news media and ethical issues

For the past two decades, there has been a massive transition from conventional media to modern media, which incorporates electronic, wireless, communication, and networked information technology. The transition has sparked major debates and concerns about the negative and positive effects of digital media, as well as other pertinent issues such as access management, tempo, and amount of schooling. As a consequence of new media technologies, platforms for uploading images, social networking sites, blogs, and wikis, to name a few, have emerged. A broad range of people in the world via social networking be it mobile, internal or external are steadily building online global, regional and local communities to talk about their shared activities and interests, disseminate information and also interact with each other through a wide range of web based tools. Moreover, the use of social networks and new media has enormous implications for culture, politics, and society that are associated with ethics. It is noteworthy that there have been tremendous incidents of misconduct, which have led to harmful and negative situations such as breach of privacy, political deception of constituents, libel, cyber crime just to mention a few. Additionally, the development of the new media implies that journalism ethics has been forced to undergo a quick change from the conventional, professional ethics to a mixed media ethics.

Copyright Infringement

Technological advancements in information technology instill new issues as far as copyright law is concerned. Today, it is unarguably evident that a digital file can be copied from one source and distributed instantly through the internet and therefore depriving the original owner of the content of revenue from licensed sales. Consequently, holders of copyrights on works of creativity in digital format have always contested the right of consumers to duplicate copyrighted materials for their gain (Senftleben, 2014). Moreover, consumers, on the other hand, are beginning to vex at copyright owners use of technological advancements to deter or prevent copying and other unwarranted use of works that have been copyrighted.

As digital processing advances and the high-speed distribution of online digital content becomes more permeate, the debate over issues of copyright, especially whether copyright law has attained the desired balance between the social benefits that are tagged along with the use of creative works and the incentives to willingly engage in activities that promote creative is likely to increase intensity. The impacts of any adjustments to the law governing copyright extend beyond the consumer and the producer to the society as a whole. For instance, Senftleben indicates that investments in the communications and computer hardware industries are directly linked to the availability of creative material in digital form (2014). It is noteworthy that how the current debate on copyright is resolved is likely to have a tremendous impact on the growth of related sectors of the economy. Moreover, potential revisions to the current laws governing copyright might as well influence on the broader social concerns, which include individual privacy.

Besides the front element, changes to the copyright law could impose mandated costs on consumers and producers of copyrighted content as well as the providers of services and goods used in conjunction with content that has been copyrighted. It is prudent to note that the digitalization of creative materials poses a more significant challenge to copyright law than the earlier episodes of technological advancements. A specially important part of the problem is that new technologies have always continued to increase how people can enjoy and consume creative works such as ripping music files from compact discs to store in a portable music device or computer (Senftleben, 2014).

Ethical issues in Social Networking Sites and News Media

Social networking sites and the associated privacy concerns are one of the most debated issues as people are increasingly participating in the site. What is more, the increased use of this site has been followed by a tremendous increase in the number of online crimes, which calls for accurate measures to mitigate the challenge (Alberts et al., 2015). One compelling example is Facebook, where the point of privacy issues can be postulated with abject precision. Facebook encourages its users to open an account by using authentic details, and the default setting allows all users including those who are strange to the account owner present in the site to access the primary information that is provided by the user. Further, Alberts et al. (2015 indicates that the changing of the privacy settings that is offered by the site can only be done by individual users such as who to add as a friend and who should see the different information posts online. In most cases, when people post information online, they do not care about the privacy concerns, and they end up posting sensitive information.

Theft of identity one of the biggest problems faced by most users. Social networking sites, particularly face book have its greatest number of users between the age of 15 to 25 years, and most of them are not aware while others do not care about privacy precautions that are offered by the site (Albarran, 2016). Moreover, often time’s fake profiles are being made, and the real owner does not know that another user is posting or updating things that are disgraceful. It is unarguable that such cases of hacking and identity theft are quite common among the young generation and some are self-confessed addicts of social networking sites, and for them, socialization means chatting online instead of meeting in person.

A comment controversy is another crucial ethical issue that affects digital media, especially on social networking sites. In Facebook or twitter for instance, when an individual posts a picture or gives an update, it is quite common to get comments or receive likes on the same and in the event, many people may start chatting in the comments, and many private things become public (Albarran, 2016). It is therefore prudent for Facebook users to filter their comments on peoples posts to ensure that whatever the profile user posted is not impacted negatively so that the chain of comments does not lead to anything harmful to the user (Lunnay et al., 2015).

Hacking has also emerged as a crucial ethical issue that digital media has faced in the last two decades since digital media was unveiled in the world. Young users spend most of their time on social networking sites chatting with their friends and other people on the site. It is quite common for users of various sites to receive links or multiple platforms that require them to click and log in their details to view more entertainment such as exciting videos and photos. However, most hackers use this as bait to get the log in details of the user so that they can be used to hack (Alberts et al., 2015). Consequently, the passwords get changed immediately, and the owner of the account may not be able to log in again, and in such instances, sharing of vulgar posts and comments from the hacked account continue and the real owner does not have the scope to inform their friends the actual story. Moreover, the threat does not stop at that as the victim's friends start receiving numerous requests of receiving the same requests of clicking the links and watching interesting images and videos. It is therefore prudent for users not to trust anyone with passwords and user names in the various sites in the web world. Users are also well-advised to alter their passwords frequently to safeguard their accounts (Alberts et al., 2015).



Fig: cyber bullying victimization rates

Anonymity has also been another significant ethical challenge affecting both social networking sites and news media. Namelessness is consented more easily in online sites than in conventional news media with papers ordinarily calling for the writers to distinguish themselves (Albarran, 2016). Also, codes of conventional media ethical code precaution news personnel to sparingly use anonymous references and exceptionally if specific principles are put into consideration as people may hide behind anonymity to make false or unfair potshots at other individuals to satisfy their interests. However, in online sites, many chats and commentary domains do not call for anonymity because on-line users defy the requirements from blogs as well as websites to join and also name themselves. Further, anonymity is valued as it accords people freedom of speech and more often than not helps o expose vices (Albarran, 2016). However, it encourages harmful and irresponsible comments as perpetrators do not fear the possibility of being tracked or reported for the destructive acts.

Besides, speed, rumor, and corrections also affect digital media. It is incontestable that images and reports circulate the globe with a lot of speed through you tube, email, blogs, Facebook, cell phones and twitter. Moreover, this lays pressure on news media publish articles and stories before they are corresponded (Albarran, 2016). Accordingly, this leads to the news media picking rumors in online sites, and sometimes, the impacts of publishing such stories are not world shaking. But a media that thrives in sharing and speed creates a tremendous potential for significant harm such prompt military action, induce panic and cause accidents (Alberts et al., 2015).

A linked problem made by digital media is how to deal with issues of corrections as well as errors when commentary and reports are continually updated. It is noteworthy that journalists are increasingly blogging live about news events, sports game as well as breaking stories and it is quite inevitable for the writers to make spelling and factual errors. Ethically, it is unarguable that the main problem is to come up with ways of handling the corrections and rumors in the digital age associated with accuracy, verification as well as transparency (Lunnay et al., 2015).

Conflicts of interest, impartiality and partisan journalism is another ethical challenge facing digital media. New media encourages individuals to share their thoughts and candidly express their opinion. Further, a significant number of bloggers have the advantage of expressing their views when put in comparison with journalists from the mainstream media who are required to speak in an impartial manner (Senftleben, 2014). A significant number of online journalists view themselves as activists or partisans for political movements or causes, who are against neutral analysis. Biased journalism is divided into two categories: the first type is guided by opinion, which means that it can comment on issues whether there is verification or not. The next category is partisan, which leans towards providing a voice for political parties or movements. Particularly, this can be construed as a return or revival to a biased or opinion journalism, which was popular before the onset of objective reporting (Albarran, 2016). As mentioned in the front elements, both biased and opinion have always existed since the emergence of journalism, but their resurgence in digital media evokes significant ethical concerns for the new media ethical codes. (Alberts et al., 2015).

To make issues more contentious, a broad range of the new proponents of impartial as well as opinion news media raises questions objectiveness and the long bearing precept that employers should allow their journalists to work independently. For instance, some unbiased journalists refuse accusations of conflict of interest as they make donations to political parties or accept money from groups (Lunnay et al., 2015). On the other hand, mainstream newsrooms that uphold conventional principles such as the virtue of impartiality more often than not feel obliged to shift to an opinionated way of approaching commentary, as well as news as being nonpartisan, are viewed as boring to the audience. Most viewers are said to be more attracted to conflicts of opinions as well as strong ideas.

The declining number of readers and profits for mainstream media due to the online migration of citizens has caused a significant shrink of staff in the newsrooms. Most journalists raise significant doubts about the continued practicality of the previous economic model of journalism that was based on circulation sales as well as advertising (Albarran, 2016). As a result, many journalists have started news websites and non-profit news rooms that source financing from contributions from citizens and foundations. The ethical issue raised in this trend is how independent such newsrooms can be when they rely on donations from few donors and what happens when the funded newsrooms intend to report a negative issue about one of their donors (Lunnay et al., 2015). Moreover, questions on how transparent the newsrooms can be about the sources of the finances and under what conditions arise alongside with from whom they will take money. Overall, there needs to be an ethics to deal with the issues mentioned above in new media (Alberts et al., 2015).

In the digital era, many journalists are asked create a brand for themselves through twitter accounts, facebook pages, as well as blogs and use them to gather information. However, the journalists are faced with the challenge of the consequences of commenting online especially if they are required to be impartial. For instance, a reporter might cover a story in a newspaper impartially, but expresses a strong opinion about the same thing on their blog. Accordingly, the journalist can be charged for their lack of professionalism that requires them to be impartial. Moreover, the immediate ethical problem is to come up with principles that allow journalists the choice of drawing reasonable limits of such commentary and explore the new media world.

Plagiarism is one of the primary ethical issues tagged along with the digital media. In the last five years, the reported cases of plagiarism in the United States of America have escalated with journalists blamed of stealing content from other sources. Plagiarism is an offshoot of copyright infringement and with the internet being afloat with information mainly in PowerPoint presentations, pdfs and open sourced documents, it becomes easy for individuals to copy materials and paste them to fit their desires (Alberts et al., 2015).

Digital manipulation of videos and photos is another pertinent ethical issue. Photo and video manipulation have frequently been used to persuade or deceive viewers or for improved self-expression or storytelling. Moreover, even modest and subtle changes can have tremendous impacts on how people judge or interpret photography as photo manipulation alters the images in a devious way (Albarran, 2016). Consequently, it makes it difficult for the audience to decipher between a real image and one that is manipulated. Moreover, this leads to the dissemination of altered information to the public.

Last but not least, images have also brought a broad range of ethical issues that have raised concerns in digital media. Professional journalists and citizens have Modern ways of getting the images and transmitting them, which include mobile phones that connect to the internet. The prudent issues are whether the pictures and videos can be relied on by newsrooms without questioning how they were acquired. Another important matter is whether a citizen or journalist used technology to manipulate the photograph such as taking an object out or adding an object to the picture (Albarran, 2016. Photojournalists take pride in the permission of manipulating the color, tone and other technical aspects of photos. However, altering the content or what the image means to mislead the audience is construed as going against the ethical code. Accordingly, this means that there is much for ethics to do so that there exist clarity in the virtues of making images and how they apply to digital media. (Lunnay et al., 2015).

In sum, digital media has been tagged with a broad range of ethical and legal concerns that affect users in a variety of ways. The hardest hit by this shift are social media users and news media as they are the greatest percentage of individuals that are exposed to the harmful effects of hacking, plagiarism, photo manipulation just to mention a few. Moreover, there is a need for new legislative laws that govern copyright infringement due to the increased access to creative content by internet users in the digital era. Social media users should also be cautioned to verify the sources of information before clicking on them due to numerous cases of hacking and false news. On the whole, digital media has come in handy to change the globe for the better, but it also has numerous ethical challenges, which require strict and uncompromising ethical laws to keep it in check.



























References

Alberts, J. K., Nakayama, T. K., & Martin, J. N. (2015). Human communication in society. Pearson.

Albarran, A. B. (2016). Management of electronic and digital media. Nelson Education.

Douglas, K., & Poletti, A. (2016). Introduction. In Life Narratives and Youth Culture (pp. 3-32). Palgrave Macmillan UK.

Lunnay, B., Borlagdan, J., McNaughton, D., & Ward, P. (2015). Ethical use of social media to facilitate qualitative research. Qualitative health research, 25(1), 99-109.

Senftleben, M. R. F. (2014). European Copyright for the Digital Age.