do another.

4eing ethical means behaving ethicallyall the time, not only when it isconvenient.



3) PLAGIARISM

Plagiarism means to present anotherperson6s language or ideas as your own$to give the impression you have writtenor thought something yourself when you

have actually taken it from someone else.)f you are caught plagiari8ing in class, thepunishment can range from a failinggrade to e#pulsion from school.

)f you are caught plagiari8ing outside theclassroom, you stand you forfeit yourgood name, to damage your career, or of

you are sued to lose a large amount of



I) GLOBAL

PLAGIARISM

*lobal plagiarism is stealing yourspeech entirely from another sourceand passing it o as your own.

0he best way to avoid this is not toleave your speech until the last minute.

4y starting early you will give yourself

plenty of time to prepare a %rst$ratespeech, a speech of your own.

)



II) PATCHWORK

PLAGIARISM

=nlike global plagiarism, in which aspeaker pirates an entire speech from asingle source, patchwork plagiarismoccurs when a speaker pilfers from two

or three sources.

Speakers who consult a wide range ofresearch materials are less likely to fall

into the trap of plagiarism than arespeakers who rely on a limited numberof sources.



III) INCREMENTAL

PLAGIARISM

)ncremental plagiarism- Plagiarism cane#ist even when the speech as a wholeis not pirated.

)t occurs when the speaker fails to givecredit for ideas that are borrowed fromother people.

4e careful of your "uotations andparaphrasing.



4) GUIDELINES FORETHICAL LISTENING

Public speaking is not a one way street.

isteners also have their own ethicalobligations.



I) BE COURTEOUS AND

ATTENTIVE

)magine that you are giving a speech, andmany people are not paying attention orlistening to you. !ow would you feel>

(hen you listen to speeches, give thespeaker the same courtesy and attentionyou want from them.

?eep in mind the power you have as alistener over the speaker6s con%denceand composure.



II) AVOID PREUDGINGTHE SPEAKER

Speakers should strive to understandand respect the speakers beforeevaluating and responding to their

messages.

III) MAINTAIN THE FREE



III) MAINTAIN THE FREEAND OPEN E!PRESSION

OF IDEAS)n a free country, everyone has the right toe#press the ideas and viewpoint.

(hile you are listening to speeches, keep an

open mind, and respect their freedom ofe#pression.

!owever ensuring a person6s freedom toe#press their ideas does not imply agreement

with those ideas.

&ou can disagree entirely with the messagebut still support the speaker6s right to e#pressit.



)S@E <AES )@9



DISCUSSION

'o you think that the goals andcontents of the speech are ethical>

'id the speaker use abusive languageor name$calling>

(as the speaker prepared for thespeech>

'o you think the speaker had ful%lledhis ethical obligations>

speech ethics

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