Ghandourh 1 Ghandourh 9 Name: Zeinab Ghandourh Course Title: Business Ethics Date : 22/11/16 Introduction In the case study “A Loss of Privacy,” the British tabloid newspaper News of the World was forced to close after various phone-hacking scandal that involved journalists from the newspaper using private investigators to access cell phone voicemail accounts of celebrities and the British Royal Family as well as bribing members of the police force for information for “breaking news.” The owner of the News Corporation, Rupert Murdoch, and other senior executives from the newspaper including: Rebekah Brooks, editor of The News of the World from 2000 to 2003; and Rupert Murdoch’s son, James Murdoch, deputy COO of News Corporation and other senior editors, denied having heard of such scandals when they appeared before a parliament committee. They denied all the claims despite being presented with video evidence collected by actor Hugh Grant from the newspaper’s former journalist who outlined how phone-hacking was conducted and supported by the editorial team. The phone scandal issue and bribery of the police officers for information had begun in 2003 but it was made public in July 2009 when the division of News Corporation that was responsible for publishing News of the World, News Group Newspapers, paid more than 1 million Euros to settle claims of the journalists’ involvement in the phone-hacking scandal. This can be interpreted to mean that the owner of the News Corporation and other senior executives must have known about the illegal access of celebrities’ voicemails. The phone-scandal issue had existed for more than five years but it was brought to the publics’ attention in 2009. Additionally, the public became furious when news came out that the journalists had been involved in illegally accessing the cell phone of a murdered 13-year-old schoolgirl named Milly Dowler. She girl’s remains were found in 2002. But in July 2011, Dowler’s family lawyers revealed that police reports had shown that Milly’s voicemail messages were hacked allegedly by an investigator hired by The News of the World. The lawyers claimed that some messages were deliberately deleted so that the police and her family would think that Milly was still alive. The other fact of the case study is the resigning of Andy Coulson from his head of government’s media operations. He was once the editor of the newspaper when the illegal access of the voicemails by its journalists was taking place. Just like Murdoch, Coulson denied that he was unaware of the alleged phone hacking. The Ethical Theories, their Strengths and Weaknesses Ethical relativism, is an ethical theory that hold that there are “no moral absolutes or that there is no moral right or moral wrong (scu.edu). What someone considers to be true might not be considered by another person as the truth and what a person considers to be wrong or false might be considered to be the truth by another person. This theory is ...

1. Ghandourh 1
Ghandourh 9
Name: Zeinab Ghandourh
Course Title: Business Ethics
Date : 22/11/16
Introduction
In the case study “A Loss of Privacy,” the British tabloid
newspaper News of the World was forced to close after various
phone-hacking scandal that involved journalists from the
newspaper using private investigators to access cell phone
voicemail accounts of celebrities and the British Royal Family
as well as bribing members of the police force for information
for “breaking news.” The owner of the News Corporation,
Rupert Murdoch, and other senior executives from the
newspaper including: Rebekah Brooks, editor of The News of
the World from 2000 to 2003; and Rupert Murdoch’s son, James
Murdoch, deputy COO of News Corporation and other senior
editors, denied having heard of such scandals when they
appeared before a parliament committee. They denied all the
claims despite being presented with video evidence collected by
actor Hugh Grant from the newspaper’s former journalist who
outlined how phone-hacking was conducted and supported by
the editorial team.
The phone scandal issue and bribery of the police officers for
information had begun in 2003 but it was made public in July
2009 when the division of News Corporation that was
responsible for publishing News of the World, News Group
Newspapers, paid more than 1 million Euros to settle claims of
the journalists’ involvement in the phone-hacking scandal. This
can be interpreted to mean that the owner of the News
Corporation and other senior executives must have known about

2. the illegal access of celebrities’ voicemails. The phone-scandal
issue had existed for more than five years but it was brought to
the publics’ attention in 2009. Additionally, the public became
furious when news came out that the journalists had been
involved in illegally accessing the cell phone of a murdered 13-
year-old schoolgirl named Milly Dowler. She girl’s remains
were found in 2002. But in July 2011, Dowler’s family lawyers
revealed that police reports had shown that Milly’s voicemail
messages were hacked allegedly by an investigator hired by The
News of the World. The lawyers claimed that some messages
were deliberately deleted so that the police and her family
would think that Milly was still alive. The other fact of the case
study is the resigning of Andy Coulson from his head of
government’s media operations. He was once the editor of the
newspaper when the illegal access of the voicemails by its
journalists was taking place. Just like Murdoch, Coulson denied
that he was unaware of the alleged phone hacking.
The Ethical Theories, their Strengths and Weaknesses
Ethical relativism, is an ethical theory that hold that there are
“no moral absolutes or that there is no moral right or moral
wrong (scu.edu). What someone considers to be true might not
be considered by another person as the truth and what a person
considers to be wrong or false might be considered to be the
truth by another person. This theory is based on the view that
different people have different points of view and that
individuals are responsible for determining what is true or
wrong relative to their point of view and their cultural
practices. Additionally, ethical relativism also holds that
“human moral positions change with time and social norms”
(Hursthouse). This means that what a given society considered
being wrong some time back might be considered to be right
after some time.
In the case study, The News of the World was closed because
the owners of News Corporation that the newspaper belongs to
thought it was the best decision to make because of pressure
from the public. Additionally, the journalist might have thought

3. that hiring private investigators to illegally hack celebrities’
phones and the British Royal Family might be the easiest and
fastest way to get information. The public was very furious
about the behavior of the newspaper’s journalists for illegally
accessing voicemails of celebrities and of the British Royal
family as well as deleting of some messages from Milly’s
phones to misled police and her family that she was still alive.
However, according to my own perspective, the closing of the
newspaper was not the right decision to make. The people at
fault were the journalists involved in the phone-hacking scandal
and not the newspaper that had existed since 1843.
Ethical relativism is strong because it allows different people in
the society to resolve their moral disputes or crisis based on
what they consider to be right or wrong. This is because
different people or even companies have different cultural
norms and perspectives that determine how they behave. For
instance, The News of the World newspaper was closed because
the owner thought that that was the best thing to do. However,
ethical relativism theory is weak because it allows people to act
based on what they think is right or wrong. This can mislead
people to act in certain ways that are not universally acceptable.
In other words, it only applies within moral practices of
societies.
Utilitarianism theory is an ethical theory that supports moral
action that produces the greatest good to the greatest number of
people. In other words, the moral rightness or wrongness of an
action depends on the results that they produce. If the act
results to good then the act is morally right and vice versa.
Additionally, people who support Utilitarianism claim that the
main purpose of the theory is to make life better by “increasing
the amount of goodness in the world through happiness and
pleasure and to reduce or prevent the amount of badness such as
unhappiness and pain” (wofford.edu).The closing of The News
of the World took place after the parent News Corporation
succumbed to increasing pressure from the public due to the
phone-hacking scandal that interfered with the privacy of

4. celebrities and the British Royal family. This decision is
supported by utilitarianism because the existence of the
newspaper caused the public to feel pain or to be unhappy with
the behavior of the journalist involved in the phone-hacking
scandal. The closing resulted to good and the revealing of the
truth that had been hidden for more than five years.
Additionally, more than 80 people were arrested in connection
to the News Corporation phone-hacking scandal plus use of
$315 million for settlement of legal fees and civil statements.
Utilitarianism is strong because it takes into account the end
result of an action. If an action will result to happiness to the
greatest number of people then the action is morally right. But
is the action leads to suffering and pain to the greatest number
of people the action is morally wrong. For example, the closing
of the News of the World led to the arresting of more than 80
people connected to the illegal accessing of voicemails. This
action led to the suffering of a few people compared to the
many individuals whose phones were hacked for information. In
this case, the decision made was morally right. However,
utilitarianism theory is weak because it never takes into
consideration the outcome or consequence of an action. When
the phone-hacking scandal was revealed to the public, News
Corporation did not know how the public would react. The
public’s outcry and pressure later led to the closing of The
News of the World and loss of money for settlement of legal
cases.
Aristotle’s virtue ethics emphasizes the character of an
individual as the key element in moral ethics rather than acting
based on rules or duty or good consequences of an action.
Aristotle described a “virtuous person as a person with ideal
character traits” (utm.edu). A person is born with the traits but
they need to be nurtured in order to be established and hence
become stable. A person who has a virtue like mercy will
always show mercy to people in their lifetime because that is
who they are. They do not show mercy to people to maximize
gain or as part of fulfillment of their duty. In the case study,

5. The News of the World journalists who got involved in illegal
access of celebrities’ and The British Royal Family cell phone
voicemails and also Milly’s phone, did not respect their privacy
but instead acted based on self-interests. Their actions were also
supported and condoned by the newspaper editors and senior
executives of the parent company, News Corporation.
Therefore, Aristotle’s virtue ethics does not support the actions
that led to the closing of The News of the World. The decision
was only made after increased pressure and outcry from the
public.
Aristotle’s virtue ethics is strong because it does not aim at
identifying universal principles that can be applied in all ethical
or moral situations. It focuses on an individual’s character and
how they can use that character in moral situations. In other
words, when a person is faced with a moral or ethical challenge
they have to make decision based on their character traits. In
the case study, the journalists failed to respect the privacy of
their sources of information. Their actions were not based on
any moral character but in immoral character. However,
Aristotle’s virtue ethics is weak because it does not give
guiding principles on how people should act. It only emphasizes
on “acting like a virtuous person would act” (utm.edu) in a
given moral situation. This can be very difficult for people
whose character traits cannot help solve a moral dilemma.
Universal ethics explains that human beings should act based on
principles that apply to all human beings regardless of religion,
cultural or social background, or perspective. In other words,
human beings ought to act in “ways that would be approved and
applied by other human beings” (Colero). According to
Universal ethics when deciding whether an action is right,
consideration should be placed on universal benefit if all people
were to behave in the same manner. Therefore, universal ethics
does not support the actions of the journalist and the support
that they received from the newspaper’s editors and executives
because if all journalist in the world were to disrespect personal
cell phone privacy by hacking other people’s voicemail

6. messages, then the world would be a worst place to live.
Universal ethics is strong because it provides a moral guideline
on how people should act when faced with a moral dilemma. It
emphasizes on taking actions that would be beneficial to all
human beings. For instance, when the public got wind of phone-
scandal that included the hacking of a murdered girl’s phone,
the News Corporation was forced to close The News of the
World due to increased pressure from the public. However,
Universal ethics is weak because in some situations a person is
forced to act based on their social norms or what they think is
right. For instance, the Murdoch closed The News of the World
because that is what he thought would reduce or stop the public
outcry.
Chosen Theory: Universal Ethics
I choose universal ethics to apply to the case study of “Loss of
Privacy”. This is because the theory advocates for acting in
ways that would be approved universally or by all human
beings. Additionally, universal ethics supports behaviors that
benefits all human beings and rebukes behaviors that interfere
with the comfort of people. For instance, in the case study the
actions of the journalists were rebuked by the public when it
was revealed that they got involved in phone-hacking to retrieve
important and private information from the cell phone of the
murdered girl that misled the police and the girl’s parent to
think that she was still alive. The increased pressure from the
public made Rupert Murdoch to close The News of the World.
Additionally, more than 80 people involved in the phone-
hacking scandal were arrested. The News Corporation also lost
$315 million in settlement of legal and civil fees. This means
that it is universally unacceptable to access a person’s private
information from their phones without their permission.
Resolution
The best way to resolve this conflict is to look at it from the
perspective of truth versus loyalty. The illegal access of cell
phone voicemail messages by The News of the World
journalists was wrong. Rupert Murdoch and other News

7. Corporation officials claimed that they did not know of the
phone-hacking scandal. Based on the evidence presented by
actor Hugh Grant from former journalists of the newspaper, the
officials knew and even supported the phone-hacking issue.
Since the newspaper benefitted from the information retrieved
from the hacked phones, no one was willing to come out and say
the truth. Instead, the newspaper team decided to be loyal to the
parent company, News Corporation. This later led to the scandal
that pushed the public to compel Murdoch to close The News of
the World. Therefore, the best that the company could have
handled the scandal was to tell the truth and let those involved
in the scandal face the full force of their action’s consequences.
There was no need of closing The News of the World newspaper
that had existed since 1843.
Conclusion
Ethical theories are the guiding principles that enable people to
make moral or ethical decisions based on the theory that they
prefer. The four ethical theories have different perspectives that
provide different ways of looking at an ethical issue. For
instance, in the case study some theories support the actions
that led the News Corporation to close The News of the World
while other disagrees. Aristotle’s virtue ethics rebukes the
actions of the journalist that led to interference of personal
phone privacy because they did not act based any moral
character. However, ethical relativism supports the actions of
the journalists because they thought it was the best and easy
way to acquire information. Additionally, Murdoch chose to
close The News of the World because he thought it was the best
way the deal with the increasing pressure from the public.
Work Cited
Colero, Larry. "Colero | The W. Maurice Young Centre For
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"Dr. Charles Kay » Utilitarianism". Sites.wofford.edu. N.P.,
2016. Web. 14 Oct. 2016.
Hursthouse, Rosalind. "Virtue Ethics". Plato.stanford.edu. N.P.,

8. 2003. Web. 11 Nov. 2016.
Santa Clara University. "Ethical Relativism - Ethical Decision
Making - Ethics Resources - Markkula Center for Applied
Ethics - Santa Clara University". Scu.edu. N.p., 2016. Web. 11
Nov. 2016.
"Virtue Ethics | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy".
Iep.utm.edu. N.p., 2016. Web. 11 Nov. 2016.