Internet and Its Variety of Ethics

Hannah Debenham
hd550512@ohio.edu

What is ethics? It is not a body of law. Ethics is more personal than law. I can walk down the street and yell vulgar comments at any person I pass and face no legal repercussions because my right of free speech protects me. I choose not to, however, because I personally find it to be rude and inappropriate. It is my own ethical decision. This idea can be translated into the ethics of journalism. A writer could write a story in a rather opinionated matter and stretch the truth a bit, or they could be respectful to the public and spread honest news. A reader can choose to read the tabloids or they can research the news more and find truthful information.

Today, journalists are constantly criticized for their lack of ethics, be it poor content, a biased story or corrupt information. With the never ending media outlets on the internet, we are subjected to more information than ever before; it is difficult to determine the validity of each story. A lot of the criticism comes from, and I have to agree, the new found idea of the citizen journalist with the use of the internet and social media. The citizen journalist offers a free reign of access to information -- sometimes (not always) unedited facts and information. It lends to this "be first before being right," concept and causes uninformed "news" to be taken as true news.

But, on the other side of this train of thought, the extensive content being published allows for extensive options.

There are no doubt unethical journalists. Even, or especially, respected journalists in mainstream media are unethical. The reader might not be able to stop poor decisions from happening among journalists, but that doesn't mean the reader/viewer has to listen to them. Being the fully functioning, free-willed human beings that we are, the power is in our hands. No one is making you click on each tweet posting a new article or read the news feed stories on Facebook.

Photo: AAP Image/Dave Hunt

A wide span of journalism is seen every day with a a variety of content, outlook and opinion. The thrilling side to this profession is the ability to manipulate a story with our own words. A tabloid will look at a story differently than a respected newspaper. However, this compromises the outcome for the reader.

It is definitely easier to quickly click on every streaming story on Facebook, but are you necessarily gaining more accurate information that way? Maybe some days you are. It is every American citizen's freedom to read what they please. However, it brings into question whether or not some of the 'critics' of today's journalists are choosing to read freelance citizen stories and taking them as fact.

The thrilling side to reading a story is having the ability to manipulate what you read by choosing what you read. Those who are looking for true informative stories should always question the validity and credibility of what they read; just as journalists should always check the credibility of their sources.