Observing the rules to co-create a moral barometer

The Ethics Observatory mission is to deepen the understanding of the rules of business ethics and corporate citizenship, the key players, their interrelations, and impact on sustainable prosperity. In particular the Ethics Observatory focuses on traditional as well as new media and its reaction to societal crises, which often show a strong connection with economic and business matters. It observes media coverage, analyzes its patterns and creates concepts to understand the interrelation between media, business and sustainable development. The observatory monitors emerging needs and opportunities of its stakeholders, and functions as a guide by judicious use of systems, concepts and practices. It observes the game and its rules in order to enhance information ethics in media, business and societies at large.

Some examples of questions the members of the Ethics Observatory seek to answer on their quest for "The Rules of the Game":

• Reasons for and basic principles of business ethics
• Interrelations between media ethics and business ethics (e.g. lobbying, positive and negative campaigning, calumny, quality assurance, etc.)
• Media Governance as convergence between media and business ethics in itself
• Differences as well as convergence between traditional media, new media and multichannels and the their specific rules of media ethics
• Activists, citizen media and media ethics
• Prosumers, blogging, discussion forums and legal frameworks
• Market & consumer perception as driving forces for change in business behavior
• Corporate Governance, Corporate Citizenship and Corporate Social Responsibility
• Operationalization and measurements for good governance, citizenship, ethical behavior and sustainability in business
• Market bodies of rules and regulations (e.g. syndicates, multinationals, financials, products, etc.)
• Corporate responsibility, individual responsibility and legal frameworks
• Global ethics and local cultures in global markets