The Issue of Selective Misquoting in Communication
Did you know that many of us engage in selective misquoting without even being aware that we have committed an ethical breach? What is selective misquoting, one may ask? This is the intentional omission, misrepresentation, or alteration of someone else's work or information in order to present a less favorable image of the writer; selective misquoting is what individuals engage in, but they never had taught about this as an ethical issue in communication because, in today's society, little regard is given to ethics and moral standards.
The image below gives a visual
representation of selective misquoting.
Why is selective
misquoting an ethical issue in communication?
Given that in our society, the notion of ethics is not recognized and everything that is done is viewed as good, the ethical issue of selective misquoting, is ethically wrong because it is altering and misrepresenting an individual's work, which is often taken out of context. As ethics has to do with knowing right from wrong, how is it ethical to misrepresent an individual's work? As was stated, many engage in selective misquoting because it is viewed as summarizing and removing irrelevant information that, in some cases, generates conflict and misunderstanding for the reader. This is also related to the deontological theory of ethics, which speaks to treating everyone equally. Now, how is selectively misquoting an individual ethical and equal to do to an individual? Based on this theory, selective misquoting does not treat an individual equally, thus it is seen as unethical. Thus, as it relates to communication, there are a variety of ethical considerations that should be recognized and followed so that one does not engage in an ethical breach (Pollock, 2016).
This is where this blog will
come to an end. I do trust and hope that you all have learned something new
about ethical issues in communication, as for me this was a learning
experience. Farewell until I post more blogs on different subject matters.
References
Prof. Young. (2021, March
29). Ethics of communication | Plagiarism| Selective Misquoting | Distorting
Visuals | Prof. Young [Video]. YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VizPID25PEg
Pollock, J. M. (2016). Ethical
dilemmas and decisions in criminal justice (9th ed.). Wadsworth Publishing
Great blog, i love the fact that you made mention of this because it is happening a lot because with selective misquoting this can have a lot of negative effects.
ReplyDeleteVery excellent for this person who made this. Someone recommended this and its fantastic! Misquoting happens all the time and we don't even realize it. like there are some sources that talk about a topic and put alot of mispresenting information there. If this continues this could lead to something unfortunate if people believe it and spread it and it could cause controversy in real life and online.
ReplyDeleteVery well constructed. The blog is very informative. It's the first I'm hearing the term selective misquoting and I am guilty of it without realizing. Fortunately, due to the this post I will be more mindful.
ReplyDeleteGreat job
ReplyDeleteCan you imagine being on the receiving end of misquoting?? Especially as Jamaicans we do this often without even understanding the negative impact it can have on persons.
ReplyDelete