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Ethical Dilemmas Of Working Podcasters

With great podcasting comes great responsibility, Uncle Ben would have said. The one from Spiderman, not Ozark. But there are ethical considerations to make when deciding to exercise that power or not. Let’s discuss.

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I'm creating this on April Fool's Day, 2020. But I am not feeling very April Fool's-y for rather obvious reasons. Instead, I’m addressing a much deeper topic: ethics. 

No, I'm not qualified to debate the finer points of various ethical philosophies. Though I did study under the great professor Chidi Aragonye for four years.

We working podcasters have a responsibility to the people who listen to our shows. We have responsibilities when we choose to lend our voices beyond our podcast. And for those of us who help produce podcast content for others, we have responsibilities for the content we helped bring to the world.

For the first decade of my podcasting life, my day-job was in advertising and marketing. That industry is rife with ethical dilemmas, and more than once I had to service clients that… well, I didn’t agree with.

But ethics, at least as I’m defining the term for this conversation, is not about deciding if you agree or disagree with something. I want to tackle ethical considerations faced by podcasters when we encounter things that are just flat out bad, incorrect, wrong, and possibly harmful.

Ethics come into play for podcasters who interview guests. Yes, it can be oddly fun and entertaining when guests with kooky ideas come on your show. But where do you draw the line between kooky and offensive or harmful? Do you call the guest out? Do you just edit out their nonsense before the episode goes live? Do you have to tell them that’s what you are doing? Do you run the risk of changing the accuracy of that person's view or opinion?

What if you've agreed to appear on someone else’s show only to find out during the interview that the host of that show is a racist, crazy person? And if you knew ahead of time, would you go on that show? Maybe their show has a lot of listeners who might be interested in what you have to say or who might become a regular listener of your show. Is that potential boost enough for you to go on the show of a known racist, crazy person?

Perhaps you’re a podcast freelancer or you run a podcast consultancy like mine. Would you work for a client -- a paying client -- who was putting out wrong information or had a point of view that could result in serious harm because the listeners/fans of that client view the person as an expert? Are you complicit in that misinformation spread?

Maybe you’re only responsible for audio engineering episodes and you encounter something factually incorrect or unverified that could cause harm. Do you cut it out? Do you let your client know? What if they say “keep it in”? Do you refuse? 

What if your job is to market someone else’s podcast, or perhaps you’re in the market for someone to help market your podcast, and you’re presented with an opportunity to use some grey-hat tactics. Which, perhaps, border on the darker side. Assume again that these tactics have been proven to get results. But wow, are they slimy! In this case, do the ends justify the means as our friend Machiavelli told us?

Ethical considerations can be much more benign, which makes them all the more murky. Are you, as a working podcaster who wants to make podcasting better, working against that cause by letting content out to the world that, if not bad, then certainly is not good? Not misinformation, but just low-quality stuff. Do you have an ethical responsibility to speak up, perhaps going so far as to refuse to participate, if the others involved don’t insist on increasing the quality of the show?

What about the ethical decisions around advertising dollars? What do you do if a legally-operating business offers you a pile of money to advertise their product or service on your podcast, but that company has some seriously bad business practices? But what if the product or service they want you to promote on your show has nothing to do with their bad business? Big companies have their fingers in lots of different pies. How far down the slippery slope are you willing to go when you vet advertisers? 

You don’t even have to be a producer, a guest, or a host to face these decisions. As a listener, do you have an ethical responsibility to reach out to the hosts of the shows you listen to, telling them that you like what they have to say, but I just wish they said it better? Does that become easier if it’s less a quality issue and more a question of spreading misinformation? Does your silence make you complicit?

You might've noticed I didn’t give you an answer to any of these. That’s on purpose. This show is designed to make you think, and only you can answer these questions of ethics for yourself. Sure, I have my own opinions. But only you get to choose your own personal values. Only you get to choose where you draw the line.

I have to answer this question every day for my own work and the work of my agency. I like to think I get it right most of the time. 

Chat about it amongst your friends. Ask the other working podcasters who you communicate with on a regular basis what do they think about some of these ethical dilemmas. Better yet, bring up an ethical dilemma you’re facing and get their opinions. 

And, of course, tell them it was this episode of Podcast Pontifications that sparked the topic. I can always use a listener or two more, so please spread the good news.

If you want, you can tell me about your thoughts on ethical dilemmas. I'm curious about what do you do? Send me an email at evo@podcastlaunch.pro.

I shall be back tomorrow with yet another Podcast Pontifications. 

Cheers!


Published On:
April 1, 2020
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With great podcasting comes great responsibility. Uncle Ben would have said, and I'm talking about the one from Spiderman, not Ozark, but there are ethical considerations to make when deciding to exercise that power or not. Let's discuss.

[00:00:21] Hello and welcome to another podcast. Pontifications with me. Evo Terra. I'm recording this on April fool's day, 2020 but I am not feeling very April fool's easy for rather obvious reasons. So I'm doing exactly the opposite of that and addressing a serious topic. Ethics. Ethics in podcasting ethics for working podcasters.

[00:00:49] Now, look, I'm not a professor of ethics though. I did study under the great professor, GD  for four years seasons, but ethics are something we have to consider as working podcast just because we have a responsibility, as I said, in the lead to the people who listen to our shows. And as working podcasters, we have responsibilities of where our voice is heard beyond our podcast.

[00:01:19] And for some of us who are working inside of podcasting, we have a responsibility for the content. We help produce ethical considerations all along the way.

[00:01:38] I have faced these for a while now, not just in podcasting, but you know, my job outside of podcasting has been, had been in the marketing and advertising world, and I'll tell you, the agencies I worked for, we had to work for companies that I didn't agree with. But ethics is not really, in my opinion about well opinions.

[00:01:58] It's not about things you agree or disagree with. Although I suppose it could be. To me, the ethical considerations are more about when things are just flat out bad, incorrect, wrong, those sorts of things. So the last about a differing opinion, much more about when things are flat out, not good and just need to be addressed.

[00:02:25] Like say for example, you are choosing guests for your show. If in fact your guests. If you're, in fact, your show has guests and your guest comes on and says some really off the wall stuff that can be kind of fun and entertaining, but one of the things that that guest says are flat out wrong. What if you had them on to talk about a topic and they went on a different angle and went off on something that is offensive, that is just incorrect information?

[00:02:59] What do you do. If you're the podcast when that happens. I mean, the nice thing is you have the ability to chop it all out, but you may have an ethical consideration of should you do that or not. It was that person's accurate view, should you cut it out or not?

[00:03:16] What if you're being a guest on someone's show? If you're a chosen to appear on someone's show and you find out that the host of that show is a racist, crazy person, would you go on that show. Maybe it has a lot of listeners, maybe we can really help boost your audience, but again, known racist, crazy person.

[00:03:39] Would you do it if you are a podcast consultancy like I run, or maybe you're just a solo entrepreneur and you're working for a variety of podcasters, do you have to really consider, well, I think you do have to consider that the the. People you're working for? Are you helping get a message out there that is wrong?

[00:04:04] Are you helping get messages out there that are actually causing harm to people because they go and believe some weird, crazy things? What's your ethics around choosing clients you work with? Or what if it's more quiet than that? What if. Your job is to edit podcast, and I know I have a lot of listeners here who are editors of shows or engineers of shows.

[00:04:31] What if you're going along and you hear some crazy stuff that's being spewed that is simply not true and also harmful? You have the power right there to chop it out. Should you do that? That's an ethical consideration. You have to make. What if you're trying to market your new show, or you're hired by another show to do some marketing for that show, and you are considering marketing tactics that are well gray areas, like very, very dark gray areas.

[00:05:08] They'll get the results. Okay. But do the ends justify the means as our friend Machiavelli told us, Hmm.

[00:05:21] And then what if the content that you're just involved with, either from a consultant point of view or from a cohost point of view, or from an engineering point of view, so just not good. It's low quality. It's not that it's bad information, it's just that it's low end quality. Do you have an ethical responsibility to speak up.

[00:05:41] Maybe not even as a producer or a guest, but as a listener, do you have an ethical responsibility to reach out to the host and say, I like what you have to say. I just wish you said it better. Where's the ethics of that?

[00:06:03] What about choosing advertising? If you need to monetize your program in such a way. That it brings in revenue. Do you have to vet all the advertisers? I mean, if someone who, not just that you were opposed to their political views, but a company that has done really terrible things like, I hate to mention it now, I'm not going to mention it, but you can picture some of your hip companies that are operating legally, but in doing pretty bad things.

[00:06:33] If they came to you and said, here's a pile of money, would you advertise this other thing? That has nothing to do with the thing that you're diametrically opposed to because companies have their fingers in lots of different pies. Right? Now, here's a bunch of money to talk about this other thing. Would you and think about the slippery slope that provides because of how interconnected everything actually is.

[00:06:58] How, how deep do you go vetting advertisers service providers. That are helping you with the show for helping monetize your show or doing something else. Ethical dilemmas. Now, you might've noticed, I, I'm not giving you an answer to that because this is one of the things that podcasters need to think about.

[00:07:26] Ethics. Where do our own personal values come to play? Where do we draw the line? Forget what's legal. Forget freedom of speech. Because unless you are a government. Employee offering podcast services, freedom of speeches, and the big deal. Just think about the ethics. What's right and wrong for you. I don't know how to answer this question for you.

[00:07:46] I know I have to answer this question every day, and I think you do as well. I'd love to chat about it. I'd love you. I'd love for you to chat about it amongst your friends. Ask the people. Who are also working podcast or is that you coordinate with on a regular basis, ask what they're doing, what do they think about ethical dilemmas?

[00:08:04] Maybe bring up some of these ethical dilemmas you might be facing to them and get a second opinion. That's not a bad idea. Tell him you heard about this episode of podcast pontifications and that's why you're bringing the topic up because again, it'd be great if I could get a listener or two more who was also working podcast or spread the good news.

[00:08:22] I like people to be thinking about very important things. And if you want to tell me about your thoughts on ethical dilemmas, do you stand all the way out and say, I don't have any, or do you make a fine, finely detailed list that you go through and a checklist? I'm curious, what do you do? Send me an email, let you evo@podcastlaunched.pro and I shall be back tomorrow with yet another podcast.

[00:08:47] Pontifications cheers.

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Podcast Pontifications is produced by Evo Terra. Follow him on Twitter for more podcasting insight as it happens.
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