In terms of communication ethics, describe the difference between secrecy and privacy.Provide a concrete example illustrating each concept

Please provide the best answer for the statement.

Answer: A message can be considered legitimately private when other parties have no right to expect access to it. Secrecy, by contrast, occurs when other parties might legitimately expect access to a message that is withheld. This distinction is important because it is generally ethical to maintain privacy, but it may be unethical to engage in secrecy. For example, if you have only dated someone once or twice, you may choose to keep private that you have a sexually transmitted disease. However, if the two of you consider becoming sexually intimate, you probably have an ethical obligation to reveal the information. Without this information, your partner cannot make an informed decision about whether to engage in sexual contact with you. What will happen to your relationship if you withhold the information and your partner contracts your disease—and finds out later that you withheld the information? By contrast, revealing information can sometimes be unethical. For example, if you have agreed to maintain confidentiality about a topic, it could be considered unethical to reveal what you know.

Communication & Mass Media

You might also like to view...

Which of the following is true about the communication process?

A. A good communicator can always make anyone understand. B. A good communicator encodes a message with the audience in mind. C. A good communicator expects the other person to put at least 50% of the effort into the transaction. D. All of the above. E. None of the above.

Communication & Mass Media

According to Donnellon’s (1996) book, the defining characteristic of teams is _____________________.

Fill in the blank(s) with the appropriate word(s).

Communication & Mass Media