What's that, you say? You want yet another practical example of how ethical conduct can help your business, to convince that skeptical board member or business unit leader? Look no further than the city of London today.

There, two things happened this morning. First Transparency International released its 2013 Global Corruption Barometer, a sweeping study of bribery and corruption worldwide. The GCB surveyed 114,000 people in 107 countries, and to no surprise found that most people around the world believe corruption is on the rise. Twenty-seven percent of respondents said they had paid a bribe sometime in the last 12 months, and institutions such as the police, judiciary, and political parties are all seen as corrupt in one nation after another.

Second, however, was the quirk that Britain was one of only four countries where the media is perceived to be the most corrupt institution in the country. Why is that? The BBC World Service went to the streets of London to ask. On the broadcast you can hear the predictable lineup of media cynics—Compliance Week will send free subscriptions to all, to restore their hope in this business—including the following gem from one woman.

“No, I don't trust the media. In fact I'm less trusting now than I was a few years ago, before all that phone hacking scandal came out,” she said.

That's the quote that matters right there, folks; take that clip (at the 15-minute mark on the BBC program) to your boardroom, your training sessions, your powwows with local business leaders, and play it. That woman's words capture the true cost of misconduct.

News Corp. thirsted for profits, flouted all norms of ethical behavior, and paid a huge price for it—the $139 million shareholder settlement, the millions more to pay for internal investigations, further regulatory fines likely to come, and most of all, the loss of customer trust. That's what misconduct gets you.