Ethics of  Digital Journalism

Marshall McLuhan proposed that technological changes impact society. Digital media has enabled journalists to reach their audiences instantly with the news. Journalists need more time to decide what to report and how to present it. Ethics is the belief about what is morally correct or acceptable. Traditionally, newspaper reporters devised moral codes to help them in their professional decision-making. There emerged an almost universal set of principles that guided journalists in their profession. Television journalists were compelled to draw up a code of ethics to ward off criticism about sensationalism. Digital media has blurred the distinction between professional and citizen journalists. Twitter allows the man in the street to break the news as it happens. Privacy and copyright are just two of the significant issues that digital journalists must deal with. Digital media throws up these challenges, and this chapter aims to answer them. Is it acceptable to extend the ethical standards of old media to the digital space, or do we need a new set of ethics to guide digital journalists? New principles and ethical standards are being framed to tackle the unique challenges of digital news media.