Ethicality In The Movie 'Absence Of Malice'

721 Words2 Pages

In the movie “Absence of Malice,” Megan Carter, the protagonist, is an investigative journalist for a Miami newspaper determined to do whatever it takes to get her story. She is manipulated by a D.A. led by Bob Balaban and Elliot Rossen into writing a story on a local man, Michael Gallagher, a liquor salesman. He seems to be honest however, his family has a past involving crime making him a suspect in the investigation of the murder of Joey Diaz, a local labor leader. Gallagher suddenly becomes famous due to this investigation and not in a good way. He began losing clients and Carter unveiled his friend’s secrets to the public. Gallagher and Carter then become involved but she refuses to reveal her sources and no good journalist should however she begins to doubt the accusations against Gallagher and the accuracy of the entire murder case. Gallagher outsmarts Carter since she never check her facts she prints a story that turned the situation into an utter mess and …show more content…

It would be harder to find ethical situations in this movie. The main loyalties Carter had was to her profession, her employer and herself. She didn’t value truth and if you ask me that is a disloyalty to the profession of journalism in and of itself. She did not value her clients, the people she interviewed, she just wanted a good story and thought that if she had good intentions that it didn’t matter whether or not the story was true. She was also insensitive towards Teresa Perrone regarding her alibi for Gallagher and her abortion story. Immanuel Kant would’ve probably said that Carter’s intentions were of practical reason but not pure reason. Balaban and Rossen treated Carter as an end not a mean by manipulating her and using her for their own selfish reasons. One could say that motives based on duty makes moral decisions right, however, in my opinion, these decision weren’t moral so this principle would not

More about Ethicality In The Movie 'Absence Of Malice'

Open Document