The Case Controversy
On February 14th 2019, Goodloe Sutton, the editor and owner of the newspaper Democrat-Reporter wrote : "Time for the Ku Klux Klan to night ride again" to call on the racist Community to resurface in the United States. The journalist justifies his comments by saying that he is against raising taxes in Alabama. He wants the KKK to "clean up" in Washington D.C. to eliminate Democrats who want to raise taxes. According to Goodloe Sutton, Democrats are plotting for raising taxes, fees and duties in Alabama and the Ku Klux Klan would be a good organization to counter these decisions.
He describes these politicians as social-communist and defends his
ideas with violent words, trivializing violence and racism. Indeed, the writer minimizes the crimes of the racist
organization by talking about a limited number of people killed and the fact that
the clan only acted when the situation was legitimate. For the publisher, his
comments are not inappropriate, since he believes that Democrats are dangerous
for the United States and that they will transform the country into a communist
state. Goodloe Sutton
calls for the hanging of democrats and the lynching of groups which have
communist ideas.
As a
result of this article, many politicians, readers
and people in the world of journalism, stop subscribing to the newspaper. The
University of Southern Mississippi's School of Communication removed Goodloe
Sutton, who was one of their students, from its Mass Communication and
Journalism Hall of Fame because of his recent racist remarks. Moreover, the
representatives of the University of Southern Mississippi's School of
Communication said : "We strongly condemn Mr. Sutton's remarks as they are
antithetical to all that we value as scholars of journalism, the media, and
human communication." Goodloe Sutton also lost his distinguished community journalism award, from
Auburn University, that he had received in 2009. This controversy led to the editor's dismissal. Irony
of fate: the editor's subsitute is an African-American woman : Elecia R.
Dexter, a professional in management, human resources and politics.
The Stakeholders
This scandal affects
many people who are considered as the stakeholders of this controversy : Goodloe
Sutton since he is the one most affected by the consequences of his article, everyone
working for the newspaper because this controversy affects the reputation,
growth and profit of The Democrat-Reporter, the newspaper readers because this
scandal upsets their confidence and their view of their usual magazine, Democratic
politicians who are attacked for defamation and the victims of the Ku Klux Klan
who were hurt by the innapropriate comments.
The Theories
An individualist won't approve this scandal because the newspaper lost
its reputation, customers, Awards, honors and Goodloe Sutton lost his job,
which does not maximize the profit of the business. Moreover, Goodloe
Sutton's words incited hatred, violence and riots and his article is a
defamation of democratic politicians. For all these reasons, we can say that
Goodloe Sutton did not act in accordance with the law. Individualism considers
this case as unethical.
According to Utilitarianism, Goodloe
Sutton didn't act in an ethical way. First, the publisher has lost, as a result
of his article, his awards, his popularity with readers and his work for the
newspaper. Secondly, the company's reputation and image have been damaged
by these racist and violent statements and the credibility of other writers has
been disrupted, which doesn't maximize employees' happiness. Thirdly, the
Democrats who suffered from defamation are affected by this article because
they are described as social-communist and dangerous to society. Finally, those
affected by the Ku Klux Klan are wounded by this article, which recalls a
racist, xenophobic, violent and even murderous era in which they were victims.
Kantianism also qualified this article as
unethical because the reporter didn't treat people in a humane and respectful
way. Democratic politicians received defamatory comments because the
publisher spoke of them as socially dangerous social communists. The former
victims of the Ku Klux Klan had a look back at a difficult time for some
communities. The clan's crimes were violent, racist, anti-Semitic and
murderous, and had physical but also psychological consequences for its
victims. The people working for the magazine were hit by this event because the
business lost a lot of audience, money and its solid reputation.
Virtue
theory requires four important qualities and Goodloe Sutton only filled one,
which shows that his behavior was unethical. First, Goodloe Sutton's courage is high since
the publisher is taking risks to take a stand for his ideas and actions.
However, Sutton’s ideas are not considered as right because the writer stands
for racism and violence. Secondly, Goodloe Sutton assumes his extreme and
racist point of view and is perfectly honest about his way of thinking with his
readers. However, concerning the temperance, Goodloe Sutton, through his
article, did not demonstrate reasonable expectations and desires because he was
influenced by his vices. Finally, the fourth quality is not represented by
Goodloe Sutton's article. Indeed, the publisher did not demonstrate justice
through his words because his ideas were neither good nor fair.
Justificatied Ethics Evaluation
In my opinion, the journalist did not act
correctly in writing this article. By imposing his extreme and racist views, he
shocked many people. Freedom of expression is certainly part of the United States'
First Amendment, but Sutton's comments went beyond the limits. The publisher
has made comments that are racist, extreme, inappropriate, violent and
defamatory, which is against the law. That's why, I think less power and
importance should be given to the editor in order to avoid such mistakes. The
other journalists are all responsible for the content of the article since they
all represent the magazine. They could have checked the editor's comments given
his previous racist and borderline references.
My Action Plan
In the short term, I think it is important that the company aologizes for Goodloe Sutton's publication. Through a news release, other journalists can clear themselves of Sutton's comments, which were not approved by the rest of the team. By apologizing, the magazine can regain the confidence of its readers by showing its willingness to improve. Acknowledging its wrongs is a good way for The Democrat Reporter to move forward Following the controversy and to mark this event as a turning point in the history of business. This controversy has made very bad publicity for the newspaper, regaining the confidence of readers will be difficult but not impossible given that this is the first major scandal since the creation of the newspaper.
In order to avoid this kind of incident, I
think it is important to establish a better communication strategy between all
employees, on the long run. Of course, each journalist has his own article, but
it is important that his colleagues can read it and correct it before it is
published. This will allow each journalist to have criticism from an external
point of view and thus improve his article. The magazine could then establish a
rule such as a ban on publication if the article has not been checked and
validated by at least 3 other journalists and reporters. This new policy
requires good communication and open-mindedness within the team, which will
improve collaboration.
- Marie Berthier
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