• Speed vs. Accuracy
The immediacy brought
by the online environments everyone is a potential publishers, allows for even
less care by the journalist and editor. The speed and anonymity provided by the
internet can play fast but loose with journalistic ethics and can affect
accuracy and credibility.
Accuracy -- to get the
facts and context of a story right -- is a fundamental norm of ethical
journalism.
Inaccurate reporting
undermines important news stories and can mislead the public. Accuracy is the
indispensable value in journalism and must not be compromised in Cyber
Journalism.
Accurate reporting has
never been easy, given journalism’s deadline- driven nature. But today,
accuracy is further challenged, as news-making adopts the internet medium. One
of the greatest benefits of online journalism is its ability to reach millions
of people almost instantaneously. But the pressure to keep news current –
online within minutes of an event’s occurrence – can put at risk the accurate
reporting of even the most ethically-conscious journalist.
Trained and multi
skill able reporters
Another challenge
towards online journalism is the convergence. Convergence reporters must be
trained to report in multiple media. They should be multi skill able to work in
a converged media environment. If necessary, a convergence reporter might file
a brief for the Web, edit video for television and then write a story for the
next day's paper. Convergence reporters often specialize in a single medium,
but their familiarity with other forms of storytelling gives them an edge in
today's ever-changing media landscape. Furthermore, there is so much
information available online that it can be difficult working out where to
start and where to stop gathering it. With the change to a much broader
reliance on the Internet and web for news, it will become increasingly
important for journalists to be multi skilled able to work in more than one
medium, and preferably in several, in what has become known as a converged
media environment.
• Ethical and legal
challenges
Following re the
ethical and legal challenges of online journalism and must not be compromised
to maintain the issues of credibility and reliability.
Accuracy:
Cyber journalists must
deliver error-free content. They must ensure that their content is a verifiable
representation of the news. Those who depend upon them for information should
never be intentionally mislead. Journalist must be accurate with their target
audiences. Sometimes it's OK to print information that they haven't confirmed
with multiple sources. Just make sure that you label it as such. Never ever
publish information that you know not to be true.
Corrections:
Cyber Journalists
should admit mistakes and correct them promptly and prominently. Correct what
we get wrong as promptly and as clearly as possible. Establish systems to
enable readers to alert us to mistakes and hold us accountable.
Copyrights and never
plagiarism:
Journalist must value
original thought and expression. Their work should be free from fraud and
deception. That includes plagiarism and fabrication. They must attribute
content and honor copyrights. It includes not just cutting and pasting whole
articles, but copying photos, graphics, video and even large text excerpts from
others and putting them on your web page as well. If they want to reference
something on another website, link it instead. If they are concerned that the
page you're linking to will disappear, give your readers the name of the publication
that published the page, its date of publication and a short summary of its
content. Just like news reporters used to reference other content before the
Web.
Identify and link to
sources:
Cyber journalist
should act honorably and ethically in dealing with news sources. He/she should
Identify and link to sources, whenever feasible. The public should entitle to
as much information as possible on sources' reliability. He/she should always
question sources’ motives before promising secrecy. Clarify conditions attached
to any promise made in exchange for information.
Privacy:
Recognize that private
people have a greater right to control information about themselves than do
public officials and others who seek power, influence or attention. Only a dominant
public need can justify interruption into anyone's privacy. Be sensitive when
seeking or using interviews or photographs of those affected by tragedy or
grief.
Distortion of the
content of photos and videos:
Never distort the
content of photos without disclosing what has been changed or digitally alter
photographs to mislead the audience. Image enhancement is only acceptable for
technical clarity.
Montage and photo
illustrations should be label. Any attempt to confuse readers or misrepresent
visual information is prohibited. In photographing news, do not stage or
restructure events. Similarly, in editing video, do not insert words or splice
together statements made at different times so as to suggest that they were
uttered at the same time. Pieces of an interview or address generally should be
presented in the order that they occurred. If an interview is presented in
question-and answer format, the questions must be presented as they were asked.
Reaction shots may not be altered after the fact. Staging is prohibited.
Distinguish factual
information and commentary from advertising:
Cyber journalists
should distinguish factual information and commentary from advertising and
avoid hybrid or mixture that blurs the lines between the two.
Distinguish between
advocacy, commentary and factual information:
- Even advocacy writing and commentary should not misrepresent facts or context of the news event. So,
- Cyber journalist should strive to distinguish between advocacy, commentary and factual information.
Define and clearly
Label, news and opinion:
Journalists and news
organizations should understand the necessity of defining, and clearly
labeling, news and opinion. In an open environment like the Web, consistency in
presentation can help the reader see clearly where the lines are drawn between
news and opinion. Whenever journalists or organizations blur or blend those
roles, they need to recognize the risk and consider the consequences.
Linking decisions:
The linking decision
requires more specific considerations, including the relevance and reliability
of the material that might be linked. Linking decisions should be based on
serving the audience with as accurate and as complete a picture of the world as
possible. Such decisions should not be restricted by commercial concerns about
sending customers to others' sites. Linking is at the core of the Web
experience, tying together content that allows readers to discover unexpected
treasures and contextual information that can't comfortably fit into print and broadcast
paradigms. But linking also comes with challenges for media organizations.
Until now, content was easily classified -- it was in the paper or it wasn't;
it was broadcast on the air or it wasn't. Linking has created a netherworld in
which media companies can point to sites without assuming responsibility for
their veracity or standards. So how do media sites embrace linking without
compromising their core values?
Principles &
Values
• A link to an
external site does not signify an endorsement of that site or its point of
view. It is merely a signal to the reader that there may be content of interest
on the destination site.
• Despite this, media
sites should make it clear to their readers -- in the user agreement, site
guidelines or via some other method – that there's a difference in standards
between the content that resides on their own site and the content they link
to.
• Because of the
spider-like nature of the Web, media sites can't be expected to apply even
these relaxed standards to the content of sites that are linked to from sites
we link to (the two-click rule).
• When readers put
their own links to content in message boards, blog posts, etc., those links
should be considered user-generated content and subject to the same controls.
• All media sites
should to link to external sites. Linking off-site is an extension of your
site's user experience and fosters a feeling of openness that's conducive to
repeat visits. Trying to keep readers within just your site is a losing
proposition.
• When linking, sites
should not be forced into including links that support all sides of an issue.
While news articles themselves should adhere to the traditional standards of
fairness and accuracy, assuring balance in links run counters to the concept of
providing only useful links to the reader.
Protocols
When deciding whether
to links to other parts of your own site, ask yourself the following questions:
· Is this content being
linked to relevant to someone who would be reading/viewing this content?
· When choosing whether
to include a link to another site, ask yourself the following questions:
· Is the linked content
relevant for someone who would be reading/viewing this content?
· Does the content being
linked include content that could potentially fall within the area of
defamation or libel?
· If the content being
linked to falls outside the standards of your site, should you include
notification of that fact (i.e., notify users of profanity, nudity, etc.)?
· Are you responsible
when you link to something offensive?
· What about when that
link links to something really offensive?
How do you decide when
a user should be banned from publishing on your site?
This question raises a
fundamental tension for journalists working in digital media: the need for a
news organization to accommodate conflicting views at the same time it creates
and maintains a community of civil discourse and debate. News organizations
should create terms of service for users contributing content to the news
organization's digital editions. Such terms cover such issues as the use of
obscenity, personal attacks, etc. in material published by non- staffers.
Publishers should also be clear about the consequences for violating terms of
service, e.g. immediate banning from further posting, suspension, etc.
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