Ethical Issues In New Media

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While New Media offers citizens greater freedom of information, it can also compose dangers such as information being manipulated, misinterpretation of information and the problems created by the content at a much higher speed than traditional media.

Media ethics is usually defined as a set of principles and practices (researching and publishing correct information to the public, acting independently and minimizing harm) for traditional journalist and media professional to follow in order to help them act responsibility.

One particular case study that prompted serious ethical concerns and issues is the case of 14-year-old Benjamin Lim death earlier this year. The Online Citizen (TOC), an independent online media platform, posted an article on 31st January 2016 titled ‘ 14-year-old jumps to his death after …show more content…

The fact is that citizen journalists could easily generate content online through the use of social media and media technologies such as mobile phones. However, the information gathered and delivered may be misleading and therefore may lead to propaganda. This is because most of them do not have access to first hand information from press conference for instance (due to license/official permit), thus they can only work with secondary information or share information on their social media platform based on their conclusion or opinion. By sharing inaccurate information on social media without ethical judgment that traditional journalist practice, it could further complicate an issue or interrupt on-going investigation.

With that being said, citizen journalists should therefore be liable to the same ethical judgments and self censorship or at least follow similar ethical principles to raise the editorial and ethical standards such as truthfulness, objectivity and transparency of their

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