Ethical is defined in the dictionary as "Pertaining to or dealing with morals or the principles of morality; pertaining to right and wrong in conduct." In a more simple form, the word "Ethical" means to have morals. To always do the right thing even when no one is looking. Sort of like having integrity. An ethical person can be trusted with absolutely no doubt. They can always be counted on to do the right thing.
When presented with the question of what to do if a friend of mine gave a stranger online their address, I had to think of how to handle that in an ethical manner. All sorts of things come in to play when trying to figure that out. If I'm close to the person it would be horribly wrong for me to snitch on them to their family members. It would break the trust of our friendship. Then I thought, "What about the safety of my friend? If that's my friend whom I love and care about, I should have no problem getting help before something horrible happened!" So I came to the conclusion that as a person of ethics and morals, I would snitch to ensure the safety of my friend.
In the field of journalism ethics play a large part. If your stories aren't ethical, then whose gonna want to trust your words? If people are supposed to take you for your word and look to you for true, real facts, then you have to be ethical. I.e, If your show/blog is known for always presenting true facts about whats going on in the world and one day something happens that you don't like, as an ethical reporter it is your job to report exactly what happened the correct way. You aren't allowed to tell it from your point of view and be bias. You have to tell the truth and be honest.
