1. Ethics in New Media
CF301 Communication Ethics and Rights.
Fall, 2012.
Lecturer : Dr. Ayten Görgün Smith Teaching assitant: Sabina Jafarova
Kadir Has University Grad. Stud. Kadir Has University
Faculty of Communications Faculty of Communications
Department of Public Department of New Media
Relations and Information

2. What is New Media?
• New media refers to on-demand access to
content any time, anywhere, on any digital
device, as well as interactive user
feedback, creative participation and community
formation around the media content.
(Wikipedia)
• New media provides time, space independence.
It is digital, mobile.

3. What is digital media ethics?
 Digital media ethics deals with the distinct ethical problems,
practices and norms of digital news media.
 Digital news media includes online journalism, blogging,
digital photojournalism, citizen journalism and social media.
Source: http://ethics.journalism.wisc.edu/resources/digital-
media-ethics/

4. Why media ethics should be challenged?!
We‟re living in the world of amateur and professional journalists
Source of photo: http://blog.metaprinter.com

5. New approach to Media ethics
• This new mixed news media requires a
new mixed media ethics – guidelines that apply
to amateur and professional whether they
blog, Tweet, broadcast or write for newspapers.
Media ethics needs to be rethought and
reinvented for the media of today, not of
yesteryear.
Source: http://ethics.journalism.wisc.edu/resources/digital-media-ethics/

6. The challenge is greater than specific problems,
such as how newsrooms can verify content from
citizens.
Photo courtesy: http://theturnforthebetter.blogspot.com
Source: http://ethics.journalism.wisc.edu/resources/digital-media-ethics/

7. The media revolution has created
ethical tensions on two levels:
 The culture of traditional journalism, with its values of accuracy,
pre-publication verification, balance, impartiality, and gate-keeping,
rubs up against the culture of online journalism which emphasizes
immediacy, transparency, partiality, non-professional journalists
and post-publication correction.
 If journalism has global impact, what are its global responsibilities?
Should media ethics reformulate its aims and norms so as to guide a
journalism that is now global in reach and impact? What would that
look like?
Source: http://ethics.journalism.wisc.edu/resources/digital-media-
ethics/

8. Digital media ethics
• Reporter using social media should be attentive.
Question:
• Can a reporter has an individual blog to express
his or her opinion?

9. What would an integrated ethics look
like?
Ethical guidelines:
• Authenticating sources of information, especially
when they are provided by an anonymous source
• Assuring the reliability of information on linked
sites
• Dealing with conflicts of interest
• Concerns involving lack of oversight or
accountability.
Source: http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/reports/article/101899/Creating-Ethical-Bridges-
From-Journalism-to--Digital-News.aspx

10. Readings:
• Patrick Lee Plaisance Media Ethics; Key Principles for
Responsible Practice, „Media ethics in Cyberspace‟, London:
SAGE publication, 2009 pp. 241-242.
• Ess, Charles. Digital Media Ethics. Cambridge: Polity Press,
2009.
• Friend, Cecilia and Jane Singer. Online Journalism Ethics:
Traditions and Transitions. Armonk, N.Y.: M. E. Sharpe,
2007.
• Ward, Stephen J. A. “Ethics for the New Mainstream.” In The
New Journalist: Roles, Skills, and Critical Thinking,eds. Paul
Benedetti, Tim Currie and Kim Kierans, pp. 313-326. Toronto:
Emond Montgomery Publications, 2010.
• Ward, Stephen J. A. “Ethics for the New Investigative
Newsroom.”