define media ethics essay

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Media Ethics

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These resources provide an overview of journalistic writing with explanations of the most important and most often used elements of journalism and the Associated Press style. This resource, revised according to The Associated Press Stylebook 2012 , offers examples for the general format of AP style. For more information, please consult The Associated Press Stylebook 2012 , 47 th edition.

Introduction

The same First Amendment freedoms that allow U.S. media outlets to publish without fear of government interference also make it nearly impossible to impose a standard of ethics or professional protocol for journalists. No organization exists to certify journalists, and likewise, no uniform system exists for penalizing unethical behavior.

Nonetheless, professionals in the field generally take great pride and responsibility in their roles, and organizations such as the Associated Press and the Society of Professional Journalists offer thorough and useful guidelines for ethical conduct.

Generally, ethical concerns in the media can be grouped into a few broad categories. The following points synthesize and summarize some important ethical concerns proposed by the Associated Press and the Society of Professional Journalists.

Check the accuracy of information from all sources to avoid error.
Subjects of news stories should always have the opportunity to respond to any allegations of wrongdoing.
When mistakes are made, they must be corrected – fully and quickly.
Headlines, news teases and promotional material, including photos, video, audio, graphics, sound bites and quotations, should never misrepresent, oversimplify, or highlight incidents out of context.

Treatment of Sources

Identify sources whenever possible so that the public has as much information possible to determine the sources’ reliability.
Always keep any promises made in return for the source’s cooperation.
Only guarantee a source’s anonymity when the source insists upon it, when he or she provides vital information, when there is no other way to obtain that information, and when the source is knowledgeable and reliable.
Strive to quote sources accurately and in the proper context.

Avoiding Bias

Distinguish between advocacy and news reporting. Analysis and commentary should be labeled, and not misrepresent fact or context.
Distinguish news from advertising and avoid hybrids that blur the two.
Examine your own cultural values and avoid imposing those values on others.
Avoid stereotyping by race, gender, age, religion, ethnicity, geography, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance or social status.
Support the open exchange of views, even views you might find repugnant.

Avoiding Distortions

Never knowingly introduce false information into material intended for publication or broadcast.
Never alter photo, video, or image content.

Gathering Information

Avoid undercover or other surreptitious methods of gathering information, except when traditional open methods will not yield information vital to the public.
Use of any non-traditional methods of gathering information should be explained as part of the story.
Rely on the most up-to-date and accurate research when gathering facts for a story.
Never plagiarize.

Minimizing Harm

Show compassion for those who may be affected adversely by news coverage, especially children and inexperienced sources or subjects.
Be sensitive when seeking or using interviews or photographs of those affected by tragedy or grief.
Understand that private people have a greater expectation of privacy than do public officials and others who seek power, influence or attention.
Be cautious about identifying juvenile suspects or victims of sex crimes.
Be cautious about naming criminal suspects before the formal filing of charges.

Avoiding Conflicts of Interest

Avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived.
Remain free of associations and activities that may compromise integrity or damage credibility.
Always refuse gifts, favors, fees, free travel and special treatment.
Avoid secondary employment, political involvement, public office, or service in community organizations if they compromise journalistic integrity.
Disclose unavoidable conflicts.
Deny favored treatment to advertisers and special interests.
Be wary of sources offering information for favors or money.

There is no standard for ethical journalistic practice, but two widely regarded organizations, The Associated Press and the Society of Professional Journalists, offer useful and time-tested guidelines. When in doubt, always confer with a trusted colleague or supervisor.

“The Associated Press Statement of News Values and Principles.” www.ap.org 16 Feb 2006. https://www.ap.org/about/news-values-and-principles/.

“Society of Professional Journalists: Code of Ethics.” www.spj.org 18 Dec 2008. http://spj.org/ethicscode.asp.

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media ethics

Quick reference.

Issues of moral principles and standards as applied to the conduct, roles, and content of the mass media, in particular journalistic ethics and advertising ethics; also the field of study concerned with this topic. In relation to news coverage it includes issues such as impartiality, objectivity, balance, bias, privacy, and the public interest. More generally, it also includes stereotyping, taste and decency, obscenity, freedom of speech, advertising practices such as product placement, and legal issues such as defamation. On an institutional level it includes debates over media ownership and control, commercialization, accountability, the relation of the media to the political system, issues arising from regulation (e.g. censorship) and deregulation.

From: media ethics in A Dictionary of Media and Communication »

Subjects: Media studies

14.3 News Media and Ethics

Learning objectives.

Describe the role of media in delivering news to the public.
Identify the important characteristics of reliable journalism.
Summarize the effects of bias in news presentations.

Now more than ever, with the presence of online news sources, news delivery is expected to be instantaneous, and journalists and news agencies face pressure to release stories rapidly to keep up with competing media sources. With this added pressure, standards of accuracy and fairness become more difficult to uphold. What wins when ethical responsibility and bottom-line concerns are at odds? Columnist Ellen Goodman notes that there has always been a tension in journalism between being first and being right. She argues, “In today’s amphetamine world of news junkies, speed trumps thoughtfulness too often (Goodman, 1993).” As you read the following sections, decide if you agree with Goodman’s assessment of the state of the news media today.

Immediate News Delivery

In 1916, audiences across America tuned in to their radios to hear the first-ever breaking-news coverage of an event as the results of the presidential election between Woodrow Wilson and Charles Evans Hughes were announced from the offices of The New York American . Until that broadcast, news was delivered to American homes once per day in the form of a newspaper, and often this coverage lagged a day or more behind the actual incidents it reported. Whereas much of radio news coverage even into the 1930s involved the reading of newspaper stories and news wires on the air, radio offered something that the newspapers could not: live coverage of special events (Govier, 2007).

For decades, the public turned to the family radio when they wanted to hear the most recent coverage of important news. All of that changed, however, in 1963 with the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. CBS correspondent Dan Rather took television audiences live to “the corner window just below the top floor, where the assassin stuck out his 30 caliber rifle,” and for the first time, people were able to see an event nearly as it occurred. This was the beginning of round-the-clock news coverage, and the American public, while still relying on print news for detailed coverage, came to expect greater immediacy of major event reporting through TV and radio broadcasts (Holguin, 2005).

Today, with the widespread availability of Internet news, instant coverage is the norm rather than the exception, and the Internet has generally replaced TV and radio as the source of immediate information. Visitors to ABCNews.com can watch an evening newscast three and a half hours before it airs on television (Sullivan, 2006). RSS (which stands for Really Simple Syndication , a standard for the easy syndication of online content) feeds, home pages for major news-delivery sites like Yahoo! News and CNN.com , news tickers, live video streams, blogs, Twitter, and a host of other media outlets ensure that news—and rumors of news—circulates within minutes of its occurrence. Additionally, with smartphone applications like those for The New York Times and USA Today , people can access the latest news coverage from almost anywhere.

The development of the Internet as a source of free and immediate access to information has forever changed the structure of the news media. Newspaper, television, and radio news programs have all had to adapt and diversify to compete for a share of the market. As Jeffrey Cole, director of the Center for Digital Communication put it, “For the first time in 60 years, newspapers are back in the breaking news business.” Online, newspapers can compete with broadcast media for immediate coverage, posting articles on their home pages as soon as the stories are written, and supplementing the articles on their websites with audiovisual content. Gone is the era of single-medium newsrooms with predictable deadlines (USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, 2009).

Not only are traditional news media restructuring, but news consumers are also changing the way they access information. Increasingly, audiences want news on demand; they want to get news when they want it, and they want to be able to gather it from a variety of sources. This is having a significant effect on media revenues. News aggregators , websites like Yahoo! News and Google News that compile news headlines from an array of legacy news organizations to display on their pages, have become popular information outlets. Although these websites don’t hire reporters to produce news stories themselves, they get about the same amount of online traffic as websites for legacy news organizations like CNN and The Wall Street Journal . Moreover, many subscribers to print newspapers and magazines are canceling their subscriptions because they can get more current information online at no cost (State of the Media, 2010). Print advertising is down as well. In 2004, The San Francisco Chronicle reported losing $50 million in classified advertising to free online options like Craigslist. 1

This loss of revenue has become a problem in recent years because while newspapers and magazines generate some income from advertisements on their websites, the money is not enough to compensate for lost readership and print ads. Subscriptions and advertising in traditional print media still account for 90 percent of industry funds, which means with less revenue in these areas, the support base for news organizations is dwindling. Newspapers and magazines across the country have had to restructure and scale down. Newspapers now spend $1.6 billion less annually on reporting and editing than they did 10 years ago (State of the Media, 2010).

Additionally, reduced budgets combined with greater pressure for immediacy have changed the way information gets reported and disseminated. Newsrooms are asking their staffs to focus on producing first accounts more quickly to feed multiple platforms. This often means that more resources go into distributing information than gathering it. Once news is released online by one source, it spreads rapidly, and other organizations scramble to release accounts, too, in order to keep up, often leaving staff less time for fact-checking and editing. The initial story is then followed quickly by commentary from both professional news organizations and nonprofessional sources on blogs, Twitter, and other social networks.

As a result of this restructuring, certain stories may get distributed, replayed, and commented on almost excessively, while other stories go unnoticed and in-depth coverage that would unearth more facts and context gets neglected. This has led a number of industry professionals to become anxious over the future of the news industry. The Center for Excellence in Journalism has called the news industry today “more reactive than proactive (State of the Media, 2010).” Journalist Patricia Sullivan complains, “Right now, almost no online news sites invest in original, in-depth and scrupulously edited news reporting.” 2 While some may disagree with Sullivan, in-depth journalism remains an expensive and time-consuming venture that many online news sites, faced with uncertain revenue streams and a growing consumer demand for real-time news updates, are reluctant to bankroll extensively.

Already strapped for funds, news organizations know they have to cater to public demands, and foremost among these demands is speed. When pop-music icon Michael Jackson died on June 26, 2009, at 2:26 p.m., news of his death hit cyberspace by 2:44 p.m. and soon spread nationwide via Twitter. Surprisingly, the initial report of Jackson’s death was released by celebrity gossip website TMZ. Legacy news sources were slower to publish accounts. The Los Angeles Times , wary of the sourcing of the story, waited to confirm the news and didn’t publish the story on its website until 3:15 p.m., by which time, thanks to the speed of social media, the star’s death was already “old news (Collins & Braxton, 2009).”

Figure 14.4

American news organizations are losing their audiences to online media and have lost billions in advertising income.

Social Responsibility of News Media

In the preamble to its statement of purpose, the Committee of Concerned Journalists lists as the central purpose of journalism “to provide citizens with accurate and reliable information they need to function in a free society (Committee of Concerned Journalists).” This theory of the social responsibility of the press is often referred to as the vital information premise . Though sometimes worded differently by different organizations, it is widely accepted in the journalism community as the foundation for any principles of media ethics (Iggers, 1999). What are those specific principles? Here are some that are particularly important for journalists in the current media climate.

Present News Stories That Inform and Serve the Needs of Citizens

If the basis for the principles of ethical news reporting is giving citizens the information they need to function in a democratic society, then that information must be presented accurately. Journalists should be careful to verify the facts before they report them. As the Committee of Concerned Journalists asserts, “Accuracy is the foundation upon which everything else is built—context, interpretation, comment, criticism, analysis and debate,” so reliable news sources are essential if citizens are to have a clear understanding of the society in which they live. 3 Furthermore, although news organizations have a professional responsibility toward advertisers and shareholders, their commitment is always to citizens first. This means that journalists must report the facts truthfully and without omission, even if they are not in the best interest of advertisers, shareholders, or friends.

Present Issues Fairly

Reporting issues fairly requires not only factual accuracy, but also lack of favoritism toward any organization, political group, ideology, or other agenda. The Society of Professional Journalists stipulates that journalists should refuse gifts and favors and avoid political involvement or public office if these things compromise journalistic integrity (Society of Professional Journalists). Additionally, journalists should avoid inflating stories for sensation and be as transparent as possible about their sources of information so that the public can investigate the issues further on their own. 4

All sides of an issue should be presented in a news story. Of course, all journalists have a perspective from which they write, but a clear distinction should be made between news reports and editorial content (American Society of News Editors, 2009).

Present Stories in a Way That Addresses Their Complexity

Many issues in the news are layered and highly complex. Developing a thorough understanding of issues requires dedication and a sometimes lengthy investigation, and, especially in a world where rapid reporting is the norm, there can be a temptation to gloss over the finer points of an issue for the sake of efficiency. Additionally, most consumers of news, increasingly busy and overwhelmed by the amount of information available, want stories that can be quickly digested and easily comprehended. However, as the Committee of Concerned Journalists points out, the media must balance what readers want with what they need but cannot anticipate. 5 Oversimplifying issues, whether for the sake of a quick story or to satisfy public tastes, becomes a violation of the vital information premise. 6

Present Diverse Perspectives

When discussing what he considers to be one of the key issues in professional journalism, media ethicist Jeremy Iggers points out that because democracy means the widest possible participation of citizens in public life, diversity in journalism is of fundamental importance. 7 Not only should newsroom staff represent a diversity of gender and races, but journalists should also speak for all groups in society—“not just those with attractive demographics,” as the Committee for Concerned Journalists puts it. Journalists should represent the underrepresented because ignoring citizens is a form of disenfranchisement. 8

Monitor Government and Corporations

When the framers of the U.S. Constitution guaranteed freedom of the press, one of the things they had in mind was the ability of the news media to serve as a watchdog over those in positions of power (Committee of Concerned Journalists). It is the duty of the press to ensure that business is conducted in the open and that government actions are public. One famous example of the media fulfilling its watchdog role was The Washington Post ’s investigation of the 1972 Watergate scandal. During Richard Nixon’s presidency, journalists at the Post uncovered information linking government agencies and officials to the break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate complex as part of an attempt to sabotage the Democratic campaign and guarantee Nixon’s reelection (Flanagan & Koenig, 2003). Media coverage of the scandal increased publicity and ultimately put pressure on the government that led to an investigation and the prosecution of many who were involved (Baughman, et. al., 2001).

Characteristics of Reliable Journalism

While CNN and other news networks took some criticism for their delay in reporting Michael Jackson’s death in 2009, others commended the news organizations for waiting for official confirmation. For many journalists and members of the public, ensuring accuracy, even when it means delays, is a hallmark of responsible journalism.

More than 400 journalistic codes of ethics have been produced by various unions and associations worldwide (White, 2008). Where they may differ on specifics, these codes of ethics agree that the news media’s top obligation is to report the truth. When journalists say this, of course, they don’t mean truth in an absolute, philosophical sense; they mean practical truth, the truth that involves reporting the facts as faithfully and accurately as possible. This notion of truth includes an accurate representation of information from reliable sources, but it also includes a complete representation, one that presents multiple perspectives on an issue and does not suppress vital information.

Many codes of ethics stress that the press has a duty to continue its investigation of the facts, even after initially reporting them, and to rectify any inaccuracies that may have occurred in the initial coverage of an issue (White). One example is The Huffington Post , a news website that, with over 2,000 bloggers, has the world’s most linked-to blog. Blogging is sometimes criticized by more traditional journalists for the tendency, among some blogs, to include biases, unreliable information, and unfounded opinions—in other words, for instances of violating journalistic codes of ethics. However, The Huffington Post requires all of its pass-holding writers to fact check and to correct any factual errors within 24 hours or lose their privileges. 9

Along with an emphasis on the truth, codes of ethics stress loyalty to citizens as a standard of primary importance. Of course, truth telling is an essential component of this loyalty, but additionally, the concern here is in reminding journalists whom their work serves. Especially in the current environment, in which media outlets face increased financial pressure, there is a tension between responsible journalism and the demands for profit. Aiden White notes that corporate and political influences are of increasing concern in this environment, but he reminds journalists that while they have duties to other constituencies, “media products are not just economic.” Journalists must hold the larger public interest above other interests (White).

Another challenge often posed by bottom-line concerns and the pressure for a good story is sensitivity toward, and protection of, those involved in the news. Responsible journalists should strive to balance disclosure of the news with a respect for individual privacy. Finding this balance can sometimes be a challenge. On one hand, journalists should never expose private information that could be harmful to individuals for the sake of sensationalizing a story. Issues like family life, sexual behavior, sexual orientation, or medical conditions, for instance, are generally considered tabloid material that would violate the privacy of those involved.

On the other hand, there are times when the private lives of individuals must be made public in the interests of serving the common good. One example was the 2009 media scandal surrounding South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, who, after media investigations over his weeklong disappearance in June of that year, admitted to flying to Argentina to visit his mistress. After it was revealed that Sanford had used public funds for his private travel, he resigned from his office as the chairman of the Republican Governors’ Association (Associated Press, 2009). Although the publicity surrounding this private matter was clearly painful for the governor and his family, releasing information about the incident, particularly regarding the misuse of public funds, was in the best interest of the citizens. The International Federation of Journalists offers three factors as a rough guideline in cases where privacy is in danger of being violated: the nature of the individual’s place in society, the individual’s reputation, and his or her place in public life. Politicians, judges, and others in elected office often must forgo their expectations of privacy for reasons of democracy and accountability—the public’s right to know if their elected officials are engaged in unethical or criminal conduct generally trumps an individual’s right to privacy. 10

Figure 14.5

As shown in the scandal surrounding former South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, drawing the line between exploiting individuals’ private lives to sell stories and disclosing information in the public interest is not always clear.

Wikimedia Commons – public domain.

Because the press has a duty to serve the best interests of the citizens in a democracy, it is important that journalists act independently and that they remain neutral in their presentation of information. Objectivity was once the common term used to support this notion. More recently, however, there has been wider acceptance of the fact that reporting always occurs through a lens of personal experience, culture, beliefs, and background that ultimately all influence the way any individual perceives a situation (Myrick, 2002). If this were not the case—if there were only one standard way everyone perceived, investigated, and reported on a story—what would be the value of including racial and gender diversity in the newsroom? Nevertheless, responsible journalism requires journalists to avoid favoritism and to present news that is fair and offers a complete picture of the issue.

The principle of journalistic independence is an important component of the news media’s watchdog role. Journalists should avoid conflicts of interest—financial, political, or otherwise—and, when conflicts of interest are unavoidable, it is a journalist’s ethical responsibility to disclose those. 11 One example involving conflict of interest centers on recent talk of government bailouts for the news media, similar to the bailouts for the auto and banking industries. However, many journalists are concerned that government support of this kind would present a conflict of interest and interfere with the media’s watchdog role (Nicklaus, 2010).

In addition to maintaining independence, the news media should allow for commentary and opposition. Leaving space for citizens to voice concerns about journalistic conduct is an important part of serving the public interest and keeping the public’s trust.

The Effects of Bias in News Presentations

While principles of ethical journalism require journalists to remain neutral in their reporting, there is, as previously mentioned, always a degree of bias that will be present in any news reporting due to the element of personal perspective that any journalist will naturally bring to his or her work. A 2005 in-depth study by political scientists at UCLA found that, of 20 media outlets, 18 had a perspective in their news reporting that was left of the national average. Of those 20, only Fox News and The Washington Times scored to the right of the average U.S. voter (Sullivan, 2005).

What, exactly, does political bias in the media look like? In the UCLA study, news sources were scored based on their sources of information and expert opinion. The news outlets with the most liberal slant—CBS News and The New York Times —cited liberal think tanks and policy groups with a much greater frequency than they cited conservative ones (Groseclose & Milyo, 2005). Political bias can also be observed by examining which stories a network or newspaper chooses to report. According to media analyst Seth Ackerman, the right-leaning Fox News network reports news stories that favor the Republican Party or show the Democratic Party in a negative light. Additionally, Fox’s panels of pundits who offer commentary after the news tend to be politically conservative or moderate far more often than liberal (Ackerman, 2001).

Figure 14.6

Some argue that there is a politically left bias in the news media.

Of course, such biases in news media have an effect on public opinion. However, while the picture a journalist or particular news outlet creates may not be entirely objective, journalists with integrity will strive to be fair and comprehensive, offering opposing views and citing their sources of information. Members of the public should remember that they also have a responsibility to be active, rather than passive, consumers of information. Good media consumers use critical analysis skills while reading news reports. If a story is presented conscientiously in the news, a reader or viewer will have the resources he or she needs to research an issue further and draw his or her own conclusions. As you continue reading the chapter, keep in mind the ethical obligations of those who work in mass media and the potential consequences of their failure to uphold them.

Key Takeaways

The Internet has brought about profound and rapid changes in the structuring, delivery, and economics of news media.

Immediate news delivery has become the norm.
The pressure for immediate delivery increases the tension between factual accuracy and “getting there first” in news reporting.
Because people can get instant news for free online, subscriptions to print media are down, and so are advertising revenues.
Present news stories that inform and serve the needs of citizens.
Present issues fairly.
Present stories in a way that addresses their complexity.
Present diverse perspectives.
Monitor government and corporations.
ensures accuracy (even if it means causing delays);
reports the truth;
stays loyal to citizens by putting the public interest above all else;
is protective and sensitive to those involved in the news;
remains objective and presents information in a neutral way; and
allows for commentary and opposition.
All news stories contain some bias because of the diversity of journalists’ perspectives. While the news media is often criticized for representing a political bias in reporting, ethical journalists always strive to present issues in a fair and comprehensive way.

Conduct your own survey of political bias in the news. Choose either a television network or newspaper known for more liberal tendencies, such as CNN or The New York Times , and a network or newspaper known for more conservative reporting, such as Fox News or The Washington Times . Examine both sources’ coverage of the same news story ( not a column or editorial). Then answer the following short-answer questions. Each response should be one to two paragraphs.

What differences do you notice between the two sources’ news coverage?
What evidence, if any, do you find of political bias? If it does exist, what effect do you think this bias has on readers?
Consider the role of the media in delivering news to the public. In your opinion, can both sources’ coverage still be characterized as fair and accurate? Why or why not?

1 Sullivan, “As the Internet Grows Up.”

2 Sullivan, “As the Internet Grows Up.”

3 Committee of Concerned Journalists, “Statement of Shared Purpose.”

4 Committee of Concerned Journalists, “Statement of Shared Purpose.”

5 Committee of Concerned Journalists, “Statement of Shared Purpose.”

6 Society of Professional Journalists, “SPJ Code of Ethics.”

7 Iggers, Good News, Bad News , 138.

8 Committee of Concerned Journalists, “Statement of Shared Purpose.”

9 White, To Tell You the Truth , 76.

10 White, To Tell You the Truth , 136.

11 Society of Professional Journalists, “SPJ Code of Ethics.”

Ackerman, Seth. “The Most Biased Name in the News,” FAIR: Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting , July/August 2001, http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1067 .

American Society of News Editors, “ASNE’s Statement of Principles,” August 2009, http://asne.org/article_view/articleid/325/asnes-statement-of-principles.aspx .

Associated Press, “Sanford Took Personal Trips on Plane,” CBS News , August 9, 2009, http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/08/09/politics/main5228211.shtml .

Baughman, Judith S. and others, “The Government and Watergate,” in American Decades , ed. Judith S. Baughman and others (Detroit: Gale, 2001), vol. 8.

Collins, Scott and Greg Braxton, “TV Misses Out as Gossip Website TMZ Reports Michael Jackson’s Death First,” Los Angeles Times , June 26, 2009, http://articles.latimes.com/2009/jun/26/local/me-jackson-media26 .

Committee of Concerned Journalists, “Statement of Shared Purpose,” Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism, https://edubirdie.com/blog/the-nine-core-principles-of-journalism .

Flanagan, Richard M. and Louis W. Koenig, “Watergate,” in Dictionary of American History , ed. Stanley I. Kutler, 3rd ed. (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2003), 8:425.

Goodman, Ellen. “Temper ‘Instant’ News Coverage,” Gainesville (FL) Sun , February 7, 1993, http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1320&dat=19930207&id=vt4RAAAAIBAJ&sjid=XuoDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5028,1856837 .

Govier, Gordon. “The Living Room Fixture,” The Evolution of Radio News, 2007, http://www.radioscribe.com/formats.html .

Groseclose, Tim and Jeffrey Milyo, “A Measure of Media Bias,” Quarterly Journal of Economics 120, no. 4 (2005), http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/polisci/faculty/groseclose/pdfs/MediaBias.pdf .

Holguin, Jaime. “Rather Recalls JFK Assassination,” CBS News , February 28, 2005, http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/02/28/eveningnews/main677096.shtml .

Iggers, Jeremy. Good News, Bad News: Journalism Ethics and the Public Interest (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1999), 46.

Myrick, Howard A. “The Search for Objectivity in Journalism,” USA Today (Society for the Advancement of Education), November 2002, http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1272/is_2690_131/ai_94384327/?tag=content;col1 .

Nicklaus, David. “Bailing Out Journalism Would Threaten Its Independence,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch , June 8, 2010, http://more.stltoday.com/stltoday/business/columnists.nsf/davidnicklaus/story/7db2f5de844ed63f8625773c000da74b?OpenDocument .

Society of Professional Journalists, “SPJ Code of Ethics,” http://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp .

State of the Media, Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism, The State of the News Media 2010 , http://www.stateofthemedia.org/2010/overview_intro.php .

Sullivan, Meg. “Media Bias is Real, Finds UCLA Political Scientist,” news release, UCLA, December 14, 2005, http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/Media-Bias-Is-Real-Finds-UCLA-6664.aspx .

Sullivan, Patricia. “As the Internet Grows Up, the News Industry Is Forever Changed,” Washington Post , June 19, 2006, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/13/AR2006061300929.html .

USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, “Annual Internet Survey by Center for the Digital Future Finds Large Increases in Use of Online Newspapers,” news release, Center for Digital Future, April 2009, http://annenberg.usc.edu/News%20and%20Events/News/090429CDF.aspx .

White, To Tell You the Truth , ii; Committee of Concerned Journalists, “Statement of Shared Purpose.”

White, Aidan. To Tell You the Truth: The Ethical Journalist Initiative (Brussels: International Federation of Journalists, 2008), iii.

Understanding Media and Culture Copyright © 2016 by University of Minnesota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Media Ethics by Clifford Christians LAST REVIEWED: 20 September 2017 LAST MODIFIED: 24 November 2020 DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199756841-0008

As with professional ethics as a whole, media ethics is divided into three parts: metaethics, normative ethics, and descriptive ethics. Metaethics addresses the validity of theories, the nature of good and evil in media programming, the question of universals, problems of relativism, and the rationale for morality in a secular age. Normative ethics fuses practice with principles. It concerns the best ways for professionals to lead their lives and the standards to be promoted. Normative ethics concentrates on the justice or injustice of societies and institutions. Descriptive ethics uses social science methodologies to report on how ethical decision making actually works in journalism, advertising, public relations, and entertainment. Normative ethics has received the most attention in media ethics, but for media ethics to flourish, research and teaching need to be strong on all three levels.

Each monograph or book covers the field of media ethics in a different way, and a combination of three or four such sources needs to be read for an adequate understanding of the state of the art. Parsons 2016 focuses on public relations, Snyder 2020 on advertising ethics, and Ward 2011 , Boeyink and Borden 2010 , and Wyatt 2014 focus on journalism. Arnett, et al. 2018 encompasses communication studies broadly, and Plaisance 2018 includes both communication and public media. Ward 2015 uses intellectual history as its methodology, with Sadig 2019 also utilizing a historical approach, but only since 1980. Wilkins and Christians 2020 presents the relevant theories, issues, and empirical studies of media ethics internationally.

Arnett, Ronald C., Janie M. Harden Fritz, and Leanne W. McManus. 2018. Communication ethics literacy: Dialogue and difference . 2d ed. Dubuque, IA: Kendall Hunt.

This volume sees conflicting opinions as endangering successful communication. It presents a dialogic perspective on ethical communication, emphasizing diverse narratives, various ethical traditions, and virtue ethics that lead to multiple understandings of quality communication.

Boeyink, David E., and Sandra L. Borden. 2010. Making hard choices in journalism ethics: Cases and practice . New York: Routledge.

This book is the notable volume on casuistry. The authors teach students to make close and deep analysis of specific situations. Case studies serves as the starting point, with ethical practices built up from there. As a teaching strategy, the book moves from easy cases to complicated ones.

Parsons, Patricia J. 2016. Ethics in public relations: A guide to best practice . 3d ed. London: Kogan Page.

The standard issues in public relations ethics are reviewed and then revised and corrected in light of new technologies and shifts in social contexts locally and globally. The author knows the field and writes with authority about authorship, conflict of interest, corporate dynamics, sexual harassment, misleading news releases, and the impact of blogging.

Plaisance, Patrick L., ed. 2018. Communication and media ethics . Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.

Emphasizes theory development in different parts of the world, while also including history, new technologies, psychology, popular culture, public relations, and social science research. The book includes a major section on harm and four concluding chapters on the future research agenda.

Sadig, Haydar Badawi, ed. 2019. Al Jazeera in the gulf and the world: Is it redefining global communication ethics? Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan.

The research on international media enterprises such as Al Jazeera is set in the historical context of the MacBride Commission of 1980 calling for worldwide ethics in light of new global technologies. Truth, editorial policies, diversity, nonviolence, gender, and the ethics of human dignity are reviewed based on interviews with Al Jazeera staff and comparative studies of international news media.

Snyder, Wallace S. 2020. Principles and practices for advertising ethics . Institute for Advertising Ethics. Washington, DC: American Advertising Federation.

Eight principles of ethical advertising are explained and applied. New technologies worldwide and erosion of public confidence in advertising are emphasized, and issues such as transparency, fairness, consumer privacy, and honesty are given special attention.

Ward, Stephen J. A. 2011. Ethics and the media: An introduction . Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.

As the subtitle suggests, Ward provides a comprehensive overview of media ethics in order to bring students and practitioners up to date on the issues and research. It opens up directions for change that adapt to the new technological, visual, and institutional environments. The author argues for a “mixed media” ethics that includes users and practitioners of the social media.

Ward, Stephen J. A. 2015. The invention of journalism ethics: The path to objectivity and beyond . 2d ed. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s Univ. Press.

A detailed historical review of journalistic objectivity, understood by the press as a moral imperative. The author concludes that the traditional notion of objectivity developed a century ago is no longer defensible philosophically and argues for a pragmatic objectivity that is close to common sense.

Wilkins, Lee, and Clifford Christians, eds. 2020. The handbook of mass media ethics . 2d ed. New York: Routledge.

A comprehensive review of thinking and professional practice in media ethics over the last four decades. Chapters on institutional issues worldwide in news, photojournalism, entertainment, advertising, and public relations are included, plus the latest thinking on theory, religion, digital technology, and violence.

Wyatt, Wendy N., ed. 2014. The ethics of journalism: Individual, institutional and cultural influences . London: Bloomsbury.

Explains the 21st-century media landscape (individual, institutional, cultural) in journalism and how it differs from the previous century. The chapters concentrate on ethical questions facing practicing journalists, using a variety of international cases. It includes comparative studies of how ethical theory and practice differ.

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Global media ethics.

Stephen J. A. Ward Stephen J. A. Ward Distinguished Lecturer in Ethics, University of British Columbia
https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228613.013.921
Published online: 31 March 2020

Global media ethics is the study and application of the norms that should guide the responsible use of informational public media that is now global in content, reach, and impact. Its aim is to define responsible use of the freedom to publish for journalism, online commentary, political advocacy, and social media. Global media ethics proposes aims, principles, and norms for global media work, and pays special attention to coverage of global issues such as climate change, immigration, and terrorism. The primary principles tend to stress media protection and advancement of human rights, human development, and global social justice. However, “global media ethics” does not refer to something clear, singular, or established. There is no one code of global media ethics. Global media ethics is a work in progress, a contested zone where globalists advance rival ideas, while skeptics dismiss global ethics as a dream that can never be realized.

Among the conceptual challenges of constructing a global media ethics is the issue of whether universal values exist in media practice around the world, how an appeal to global values can avoid cultural imperialism, such as imposing Western values on non-Western cultures, and to what extent media practitioners can find common ethical ground. Much theorizing in the field of global media ethics discusses forms of cross-border ethical dialogue that are likely to produce fair and inclusive agreement on principles among practitioners. Ultimately, the main questions for global media ethics are: (1) How should the aims and roles of journalism and informational media be redefined given the fact that media is now global? (2) What are the principles for global media and how do they apply to nonprofessional online writers? (3) How does global media ethics alter existing practice, especially the coverage of global issues? And (4) By what methods would such an ethic be constructed, endorsed, and implemented in practice?

journalism ethics
applied ethics
media ethics
global media ethics
cosmopolitanism
parochialism

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Essay on Media and Ethics

Introduction

According to Aristotle’s Golden mean philosophy, two extremes define the principles of media ethics within society. Media and ethics are interrelated as ethical standards provide directions and guidelines on how to handle various media production activities (Bertrand, 2018). The paper takes a close look at the concept of media ethics and establishes how learning of such concepts can enlighten and promote relationships within the community.

Media Ethics

Media ethics encompasses a set of guidelines that are followed when one is handling matters to do with media in society. It is important to note that trust is created within media production, which will promote the useful application of information relayed (Ward, 2018). Tenets of media ethics include truthfulness, fairness, privacy, and accountability, among others. An example that illustrates media ethics includes the dress-code of all presenters and professionals in the industry. Equally, media personalities are looked up for direction in most cases, which makes it necessary to maintain a specified code of conduct.

Learning about media ethics has been challenged before for many reasons. Fair use and plagiarism on content delivered before form a significant part of the challenges and ethical issues that impact media operations (Bugeja, 2020). Another challenge that impacted the learning of the concepts of ethics is the limited time frame for more detailed discussions. A close examination of the concept of media ethics indicates that it is through morality that society can achieve growth in every aspect. From a personal perspective, ethical standards are important in every field to maintain and build sustainable and meaningful relationships (Lukacovic, 2016). The media should be at the forefront of fighting for the right moral values within each production field. Studying the media ethics concept enlightens a learner on the necessary approaches that can be applied to create a working environment accommodating to everyone.

Gaining self-knowledge on media ethics can help determine strategies for handling various media issues. The course has been interesting, allowing many to express their contentment with matters that are at hand. The society looks up to media personalities to present information that is ethical for decision making (Patterson, Wilkins and Painter, 2018). As such, media houses should exhibit a high level of concern for behavior and acceptable code of conduct. To gain a deeper understanding of the concepts of media ethics, it is important to use available literature from other authors. The move can help learners of the course to gain a deeper understanding of the same concept. In life, applying the concepts learnt in class might prove to be productive (Patterson, Wilkins and Painter, 2018). Equally, the concepts must be used in the right manner to promote relationships and trust with media audiences. Social media users should also consider media ethics and ensure that information is protected from them or access from unauthorized hands.

To sum it up, media ethics is an important aspect that promotes understanding and delivery of information. Media houses cannot be trusted if they do not uphold and advocate for the right and acceptable code of conduct. Learning of media ethics concepts has promoted media production to a large extent, making the course an important part of media studies.

Bertrand, C.J. ed., 2018. Media ethics and accountability systems . Routledge.

Bugeja, M., 2020. Media Ethics and Global Justice in the Digital Age.

Lukacovic, M.N., 2016. Peace journalism and radical media ethics. Conflict & Communication , 15 (2).

Patterson, P., Wilkins, L. and Painter, C., 2018. Media ethics: Issues and cases . Rowman & Littlefield.

Ward, S.J., 2018. Disrupting journalism ethics: Radical change on the frontier of digital media . Routledge.

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Global Media Ethics

by Stephen J. A. Ward

What is global media ethics?

Global media ethics aims at developing a comprehensive set of principles and standards for the practice of journalism in an age of global news media. New forms of communication are reshaping the practice of a once parochial craft serving a local, regional or national public. Today, news media use communication technology to gather text, video and images from around the world with unprecedented speed and varying degrees of editorial control. The same technology allows news media to disseminate this information to audiences scattered around the globe.

Despite these global trends, most codes of ethics contain standards for news organizations or associations in specific countries. International associations of journalists exist, and some have constructed declarations of principle. But no global code has been adopted by most major journalism associations and news organizations.

In addition to statements of principle, more work needs to be done on the equally important area of specific, practice guidelines for covering international events. An adequate global journalism ethics has yet to be constructed.

The global media debate

The idea of a global media ethics arises out a larger attempt change, improve or reform the global media system to eliminate inequalities ion media technology and to reduce the control of global media in the hands of minority of Western countries. This attempt to re-structure the media system have been controversial, often being accused of being motivated by an agenda to control media or inhibit a free press. The debate continues today.

Beginning in the 1970s, there was an attempt to establish a “New World Information and Communication Order (NWICO)” prompted by concerns that Western media and its values were threatening the cultural values in non-Western, developing nations. The main players in NWICO were non-aligned nations, UNESCO, and the Sean McBride Commission. The recommendations of the McBride report in 1980, One World, Many Voices , outlined a new global media order. The report was endorsed by UNESCO members. The USA and Great Britain left UNESCO in the early 1980s in opposition to NWICO.

The dream of a set of principles and policies for equitable and responsible dissemination of information worldwide has not died. More recently, the United Nations has held two meetings of a movement called “World Summit on the Information Society.” At a summit in Geneva in December 2003, 175 countries adopted a plan of action and a declaration of principles. A second summit was held in Tunisia in November 2005 which looked at ways to implement the Geneva principles. At the heart of the summits’ concerns was the growth of new online media and the “digital divide” between the Global North and South.

On the history of the NWICO debate, see Gerbner, G. & Mowlana, H. & Nordenstreng, K., eds., The Global Media Debate . Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing, 1999.

The attempt to reform the global media system is much wider in scope than an attempt to construct a global media ethics. The former looks at what norms should guide media practitioners when they face difficult decisions on what to report. The latter goes beyond ethical reflections to include the economics, politics, and technology of media.

Why a global ethics?

There are at least two reasons:

(1) Practical: a non-global ethic is no longer able to adequately address the new problems that face global journalism, and

(2) Ethical: new global responsibilities come with global impact and reach.

News media now inhabit a radically pluralistic, global community where the impact of their reports can have far-reaching effects — good or bad. News reports, via satellite or the Internet, reach people around the world and influence the actions of governments, militaries, humanitarian agencies and warring ethnic groups. A responsible global ethic is needed in a world where news media bring together a plurality of different religions, traditions and ethnic groups.

One responsibility is to report issues and events in a way that reflects this global plurality of views; to practice a journalism that helps different groups understand each other better. Reports should be accurate, balanced and diverse, as judged from an international perspective. A biased and parochial journalism can wreak havoc in a tightly linked global world. Unless reported properly, North American readers may fail to understand the causes of violence in Middle East, or a famine in Africa. Biased reports may incite ethnic groups in a region to attack each other. A narrow-minded, patriotic news media can stampede populations into war. Moreover, journalism with a global perspective is needed to help citizens understand the daunting global problems of poverty, environmental degradation, technological inequalities and political instability.

For a systematic study of global media (and journalism) ethics, see Stephen J. A. Ward, Global Journalism Ethics (in bibliography below).

New stage in journalism ethics

Since the birth of modern journalism in the 17th century, journalism has gradually broaden the scope of the people that it claims to serve — from factions to specific social classes to the public of nations. The journalistic principle of “serving the public interest” has been understood, tacitly or explicitly, as serving one’s own public, social class or nation. The other principles of objectivity, impartiality and editorial independence were limited by this parochial understanding of who journalism serves. For example, “impartiality” meant being impartial in one’s coverage of rival groups within one’s society, but not necessarily being impartial to groups outside one’s national boundaries.

Global journalism ethics, then, can be seen as an extension of journalism ethics — to regard journalism’s “public” as the citizens of the world, and to interpret the ethical principles of objectivity, balance and independence in an international manner. Journalism ethics becomes more “cosmopolitan” in tone and perspective.

Components of global media ethics

The development of global journalism ethics has the following tasks.

Conceptual tasks

New philosophical foundations for a global ethics, which include:

• global re-interpretation of the ethical role and aims of journalism

• global re-interpretation of existing journalism principles and standards, such as objectivity, balance and independence

• construction of new norms and “best practices” as guides for the practice of global journalism

Research tasks

More research into the state of journalism, amid globalization:

• studies of news media in various regions of world

• studies on the evolution and impact of globalization in news media, with a focus on ownership, technology and practice

• studies on the ethical standards of new media in different countries

• studies on news coverage of international problems and issues

Practical tasks

Actions to implement and support global standards:

• application of this global perspective to re-define the coverage of international events and issues

• coalition-building among journalists and interested parties with the aim of writing a global code of ethics that has wide-spread acceptance

• initiatives to defend and enhance free and responsible news media, especially in areas where problems are the greatest.

How would a global ethics be different?

Philosophically, the distinct conceptual element of a global ethics can be summarized by three imperatives:

1. Act as global agents

Journalists should see themselves as agents of a global public sphere. The goal of their collective actions is a well-informed, diverse and tolerant global “info-sphere” that challenges the distortions of tyrants, the abuse of human rights and the manipulation of information by special interests.

2. Serve the citizens of the world

The global journalist’s primary loyalty is to the information needs of world citizens. Journalists should refuse to define themselves as attached primarily to factions, regions or even countries. Serving the public means serving more than one’s local readership or audience, or even the public of one’s country.

3. Promote non-parochial understandings

The global journalist frames issues broadly and uses a diversity of sources and perspectives to promote a nuanced understanding of issues from an international perspective. Journalism should work against a narrow ethnocentrism or patriotism. What do these three imperatives imply for specific standards of journalism, such as objectivity? Under global journalism ethics, objectivity becomes the ideal of informing impartially from an international stance. Objectivity in journalism has usually been understood as the duty to avoid bias toward groups within one’s own country. Global objectivity takes on the additional responsibility of allowing bias towards one’s country or culture as a whole to distort reports, especially reports on international issues.

Objective reports, to be accurate and balanced, must contain all relevant international sources and cross-cultural perspectives. In addition, global journalism asks journalists to be more conscious of how they frame the global public’s perspective on major stories, and how they set the international news agenda. The aim of global journalism should be more than helping the public sphere “go well” at home, as civic journalists say. The aim should be to facilitate rational deliberation in a global public sphere.

Global journalism ethics implies a firm journalistic response to inward-looking attitudes, such as extreme patriotism. It was disturbing to see how some news organizations during the Iraq War of 2003 so quickly shucked their peacetime commitments to independent, impartial reporting as soon as the drums of war started beating. Cosmopolitanism means that the primary ethical duty of a global journalism in times of conflict and uncertainty is not a patriotism of blind allegiance, or muted criticism. Public duty calls for independent, hard-edged news, along with investigations and analysis.

Problems and obstacles

Universal values.

Among advocates of global ethics, there is disagreement over whether ethicists need to identify “universal values” among all journalists, or humans. Do such universal values exist? What might they be? Recently, a growing group of ethicists have attempted to identify a common core of values in various places: in codes of journalism ethics, in international treaties on human rights, in anthropological studies of culture.

One view is that neither universal values nor universal consent is required for a plausible, global code. This view sometimes stems from a contractual or ‘constructionist” view of ethics. The constructionist does not believe that ethics depends on “finding” or “discovering”, through empirical means, a set of universal values that all rational people acknowledge. Rather, the correct method of global ethics is to see whether all or most interested parties are able to “construct” and agree upon a set of principles through a fair process of deliberation. On this view, it is also not clear that a set of values must gain universal consensus — a demand that seems unduly strong, given the variety of new media in the world. A weaker requirement would aim at the construction of a set of principles agreed to by most major journalism associations and news organizations.

Note: On a constructionist approach to universals, see Ward, S. J. A., “Philosophical Foundations of Global Journalism Ethics,” Journal of Mass Media Ethics , 20(1), (2005), 3-21.

Also, see Black, J. and R. Barney, eds., Search for a Global Media Ethic. [Special issue] Journal of Mass Media Ethics , 17(4), (2002).

Getting specific:

Global journalism ethics will have to amount to more than a dreamy spiritualism about the brotherhood of man and universal benevolence. Conceptually, there is work to be done. Global journalism ethics must show, in detail, how its ideas imply changes to norms and practices. What exactly do journalists “owe” citizens in a distant land? How can global journalists integrate their partial and impartial perspectives? How can journalists support global values while remaining impartial communicators?

Reforming media practices

The slow, complex, practical task of developing better media practices is no less imposing. Exhorting individual journalists to be ethical will be futile unless supported by an institutional climate that encourages global values in the newsroom. Aware of such difficulties, some journalists may accuse global journalism ethicists of being unrealistic in thinking that news organizations will provide the education, expertise and extra resources needed to achieve a high-quality cosmopolitan journalism.

Select bibliography

Black, J. and R. Barney, eds., “Search for a global media ethic.” [Special issue] Journal of Mass Media Ethics , 17(4), (2002).

Callahan, S. “New Challenges of Globalization for Journalism.” Journal of Mass Media Ethics , 18, (2003), 3-15.

Christians, C. G. “Ethical Theory in a Global Setting.” In Cooper, T. W. & Christians, C. & Plude, F. F. & White, R. A. Thomas, eds., Communication Ethics and Global Change , p. 3-19: White Plains, NY: Longman, 1989.

Christians, C. and Nordenstreng, K. “Social Responsibility Worldwide.” Journal of Mass Media Ethics , 19(1), 3-28.

Christians, C. & Traber, M. , eds., Communication Ethics and Universal Values . Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1997.

Cohen, J., ed., For Love of Country: Debating the Limits of Patriotism , Martha C. Nussbaum with Respondents. Boston: Beacon Press, 1996.

Cooper, T. W. & Christians, C. & Plude, F. F. & White, R. A. Thomas, eds., Communication Ethics and Global Change . White Plains, NY: Longman, 1989.

Gerbner, G. & Mowlana, H. & Nordenstreng, K., eds., The Global Media Debate . Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing, 1993.

Merrill, J. C. Global Journalism , 2nd ed. New York: Longman, 1991.

Price M., Rozumilowicz, B. & Verhulst, S., eds., Media Reform: Democratizing the Media, Democratizing the State . London: Routledge, 2002.

Seib, P. The Global Journalist: News and Conscience in a World of Conflict . Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2002.

Ward, S.J.A. Global Journalism Ethics . Montreal, Que.: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2010.

Ward, S.J.A. “Philosophical Foundations of Global Journalism Ethics” Journal of Mass Media Ethics, 20(1), (2005), 3-21.

Ward, S. J. A. The Invention of Journalism Ethics: The Path to Objectivity and Beyond . Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2005.

Weaver, D. H., ed., The Global Journalist . Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, 1998.

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Xhesjon Zogu

Background: The code of ethics, drafted by a group of local and foreign experts, aimed to establish a certain framework where a distinction was made between what should and should not be broadcast in the media. For many years this code of ethics was respected by most of the traditional media in the country, where quality content and ethics had the main weight during the broadcast. Purpose:This study tries to analyze one of the most common problems in the Albanian media, the transmission of unethical content. The study relies on quantitative and qualitative data, researching both the nature of the content being broadcast and the causes leading to its transmission. Method: In the framework of this study, monitoring was conducted in various online media, and also a survey was conducted with 22 surveyors to understand if the public needs these contents and what access they have to them.

Anush Khadka

The invention of the internet and innovative ideas to use it as a medium to disseminate information for large number of audience, have created a new media practice in addition to print and broadcast media – the digital media or the new media. The new digital setting has added number of ethical dilemmas for journalists. Journalists working in digital platforms inherently have embrace the same dilemmas that other contemporary journalists have always faced. Accompanying that, they now have some new dilemmas also.

Law, Identity and Values

Ales Rozehnal

This paper provides an understanding of immediate and interactive standards of media ethics that should be applied to digital media. Digital media are partly based on amateur journalism, and most principles of media ethics were developed over the last century. The question then is whether it is possible to create media ethics whose standards apply to social and traditional media platforms or whether we will have different standards for different media platforms.

hina mushtaq

Adity Agrawal

In the digital era, media ethics have become increasingly convoluted due to the expansion of digital media platforms and the rate at which the information is disseminated. This has hoist various ethical questions, including the issues of privacy, accuracy and sensationalism. With the rise of digital media and citizen journalism, the traditional media platforms are facing new challenges in maintaining ethical standards. Issue of fake news and misinformation on digital platforms is one of the major challenge for effectively managing the media ethics. Digital tools and technologies raise a host of sharp and worrying ethical challenges for media practitioners and journalists, whether professionals or citizen. The ease of spreading the information online without fact checking has made it difficult for media outlets to maintain accuracy in their reporting. The pressure to post content quickly has led to the expansion of sensational headline, which can distort the faith of facts provided on Digital media platforms. Another major issue is the privacy and freedom of expression. With the popularization of social media platforms, the personal information is more easily accessible than ever before. Media ethics in the digital era needed careful deliberation and constant adaptation to new technologies and ethical norms. Keywords: Digital media, Media ethics, Citizen journalism, Digital era, Information.

Nkechi M . Christopher

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Ethics in Social Media

Øyvind Kvalnes 2
Open Access
First Online: 11 April 2019

22k Accesses

2 Altmetric

Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and other social media have radically changed the ways in which organizations, groups, and individuals spread, share, and discuss ideas and information. They provide platforms for expressing opinions very rapidly to a wide audience, without interference from an editor or a group of editors. With traditional platforms like newspapers, radio, and television, the steps from formulating a viewpoint to reaching an audience with it tend to be complex and slow. The sender will usually have to convince someone with editorial powers that the message is worth publishing. This is not so with social media, where each person can be his or her own editor and immediately release personal content to an audience. From an organizational perspective, the dramatic changes in publicity options create a range of ethical challenges. This chapter provides a preliminary categorization of ethical dilemmas for users of social media based on input from professionals who are engaged in digitalization processes in their organizations.

Social media

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Social media introduce a range of new ways for individuals, groups, and organizations to spread, share, and comment on ideas, beliefs, and information. They no longer need to go through an editor to get their views published. This chapter explores the ethical dilemmas that can occur with social media use in everyday organizational settings. There are other ethical aspects of social media that will not be addressed, most notably those connected to the use of Big Data in research, product development, and marketing. These have already been under scrutiny in other research (Bender, Cyr, Arbuckle, & Ferris, 2017 ; Kosinski, Matz, Gosling, Popov, & Stillwell, 2015 ). The focus here will be on the concrete dilemmas that arise in workplaces adapting to a reality where Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and other social media have created a radically different environment for conversation and interaction.

The dilemmas discussed in this chapter will be constructed from input delivered by executive students who have participated in my ethics training sessions in a program on digitalization and leadership. For a number of years, I have invited students to share dilemmas they have encountered when working professionally with digital transitions within organizations, including the development from using traditional to digital and social media.

Based on the input from these sessions, I will outline a list of five categories of dilemmas that can occur when leaders and employees in an organization apply social media at work.

The following story exemplifies what we may call a role dilemma . Financial advisor Peter works for a local bank in the district where he grew up. Three of his former colleagues in the bank have left to join a competitor in the same district. Those three are still in contact with a range of former colleagues, even though they are now employed by a competitor. On Facebook, current and former colleagues have established friendships across the competitive divide and frequently share and like each other’s content there. Facebook is an important platform for both banks and a place where they can interact with actual and potential customers and demonstrate their banking competence. They can also reach out to the public with information about new products and invite people to evening seminars, information meetings, and other arrangements.

Recently, Peter has noticed that some of his own colleagues in the bank even share, like, and put favorable comments on professional content published by their former colleagues. He is very critical of this practice of assisting former colleagues in spreading professional content from their new employer, who is a serious competitor making the effort to tighten its grip on the banking market in the district. He believes the colleagues doing this are confused about their roles in social media. They behave like friends and should instead realize that they are first and foremost employees of competing organizations.

When Peter brings up the topic with his colleagues, they argue that what they are doing is normal and right in a knowledge-sharing economy. Social media like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter are designed to make information available to everybody. Knowledge hiding, where you try to gain advantages by guarding your own knowledge, is a thing of the past. Sharing is good for banking as an industry, they argue, as it means that the decision-makers have to be alert and ready to develop new services and products based on insights that are available to everybody. The kind of knowledge sharing Peter finds unacceptable actually triggers innovation and can be beneficial to all, they claim. It is an assumption based on their personal experiences, but it can also find some backing in research (Leonardi, 2017 ).

Peter disagrees and argues that his colleagues’ sharing practices on Facebook provide the other bank with a competitive advantage that can lead to a decline in profits for their own employer and a gradual loss of the banking hegemony in the district.

A role dilemma occurs when the roles of the people who are active in social media are unclear or open to different and conflicting interpretations. Are these words the expressions of a professional or a private person, a colleague or a friend, a company owner or a concerned citizen, an expert or a non-expert, or a teacher or a dismayed employee? Dilemmas arise when the sender has one understanding of his or her role, whereas various receivers interpret the role differently, leading them to have conflicting perceptions of what should be the next step forward for the sender or receiver. From the sender’s point of view, the dilemmas can occur in advance of a particular interaction. How will the message I am about to publish be interpreted? Am I entitled to express it? Based on one interpretation of what my role is, I should not post the message, but based on another, I am in my full right to do so. Will the receivers understand that I make this claim as a private citizen and not as an employee of this particular organization? Dilemmas can also occur in the aftermath of an interaction, when the sender realizes there can be more than one reasonable interpretation of the message, based on different understandings of his or her role. Then the choice can be made between remaining committed to the message and the way it was published and admitting that it was a mistake to put it forward.

There can also be role dilemmas where decision-makers in an organization create role confusion. One of my students worked as a journalist in a magazine and explained that the owners wanted to professionalize the use of their Instagram account by hiring an advertising agency to run it. Social media specialists from that agency would post photos on the account, accompanied by text to the effect that “we” will be on this location today, and you can meet “us” there, creating the impression that they were journalists from the magazine, when in fact they were hired externals. The real journalists were critical of this approach, as they felt that it would trick the readers and users of Instagram into thinking that the people on location were actually part of the magazine’s own team.

It has been interesting to apply the principle of publicity, articulated in Chap. 5 , to this dilemma in different teaching contexts. The principle claims that we should be willing to defend our decision publicly and be open about it to relevant people and groups. I have presented the dilemma to young students (20 to 25 years old) and to executive students (30 to 50 years old). In the first group, the majority sees no problem with hiring people from an advertising agency to run the Instagram account on behalf of the magazine. This is already happening with hired help in a range of contexts, they argue, and it makes no difference to them as users whether the people they meet are permanently employed by the magazine. In the second group, most people experience that the idea goes against their basic moral intuitions and is an alternative that would not stand up to public scrutiny, as it erases the difference between employed, professional journalists and hired nonprofessionals, who admittedly have more competence in the use of social media. Here we see an interesting example of a generation gap when it comes to moral intuitions and ethical analysis, one that may be indicative of an emerging change in people’s perceptions of roles.

The second category of dilemmas in social media arises in connection with the speed in which the interactions tend to take place. We can call them tempo dilemmas . Things happen very fast in social media, and part of the attraction is to participate in a pulsating activity where intuitions are at play. In terms of the distinction between the fast System 1 and the slow System 2 of decision-making (Kahneman, 2013 ), this is clearly an arena where the former dominates. If you slow down and try to activate System 2, you are likely to miss out, as the discussion has moved on and your carefully crafted expressions are no longer relevant. Input from my executive students indicates that traditional leaders find the high tempo to be particularly challenging, making them wary of entering the social media arena. They are understandably concerned that they might lose control on a communication platform characterized by rapid exchanges of words but are also afraid to miss out on business opportunities by staying away.

Some dilemmas in social media can have both a role and a tempo dimension in them. Senders can be impulsive and join the fast timeline on Twitter and end up ignoring or forgetting their roles in the organization. This can be the case with the following:

A CEO who uses the organization’s account to express her personal views on the upbringing of children or on political matters—issues that lie far beyond her professional competence

A researcher who uses his professional account to raise harsh criticism about a particular aspect of the welfare system in his country

An engineer who publicizes sexually charged comments from a conference he attends on behalf of the organization

A CFO who responds to reasonable criticism of one of the organization’s products by going into a harsh and heated public dialogue with the sender

Other people in the organization may be witnesses to this kind of behavior and can then face the dilemma of choosing whether to intervene and give critical input to the sender or remain silent. In some cases, this will be a real dilemma, in that on the one hand it is really important to stop the sender from putting himself or herself and the organization into further trouble, and on the other hand it may be a bad career move or the last thing the observer does in this organization. In other cases, it will be a false dilemma, as clearly the right thing to do is to intervene, and the personal cost of doing so is not all that high, but it is nevertheless tempting to turn a blind eye to the situation so as to avoid personal trouble.

The third category can be called integrity dilemmas . Presence in social media can put the integrity of organizations, groups, and individuals under pressure, in that they can face situations where it is difficult to remain committed to one’s principles and values. My executive students describe situations where the ambition to establish and maintain friends or followership in social media can make it tempting to

like and share content that you actually find uninteresting, uninspiring, and even questionable or wrong, and

refrain from speaking up against content that you disagree with or find appalling.

Both of these responses depend on putting your own moral convictions and beliefs aside in order to become and remain popular with actual or potential friends and followers. Organizations want to see the number of friends, followers, and likes in social media grow. To that end, they may expect their employees to keep personal convictions and values in check, even when these are well aligned with what the organization itself is supposed to stand for. As we saw in Chap. 6 , being committed to a stable set of values can be instrumental to corporate flourishing (Collins & Porras, 1996 ). Sacrificing integrity for popularity in social media is risky business but can nevertheless be part of what corporations expect from those who run their social media outlets.

What kinds of opinions are acceptable to express in social media? This is the question behind the fourth category of ethical dilemmas in this area. We face a speech dilemma when one set of considerations supports the publication of an expression and another set of considerations goes against it. With traditional publication channels, the task of balancing those sets up against one another and making a decision rests both with the sender and with the editors who have the final say about publication. With social media, the editors are gone, and the senders, both of personal messages and messages on behalf of organizations, need to account for ethical aspects, including those who are in favor and those who go against publication.

Providers like Facebook and Twitter are also expected to moderate the flow of input on their platforms and to remove expressions of harassment, hate speech, trolling, and misinformation. The general ethical tension for them and the users is between promoting free speech on the one hand and being on guard against potentially harmful expressions on the other. To what extent should we accept aggressive behavior in social media and defend it in the name of freedom of expression or free speech? Political exchanges on Twitter can sometimes include rude and hateful expressions, and the platform struggles to point its users in healthier and more constructive directions. The importance of moderating the exchanges is underlined by research showing that trolling and harassing behaviors in social media are contagious. People who are normally well behaved will tend to become harassers if they are exposed to that kind of behavior (Cheng, Danescu-Niculescu-Mizil, Leskovec, & Bernstein, 2017 ).

The dilemmas my executive students identify in this area are often connected to role dilemmas. What is the scope of action for a leader or employee when it comes to speaking his or her mind in social media? Once the particular role of the sender has been established, and there is clarity about who he or she is in this particular context, it remains to be considered whether there are limitations to his or her freedom of speech. How active should a CEO or other leaders in an organization be in discussions about contested political topics like immigration and religion? What are the limits to what a teacher can say in a public discussion about the current leadership of the school authorities and the direction they are taking the educational system? These are open questions whose answers depend on further details of the situations. What the questions exemplify is how ethical considerations about free speech become particularly pressing in the era of social media, where people can easily publish and spread their opinions and no longer depend on external editors to get their messages across.

Speech dilemmas of a particular kind occur when an organization receives criticism from a customer, client, or other stakeholders and needs to find a reasonable way to respond. The criticism may be based on what the organization sees as a false representation of the facts of the matter, but presenting a truer picture may be problematic. One executive student described a situation where the bank he worked for had recently turned down an application for a loan to a local businessman, based on an analysis of the prospects of the project the loan was supposed to finance. The bank did not share the optimism expressed in the customer’s presentation of the business case. The businessman became furious when he received the rejection and wrote a post on Facebook where he attacked the bank and encouraged his friends and contacts to boycott it. The version he put forward about the project, glossed over major weaknesses the bank found to be wanting. Now the bank faced the challenge of finding a response that would protect its own interests, without revealing the confidential details the businessman had chosen to hide from the readers of his Facebook post.

The final category in this preliminary list of ethical dilemmas generated by social media is that of competence dilemmas . Experienced users of social media build up competence in applying them and can meet customers, clients, and competitors who in contrast are novices. To what extent is it acceptable to exploit the competence gap to one’s own benefit? In many cases, this will be ethically unproblematic, such as when you have gained an upper hand in social media competence in comparison to a competitor and use that to your own benefit. The dilemmas can occur in a professional–client relationship, where the former can exploit a competence gap in relation to the latter by offering services at a higher price and at a more sophisticated level than the client needs. The professional may be an expert on social media use and sell services that the client lacks the competence to evaluate, and the imbalance introduces the possible misuse of client trust.

Conflict of interest is at the core of ethics in professions (Nanda, 2002 ). Doctors, lawyers, auditors, and teachers all have specialized competence that makes them capable of delivering specialized services. There is typically a competence gap in place between them and the patients, clients, and students, making it difficult for the nonprofessional parts to evaluate the services at hand. Professionals more or less explicitly promise to give priority to the interests of those who require their services and to not give in to the temptation of putting their self-interest first. The situation is similar to competence dilemmas in social media. Even there we find conflict of interest. The social media novice can decide to trust the provider not to exploit the gap in competence in his or her favor. In line with the distinction between real and false dilemmas, introduced in Chap. 2 , competence dilemmas as they are described here are actually false dilemmas, as the choice is between doing the right thing (looking after the client’s interest) and doing the wrong thing (prioritizing self-interest).

To sum up this outline of ethical dilemmas in social media, we can distinguish between the following five categories:

Role dilemmas: Who are we in social media? Professional, employee, friend, owner, politician, private individual, or more than one of these at the same time?

Tempo dilemmas: What kind of information and opinions do we spread with the touch of a finger? What do we miss out on if we slow down and are more thoughtful?

Integrity dilemmas: To what extent do we downplay our own principles and values in order to gain new friends and followers, and more likes?

Speech dilemmas: What kinds of opinions are acceptable to express in social media? Where do we draw the line for free speech in the processes of expressing disagreement and defending oneself against unreasonable criticism?

Competence dilemmas: To what extent is it acceptable to exploit competence gaps in your own favor?

The above categories can serve as a starting point for moral reasoning about activities in social media and may turn out to need further elaboration. There may be ethical challenges for organizational users of Facebook, Twitter, and other social media that the framework does not capture adequately. For now, it serves to zoom in on questions about right and wrong, permissible, obligatory, and forbidden in the use of social media in organizational settings.

One final remark is that the distinction from the previous chapter between prescriptive and proscriptive ethics, or do-good-ethics and avoid-harm-ethics, is relevant even in the context of social media. As is the case with automation, ethical explorations in this field can easily become preoccupied with the proscriptive dimension and on the harm and suffering that can result from improper use of social media. Trolling, harassment, and the spreading of fake news give cause for concern, but it is also worth noting that social media provide platforms for constructive conversation and collaboration. People who would otherwise remain strangers to each other are able to communicate and exchange ideas. Individuals can move out of isolation and participate in social activities. This prescriptive dimension is an integral part of the ethics of social media.

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Social Media Ethics Essay: Examples & Definition

Executive summary.

This report presents a synthetic study on ethical issues in social media. Social media is an emerging media that has revolutionized the sharing of information taking it to a different level. It is being deployed in various areas to bring unfathomable profits. One of the major areas where it has being used is in business. Executives have realized the latent of social media and are in a hurry to incorporate them in their businesses.

With such massive use of social media, many ethical, legal, and social issues have emerged. These issues can be solved if all the stakeholders in the industry-users and project developers-work together towards upholding peoples’ privacy and security. This report identifies how this can be achieved under the legal and ethical use of social media.

Introduction

Several decades ago, anyone could be a media publisher. All they needed was a few million dollars, a team of editors and writers, a printing press able to print dozen copies per second, and of course, a distribution network that would ensure your books are in stores across the country. If all these requirements are anything to go by, the process was a little harder, not unless one wanted to venture into radio or television.

The result of this complicated process meant that information came down. People were not bale to talk among themselves. They talked to writers, editors, and producer who chose the subjects and told us their thoughts. If one did not agree with them, there was always the choice of not buying the magazine or switching channels. Advertisers shied off, and all the capital the publication invested became irredeemable.

Fortunately, today, things are very different. It can cost literally nothing to create content and publish it for other people to enjoy. Nevertheless, this low cost has come with a prize to pay. This is because we are no longer being talked to by professional writer and publishers. Instead, we are talking to each other.

Anyone can launch a web site, write articles, or even create video and post them alive. In addition, any one can comment on that content, influencing not only its nature but also the direction of the publication. Social media has enabled all this, a publishing revolution in deed (Alia, 2004 p. 24).

While the networking sites with their millions of members might be the most familiar, there are actually all sorts of different ways of creating and sharing social media content. One of these ways is through blogs. Blogs are a form of social media written by people concerning every topic one can imagine. Only a small portion of blogs is produced by professionals despite the fact that all have the latent to generate revenue.

Blogging is a form of social media because it can cost nothing to use. Other forms of social media include membership sites, dating sites and micro-blogs. The latter category seems to have dominated the market in terms of popularity. This is because sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Flickr, Spoink, Yammer, and Plurk. Others include Last.fm, Second Life, YouTube and MySpace (Clapperton, 2009 p. 36).

If the scope of all these sites is anything to go by, social media can be termed as the democratization of information, transforming people from content readers into content publishers. It entails a shift from a broadcast paradigm grounded on conversations between authors, people, and peers. Social media deploys the wisdom of crowds to connect information in a collaborative manner.

As seen above, social media is in different formats such as internet forums, weblogs, podcasts, wikis, pictures, message boards, and pictures. It uses technologies like blogs, vlogs, wall-postings, instant messaging, email, group creation and voice over IP to cite but a few.

A few years ago, social media was a concept talked of only in the youth contexts. However, today, the phenomenon has gained so much momentum that it has become a household name in every life sphere. In deed, social media is applied in virtually every milieu of human existence. Almost every literature available talks of social media and its effect on business.

This report is not bound to deviate from this norm, but it will be broad in its scope to include other areas where social media is applied as well. The first area to be discussed on where social media is applied is in business. Executives at large and small firms have reached the point of needing to understand what is so special about social media and why they need to incorporate it in their undertakings.

The answer is obvious. Concisely, social media gives companies the authority to create just mere customers; to unite the organization to become more customer-oriented; and to create new revenue streams. These applications of social media do not come without a price to pay.

They come with two significant risks. To begin with, those who ignore the growing demand are caught off guard and miss the next wave of customer relationship building. On the other hand, those who do no understand what it takes for an organization to fully embrace the advantages social media is bound not to realize its promise.

In the initial stages of social media, it was easy fro companies to brush aside the idea of social media and have nothing to do with it, hence, risk being victims of the two risks. However, today, this trend has changed and more companies are realizing the benefits of incorporating social media in their strategies (Furht, 2010 p. 32).

Social media application areas

One of the areas in which social media has been deployed effectively in business is strengthening customer relationships (Evans, 2008 p. 57). As such, social media has, in numerous ways, made consumers co-owners of a company’s brand, hence, positin9ing them essentially on equal grounds with a company. The scope and scale of social media leaves few stones in the company unturned.

Although social media influences all functions in a business, some are affected more extensively and directly than others are. In order to understand the disparities that exist in the influence chain, it is wise to consider the traditional business functions as consisting of three pillars arranged in a row.

These include legal and finance pillar at the start, research, and development, and the supply chain at the center, and IT, sales, marketing services and human resources in the last pillar (Golden, 2010 p. 19).

The first pillar is the least likely to be affected by social media. In the second pillar, the two functions are not directly connected to the customers. Nevertheless, they play a pivotal role in fulfilling customer demand, and, as such, require new levels of agility to accommodate the dynamic nature of social media. The last pillar is the highly affected by social media. This pillar consists of the front office functions of a company.

The most crucial impact of social media in the front office is that it leads to companies developing unique brands to suit the specific segment of its consumers. In this era of social media, firms will have to become extremely adept at determining the experiences unique to customer segments desire and then at delivering these experiences consistently and flawlessly.

Social media is blurring the lines among marketing, sales, and service. Social media has turned customers into marketers. (Sterne, 2010 p. 65).

From the human resource perspective, companies are increasingly using social media in numerous business functions. HR ensures that employees possess the appropriate social media skills in the recruitment and training of existing employees. In addition, social media is influencing the way organizations attract employees.

Prospective candidates are using social media to get an overall picture of an organization to know whether it is a good fit for them. This implies that companies need to ensure that the employee value proposition they present through social media is appropriate.

Companies can also use social media to find and vet candidates. This implies that the people in the HR function should be skillful in using social media searches into their general recruiting procedure (Qualman, 2010 p. 56).

By identifying unmet needs and services among current customers and developing value-based products and services to meet those needs, companies can differentiate themselves from their competition, as well as generate additional sales and margin.

There is no doubt that social media is one of the most crucial consumer-related developments in the recent past. Firms using it are way ahead of others and have significant changes in their strategies (Safko, 2O10 p. 14).

What motivates IT professionals and/or the promoters of a project? Is it just money?

After discussing a number of areas where social media is applied, it is apparently evident that the whole idea is by all aspects noble. Nevertheless, coming with a social site like Twitter or Facebook is not a walk in the park. It is a very high-risk affair as the project may fail even in the conception stages. In addition, developers of such projects may not be sure of how their innovation will be received in the market.

If a project is high-risk like the case of social media, the conventional sources of financing like bank crediting and other institutional credit might not be available to it. The only capital that may be available to such projects is risk or venture capital. If coming up with an IT project is such a risky endeavor, the big question is what motivates project developers to undertake such risks.

A number of reasons keep IT professional on track with their projects. It is believed that one of the major reasons why these professionals undertake such risks is due to the profits that they will reap from the project. While this may be the case, and in deed, it is given the millions of dollars that social media is pocketing in unimaginable time span, there is more than meets the eye in the cause.

Some IT professionals undertake their risky projects as a matter of a desire to accomplish their dreams. In deed, some begin as mere experiments but end up hitting the market with a bang. In such cases, the developers may not have put the issue of profits into perspective. This does not imply that such professionals are ignorant of the monetary value of their projects.

What is being suggested here is that the main motivation to undertake the project is not great profits but a personal commitment to achieve. This is because the developers of such projects are not sure of the project’s success. As such, the issue of profitability comes as a new revelation later when the professionals realize that their project can be used in better ways rather being a control experiment.

It is also important to note that the concept of motivation varies from one professional to another. To one, undertaking his or her project may be a brainchild endeavor, while others, it may be a matter of the career-based invention (Blanchard, 2011 p. 11).

Is it easy to make a difference and better society and organizations through IT? How can this be done?

Although I.T projects are high-risk ventures, their success may be very rewarding to the individual and society. This has been the case with social media, which has revolutionized almost every sphere of human life.

Although some of the benefits or advantages of social media are discussed in the section of this report that tackles the application areas for social media, this section will add on some of the basic advantages of social media since it is a classical example of a successful I.T project. While the contemporary social media may be criticized for a few of its flaws, it is also fair to give credit where it deserves.

Those who do not see the benefits associated with social media are only hearing one part of the story. There may be all manner of legal, ethical, and social issues surrounding these social networks, but the truth of the matter is that social media can do more good than the perceived harm. In the political scene, social media can augment government’s accessibility by audiences.

This improved government communication ensures that the grievances of citizens are heard and responded to in the earliest time possible (Papacharissi, 2011 p. 21). This enables the government to be more agile in its relation with its citizens, partners, and stakeholders. In addition, social media can reduce government’s dependence on conventional media channels, hence countering inaccurate press coverage.

Politicians vying for positions have proved social media as a cost-effective means of communication. It is a tool that comes in handy in campaign periods as politicians are able to mobilize their supporters, finance their campaigns and gauge their popularity (Poynter, 2010 p. 34).

It is not governments or businesses that benefit alone from social media; even teenagers do. The moment the word teenager is mentioned and social media is used in the same context, the thought that rings in the minds of many is that of a spoiled youth watching some fancy content probably posted by a friend. However, this perspective of social media is highly distorted.

It ignores the benefits that teenagers can attain from social media. Some teenagers are very genuine in their use of social networks as they use them as learning site. When teenagers interact socially online, they accumulate social and technological skills that they can make use of in the modern world. In addition, social media offers diversified forms of media literacy that may prove useful in future social or work endeavors.

The participation of young people in social media offers important new learning avenues. In deed, social media is a phenomenon that should be embraced circumspectly instead of criticizing it based on its latent risks (Newson, Houghton & Pattern, 2008 p. 46).

Social networking sites depend on connections and communication. They often encourage the user to provide a certain amount of personal information. Users’ online profiles may be also made available to the public hence attracting unwarranted attraction. Due to the high number of users in the social networks and the ever augmenting utilization, the fact that social media is slowly becoming an object of abuse is not a surprise.

The threats come in various forms. These include frauds, phishing and spam, cyber-squatting, cyber-bulling, cyber-stalking, impersonation, as well as gathering and aggregation of personal data. There may be no foolproof method of remaining secure in social networking. However, there are a number of guidelines, if strictly followed; they can be handy in realizing privacy and security in social media.

Security issues

In order to be secure in social media, it is important for one to choose a unique password for his or her media accounts. Surprisingly, many users of social media have the same password for social media and other accounts. This is because a single password is easy to remember. Unfortunately, this is very risky because in a scenario where one account is hacked, this will mean that the security of the others is compromised, as well.

In order to solve this problem, it is always advisable for one to use a password manager such as KeePass (Corner & Silverstone, 2007 p. 51). This application automatically creates sophisticated and unique passwords for each of one’s accounts. In this mane, one’s accounts are secure, even if one of them is hacked.

Privacy issues

In order to ensure one’s privacy, it is important to consult the privacy and security guideline of the social site one is using. This will enable the user to set appropriate privacy and security settings for his or her profile. Another important thing one should be cautious when using social media is installation of third party applications. This should only be limited to the sources the user knows (Perebinosoff, 2008 p. 34).

These settings can pose security risks that can affect the user’s private information. This can only be remedied by installing third-party applications from providers who are well known. Another solution to the privacy issue is for users only to accept requests from people they know directly. Generally, one should be very discreet when accepting a friend request from people they do not know.

The last guideline on ensuring privacy on social media is for the user to be careful on what he or she posts. While it may be ‘just fine’ to post those clips of you drunk, it is wise to circumspect the decision before doing so (Scott & Jackal, 2011 p. 13).

Social issues

Apart from privacy and security issues surrounding social media, a number of social issues have also clouded the new media. Online sociability inherently involves both human-human interaction, and human-technology interaction. As such, both social issues such as trust, intimacy, and reciprocation and technological issues such as the infrastructure of I.T, speed, the ease of use are likely to influence one another.

Social media users interact with other for a purpose. The purpose could be either instrumental or social. Since social media was incepted, it has been followed by a myriad of social issues such as on-line dating and child molesters. These issues have captured the attention of the developers of the various sites who have been forced to alter their privacy and security guidelines to keep at par with the latest moves.

While social networking may lead to beneficial cultural exchanges, there are times the exchanges are completely asocial. For instance, there are some users who engage in online dating only to end up being malicious individuals.

In this case, the other person feels cheated and loses trust with site. In this case, while social media can be applauded for its innovations, it is evident that it is not devoid of loopholes (Kimberley et al ., 2009 p. 67).

Legal and ethical use of social media

The issues surrounding social media do not end with the privacy, security and socials there are legal ones too to be considered. It is worthy to not that existing laws apply for both offline and online conduct. Putting this into consideration will help in dictating how he or she is going to use social media.

Legal use of social media

Anytime the user is publishing content on a social network, they should ensure that it complies with applicable copyright laws. Copyright infringement is punishable by law and should be avoided when social networking. It is also advisable to acquire a release of likeliness in case one desires to use other people’s photos or video especially if the content is meant for commercial purposes.

Social networking sites vary in their policies and practices. For members to stay on the safe of the law, they need to be well advised to review the terms of use of the particular social networking site they use in order to comprehend ownership and control issues. After this, they can make informed decisions on whether to use the site, or even the sort of content they opt to post (Hansen, Sheneiderman & Smith, 2010 p. 17).

Methods for ethical use of social media

There are various methods to ensure ethical use of social media. Ethical issues concern what is generally considered right or wrong. One of the important ways of ensuring ethical use of social media is to ensure that users have control on what they post on social media. This is because once the content has been posted; it becomes difficult to remove it.

Even if one succeeds in doing so, the damage will already have being done (Drushel et al., 2011 p. 41). Another method of achieving ethical social media use is through being transparent. The duty of transparency requires users to acknowledge the moral dimension of all communicative acts. However, it does not require the sacrifice of autonomous agency when opacity or evasion serves legitimate privacy interests.

Autonomy requires privacy. Empathy is also another way of ensuring an ethical social media. This can be achieved through positioning oneself in the situations. For instance, if a user will not be happy if his or her account is hacked, he or she should not hack other peoples’ accounts (Wilkins, 2009 p. 23).

Is Social media harmful?

Do Information Technologies inevitably have a negative impact on people or society? can they be used to improve people’s lives, and work for the betterment of the human race and the world?

As discussed earlier in this report, social media can be used broadly for the betterment of the society. It offers individuals, businesses, organizations, and governments with an avenue to connect conveniently. As is the case with any other information technology, the manner in which social media is used determines whether it is harmful for the society or not (Drushel et al., 2011 p. 21).

Often users violate the privilege offered by social media and act unethically. Such acts taint the reputation of well-meant innovations. All the stakeholders should ensure that there are stringent laws and policies in place with respect to social networking. In the ideal information world, there is need of ensuring that any inappropriate and unethical use of social media is dealt with strictly.

Users should be responsible enough to use social media for the betterment of the society in ways that do not invade people’s privacy or endanger their security (Simon, 2011 p. 12).

This report has covered various ethical issues in social media. The report identifies the need and various advantages of social media and the associated social issues that arise due to the nature of the social media content. The study indicates that although social media can be beneficial in the field of marketing, socialization, and government relations, people with evil intents to further their interests can also use it maliciously.

In addition, the report provides information about some of the methods that can be used in social media to ensure its ethical and legal use. The report shows that there is a need for user to ensure that they circumspect the content they post on social media. This is because once the information has left their premises; they have little control over it and may be detrimental to their personal or organizational reputations.

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Are We in the ‘Anthropocene,’ the Human Age? Nope, Scientists Say.

A panel of experts voted down a proposal to officially declare the start of a new interval of geologic time, one defined by humanity’s changes to the planet.

Four people standing on the deck of a ship face a large, white mushroom cloud in the distance.

By Raymond Zhong

The Triassic was the dawn of the dinosaurs. The Paleogene saw the rise of mammals. The Pleistocene included the last ice ages.

Listen to this article with reporter commentary

Open this article in the New York Times Audio app on iOS.

Is it time to mark humankind’s transformation of the planet with its own chapter in Earth history, the “Anthropocene,” or the human age ?

Not yet, scientists have decided, after a debate that has spanned nearly 15 years. Or the blink of an eye, depending on how you look at it.

A committee of roughly two dozen scholars has, by a large majority, voted down a proposal to declare the start of the Anthropocene, a newly created epoch of geologic time, according to an internal announcement of the voting results seen by The New York Times.

By geologists’ current timeline of Earth’s 4.6-billion-year history, our world right now is in the Holocene, which began 11,700 years ago with the most recent retreat of the great glaciers. Amending the chronology to say we had moved on to the Anthropocene would represent an acknowledgment that recent, human-induced changes to geological conditions had been profound enough to bring the Holocene to a close.

The declaration would shape terminology in textbooks, research articles and museums worldwide. It would guide scientists in their understanding of our still-unfolding present for generations, perhaps even millenniums, to come.

In the end, though, the members of the committee that voted on the Anthropocene over the past month were not only weighing how consequential this period had been for the planet. They also had to consider when, precisely, it began.

By the definition that an earlier panel of experts spent nearly a decade and a half debating and crafting, the Anthropocene started in the mid-20th century, when nuclear bomb tests scattered radioactive fallout across our world. To several members of the scientific committee that considered the panel’s proposal in recent weeks, this definition was too limited, too awkwardly recent, to be a fitting signpost of Homo sapiens’s reshaping of planet Earth.

“It constrains, it confines, it narrows down the whole importance of the Anthropocene,” said Jan A. Piotrowski, a committee member and geologist at Aarhus University in Denmark. “What was going on during the onset of agriculture? How about the Industrial Revolution? How about the colonizing of the Americas, of Australia?”

“Human impact goes much deeper into geological time,” said another committee member, Mike Walker, an earth scientist and professor emeritus at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David. “If we ignore that, we are ignoring the true impact, the real impact, that humans have on our planet.”

Hours after the voting results were circulated within the committee early Tuesday, some members said they were surprised at the margin of votes against the Anthropocene proposal compared with those in favor: 12 to four, with two abstentions. (Another three committee members neither voted nor formally abstained.)

Even so, it was unclear on Tuesday whether the results stood as a conclusive rejection or whether they might still be challenged or appealed. In an email to The Times, the committee’s chair, Jan A. Zalasiewicz, said there were “some procedural issues to consider” but declined to discuss them further. Dr. Zalasiewicz, a geologist at the University of Leicester, has expressed support for canonizing the Anthropocene.

This question of how to situate our time in the narrative arc of Earth history has thrust the rarefied world of geological timekeepers into an unfamiliar limelight.

The grandly named chapters of our planet’s history are governed by a body of scientists, the International Union of Geological Sciences. The organization uses rigorous criteria to decide when each chapter started and which characteristics defined it. The aim is to uphold common global standards for expressing the planet’s history.

Geoscientists don’t deny our era stands out within that long history. Radionuclides from nuclear tests. Plastics and industrial ash. Concrete and metal pollutants. Rapid greenhouse warming. Sharply increased species extinctions. These and other products of modern civilization are leaving unmistakable remnants in the mineral record, particularly since the mid-20th century.

Still, to qualify for its own entry on the geologic time scale, the Anthropocene would have to be defined in a very particular way, one that would meet the needs of geologists and not necessarily those of the anthropologists, artists and others who are already using the term.

That’s why several experts who have voiced skepticism about enshrining the Anthropocene emphasized that the vote against it shouldn’t be read as a referendum among scientists on the broad state of the Earth. “This was a narrow, technical matter for geologists, for the most part,” said one of those skeptics, Erle C. Ellis, an environmental scientist at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. “This has nothing to do with the evidence that people are changing the planet,” Dr. Ellis said. “The evidence just keeps growing.”

Francine M.G. McCarthy, a micropaleontologist at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario, is the opposite of a skeptic: She helped lead some of the research to support ratifying the new epoch.

“We are in the Anthropocene, irrespective of a line on the time scale,” Dr. McCarthy said. “And behaving accordingly is our only path forward.”

The Anthropocene proposal got its start in 2009, when a working group was convened to investigate whether recent planetary changes merited a place on the geologic timeline. After years of deliberation, the group, which came to include Dr. McCarthy, Dr. Ellis and some three dozen others, decided that they did. The group also decided that the best start date for the new period was around 1950.

The group then had to choose a physical site that would most clearly show a definitive break between the Holocene and the Anthropocene. They settled on Crawford Lake , in Ontario, where the deep waters have preserved detailed records of geochemical change within the sediments at the bottom.

Last fall, the working group submitted its Anthropocene proposal to the first of three governing committees under the International Union of Geological Sciences. Sixty percent of each committee has to approve the proposal for it to advance to the next.

The members of the first one, the Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy, submitted their votes starting in early February. (Stratigraphy is the branch of geology concerned with rock layers and how they relate in time. The Quaternary is the ongoing geologic period that began 2.6 million years ago.)

Under the rules of stratigraphy, each interval of Earth time needs a clear, objective starting point, one that applies worldwide. The Anthropocene working group proposed the mid-20th century because it bracketed the postwar explosion of economic growth, globalization, urbanization and energy use. But several members of the subcommission said humankind’s upending of Earth was a far more sprawling story, one that might not even have a single start date across every part of the planet.

This is why Dr. Walker, Dr. Piotrowski and others prefer to describe the Anthropocene as an “event,” not an “epoch.” In the language of geology, events are a looser term. They don’t appear on the official timeline, and no committees need to approve their start dates.

Yet many of the planet’s most significant happenings are called events, including mass extinctions, rapid expansions of biodiversity and the filling of Earth’s skies with oxygen 2.1 to 2.4 billion years ago.

Even if the subcommission’s vote is upheld and the Anthropocene proposal is rebuffed, the new epoch could still be added to the timeline at some later point. It would, however, have to go through the whole process of discussion and voting all over again.

Time will march on. Evidence of our civilization’s effects on Earth will continue accumulating in the rocks. The task of interpreting what it all means, and how it fits into the grand sweep of history, might fall to the future inheritors of our world.

“Our impact is here to stay and to be recognizable in the future in the geological record — there is absolutely no question about this,” Dr. Piotrowski said. “It will be up to the people that will be coming after us to decide how to rank it.”

Audio produced by Kate Winslett .

Raymond Zhong reports on climate and environmental issues for The Times. More about Raymond Zhong

Learn More About Climate Change

Have questions about climate change? Our F.A.Q. will tackle your climate questions, big and small .

MethaneSAT, a washing-machine-sized satellite , is designed to detect emissions of methane, an invisible yet potent gas that is dangerously heating the world. Here is how it works .

Two friends, both young climate researchers, recently spent hours confronting the choices that will shape their careers, and the world. Their ideas are very different .

New satellite-based research reveals how land along the East Coast is slumping into the ocean, compounding the danger from global sea level rise . A major culprit: overpumping of groundwater.

The planet needs solar power. Can we build it without harming nature ? Today’s decisions about how and where to set up new energy projects will reverberate for generations.

Did you know the ♻ symbol doesn’t mean something is actually recyclable ? Read on about how we got here, and what can be done.

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Media Ethics

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

Introduction

Treatment of Sources

Avoiding Bias

Avoiding Distortions

Gathering Information

Minimizing Harm

Avoiding Conflicts of Interest

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14.3 News Media and Ethics

Immediate News Delivery

Social Responsibility of News Media

Present News Stories That Inform and Serve the Needs of Citizens

Present Issues Fairly

Present Stories in a Way That Addresses Their Complexity

Present Diverse Perspectives

Monitor Government and Corporations

Characteristics of Reliable Journalism

The Effects of Bias in News Presentations

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Media Ethics by Clifford Christians LAST REVIEWED: 20 September 2017 LAST MODIFIED: 24 November 2020 DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199756841-0008

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Social Media Ethics Essay: Examples & Definition

Introduction

Social media application areas

Security issues

Privacy issues

Social issues

Legal and ethical use of social media

Legal use of social media

Methods for ethical use of social media

Is Social media harmful?

Are We in the ‘Anthropocene,’ the Human Age? Nope, Scientists Say.

Listen to this article with reporter commentary

Learn More About Climate Change

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