Unethical Sharing in the Digital Age

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Unethical Sharing in the Digital Age

Technological advancements have created new opportunities for us to share, connect, discover, and engage with reality and the digital world. Although we have been afforded many beneficial advantages from these developments, the inevitable consequence is the creation of new ethical dilemmas. Communications professionals are finding themselves discovering and approaching ethical dilemmas in a completely different way because of the impact technology has had on the communication field.
Journalism often requires communications professionals to face conflicting values and information that could possibly harm others in the process. Defending controversial decisions made by journalists comes down to a conversation about ethics that does not always yield a straightforward answer, "While journalism ethics, as with the philosophy of ethics in general, is less concerned with pronouncements of the "rightness" or "wrongness" of certain acts, it relies on longstanding notions of the public-service mission of journalism" (Plaisance, 2016). Some of these long standing notions of what journalism’s mission is supposed to be creates conflict between the audience and journalists. "Everyone is tempted to do things he or she may not otherwise contemplate without the speed and ease of media technology" (Plaisance, 2016).
A new race amongst journalists takes place when a story breaks. Before digital technology there was focus on investigative journalism and taking time to develop a story. Because of our new fast paced digital environment, being the source that gets the information out first is the prize. As a result, all information is not thoroughly fact checked and errors are made in reports. Journalists are starting to partner with the audience to mine and develop stories. Using social media to find sources can be a hit or miss. It’s important that journalists complete thorough work to validate their sources and verify the information being used. 
Technology continues to impact and create new dilemmas for communication professionals. Not fully fact checking sources is one way an organization’s ethics can become questionable. According to the Public Relations Society of America, the actions may not breach the published code of ethics, but it may be outside of the common cultural journalistic mission. 

Video: Journalism Ethics in the Media Landscape

This video is a discussion between Christopher Michael McHugh, CBS Network producer T. Sean Herbert, and Charlie Rose Show Technical Director, Phil Capello about journalistic ethics, integrity, and media strategies.

Video: Journalism Ethics

Professor Mark Gabrowski discusses various ethical guidelines one can follow when engaging in digital journalism. He also discusses ethical dilemmas that arise within the new media landscape.


References

Grabowski, M. (2018). Journalism Ethics. [online] YouTube. Available at: https://youtu.be/AwwLIMr7UUU [Accessed 5 Jul. 2019].

McHugh, C. (2015). Journalism Ethics in the New Media Landscape. [online] YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLntK_MZEW4 [Accessed 5 Jul. 2019].

Plaisance, P. (2016, June 09). Journalism Ethics. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Communication. Retrieved 12 Jun. 2019, fromhttps://oxfordre.com/communication/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228613.001.0001/acrefore-9780190228613-e-89.

 Public Relations Society of America Code of Ethics. (2019). Retrieved from http://www.prsa.org/wp-content/uploads/2-18/04/PRRSACodeofEthics.pdf

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