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Should We Justify One's Actions Justified?

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Justifications Justifying one’s actions is defined as excuse making (Williams, 2015). Justification is the act of placing blame elsewhere to avoid consequences and taking responsibility for one’s actions (Williams, 2015). The purpose of an excuse is to shift or remove blame from the person’s actions. Media Ethics: Across Media Platforms suggests, “The concept of justification, or excuse making is aligned with the concept of good and bad.” (Bugeja, 2008). Upon the discovery of their fabrications Janet Cook, Jayson Blair and Stephen Glass attempted to justify their actions with a myriad of excuses. Additionally, the management of their publications and even their colleagues attempted to justify their actions. This reveals a low level of responsibility within the publications’ management. Media Ethics: Across media platforms defines responsibility as having to do with, “defining proper conduct, accountability with compelling it.” The purpose of justifying the actions of their employees this was to shift the blame and lessen the severity of the scandals. By justifying the actions of Cooke, Blair and Glass, the scandals became even more severe. Since the companies initially supported and attempted to downplay the actions of their employees, more blame subsequently shifted to the management. The …show more content…

Glass was able to gain the loyalty of his coworkers and his former editor, Michael Kelly, by using manipulation. He created a façade of innocence and maintained relationships with his colleagues which likely resulted in their justifications. For example, Caitlin was one of Glass’ colleagues that had unwavering faith in him. After Glass was suspended, she confronted Lane making several excuses for him. Caitlin justifies Glass’ actions by emphasizing the amount of stress that he was under at the time. By doing this she attempts to shift the blame from Glass and downplay the seriousness of what he

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