Speaking Ethically and Responsibly

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Your responsibility as a speaker goes beyond simply giving credit to others’ work; you need to take responsibility for what you say.¹ If you use inflammatory, hurtful, or hateful language, even quoted and cited from another source, you will bear the brunt of the audience’s reactions.

The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees every citizen the right to free speech, but not all speech is ethical. As a public speaker, you are responsible for providing your audience members with all the necessary information for them to make accurate, appropriate decisions about you and your message. The speeches by Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping, who tried to intimidate Chinese citizens into revealing the whereabouts of leaders of the unsuccessful 1989 student uprising in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, were unethical and coercive. In addition, it’s important to recognize that the right to free speech in this country is not without limits. As Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote in 1919, the Constitution “would not protect a man falsely shouting fire in a theater and causing a panic” (Schenck v. United States, 1919). Speech that endangers people—for example, speech that incites riots, advocates the unlawful overthrowing of the government, or causes unnecessary panic—would not only be ethically questionable but might also be illegal (Gitlow v. New York, 1925; Schenck v. United States, 1919).

Although everyone has different standards for ethical communication, the qualities of dignity and integrity are universally seen as core to the idea of ethics. Dignity is feeling worthy, honored, or respected as a person; integrity is incorruptibility—the ability to avoid compromise for the sake of personal gain (Gudykunst, Ting-Toomey, Sudweeks, & Stewart, 1995). Basic rules for ethical speaking require that we adhere to four principles: we should strive to be trustworthy, respectful, responsible, and fair in our speeches (Day, 1997).