Perhaps this comparison—ghostwriter‐as‐you—will yield some of the most interesting (or at least personal) classroom discussions about the ethics of ghostwriting.

Josh Compton

Speechwriting is packed with ethical dimensions, from issues of ownership to credibility to accuracy. Ghostwriting—a type of speechwriting where one person writes words to be spoken by another—carries its own set of ethical considerations. In this essay, metaphor is offered as a fruitful perspective for introducing discussions of speechwriting ethics with students in our classrooms, particularly in communication, rhetoric and speech courses. Several metaphors are surveyed, including ghostwriter‐as‐specialist, ghostwriter‐as‐artist, and ghostwriter-as-consultant. Metaphors are categorized around three broad themes: metaphors of actions, metaphors of roles, and metaphors of value. Implications for using metaphor as a springboard for ethics discussions in our classrooms are also considered.

Compton, J. (2010). Viewing speech ghostwriting ethics through metaphors. Ethics Update: Newsletter of the Ethics Institute at Dartmouth College.