THE ETHICS OF ONLINE JOURNALISM
THE ETHICS OF ONLINE JOURNALISM
How digital journalism can affect and better the lives of people.
Nduli Sizakele
ndulisizakele@gmail.com
“Ethics is a system of moral principles concerned with what is good for an individual or society. The purpose of ethics is to define human behavior that is acceptable through knowing the types of actions, its consequences and the limits for humans and actions as well as their acceptability.”
Journalism is one of the most fulfilling and rewarding profession that one can pursue. The public relies on journalists to know what is happening around them. Therefore, it is essential to take into consideration the kind of content you publish online as it might positively or negatively impact the public, get you in trouble or even worse, drag the news organization you represent through the mud.
Before a journalist can publish content online or in any other medium, they need to ensure that they report only on truth, act independently, be accountable and minimize harm. Below is how they can enforce the above mentioned elements into their gathering, writing and publishing of content:
Digital content can stick around forever. Journalists need to always tell the truth when publishing content online even in print etc. Joseph Gandye, a Tanzanian journalist who works for Watete TV was arrested in Dar es Salaam for reporting on false information about the excessive use of power by police against Tanzanian civilians. Gandye was defended by the Tanzanian Human Rights Defenders which founded this organization by stating that the report gave the subjects of the news a chance to respond to the allegations including the police officers. It is essential for online journalists to verify their sources- know whether they are reliable or not. Journalists should question whether their sources have ulterior motives for their knowledge on a certain issue before keeping them anonymous. Journalists should remain objective and give everyone involved in the news a chance to give their side of the story.
According to Lynne Walsh, the Ethics Chair for the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) in USA, a journalist volunteering at a church should not be covering a story about the church. Another journalist can cover the story, but if there is no other journalist to do the job, then you should disclose the relationship you have with the church. It is considered unethical for a journalist to accept tips, gifts or free meals in events. Journalists should say no to being bribed to keep their silence or to publish information about the people who have the power to control information about themselves. One of the perks of journalism include being invited to breakfasts, dinners etc. It is always great to be invited to one of the newsworthy events and it is okay to accept generosity only when there is a reason. But journalists need to draw the line at getting invited to events that are not newsworthy.
Making mistakes in public will require you to make corrections for those mistakes in the same way. The Sunday Times journalists Mzilikazi Wa Afrika and Stephan Hofstatter wrote articles without thoroughly checking their sources. These journalists were strung along by politicians who had their personal agendas. They published false information on the alleged Cato Manor death squad, the South African Revenue Services “rogue unit” etc. This led to the editor of Sunday Times Bongani Siqoko making a public apology and the two journalists leaving this news organization.
Prior to publishing content online, journalists need to compare the right for the public to know and how it can cause harm to victims. They need to also consider the safety of the victims or the sources of news (e.g information journalists publish may be harmful to victims under the age of 18 or victims whose lives may be in danger should their names be revealed). Journalists must know what information to publish and when. This will help the journalists in making sound decisions on what is important and the impact of their decision on the public. Journalists have the power to access information that other members of the society can’t, e.g bank records, census information, contracts, court records etc. hence they should not selfishly use this power to cause any damage or discomfort to anyone. The information that is published online should be for the interest of the public and not for personal interests. The creation of images in the digital media age has raised questions on the ethics of journalism. Ordinary SA citizens including journalists have been exposed to the new technology (e.g Adobe Photoshop) of changing and manipulating the originality of images. This will negatively impact the credibility of journalism as photojournalists or any other ordinary journalist can add or remove elements in the images to make them suitable for the core goal of a certain individual.
According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary,
plagiarizing means: to take someone’s words and ideas and using them as your
own without their permission. Giving credit and paying attention to copy right
laws must be of utmost priority when using materials from other sources.
Failure to comply to this may result to a punishment although in some cases,
the offences go unpunished or get a lighter punishment such as suspension from
work. We see this in the case of Fareed Zakaria a US journalist, who
plagiarized his Time column and was suspended by CNN and Time in 2012 just
after he got caught for plagiarizing content. Despite all the accusations and
corrections placed on his articles, Zakaria still hosts a show on CNN and still
writes a column for the Washington Post. Copying photos, videos etc and placing
them on your website without putting links, or mentioning the original website
is a punishable offence.
We are living in an era where we cannot tell truth from lies and we don’t know what to believe. Journalism is an ever-evolving career that needs the public, journalists and news organizations to be able to adapt to the changes and remain flexible.
Online journalism is the beauty that came out in the history of journalism. It offers a platform for public engagement unlike print journalism. It is a medium where news get to reach the audience faster hence the dire need for every journalist to ensure accuracy in the content they publish and verify the reliability of their sources. Journalists must be as honest as possible and be transparent with the public to maintain their credibility. There is a long way to go for online journalism and the credibility of everyone who contributes to the news-making process, but in order to succeed in providing content for the digital age, journalists must adhere to all the ethics of journalism.
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