In addition to the previous ethical issues in relation to the new media, it is also important to consider the sense of competition between the traditional and new media.

The availability of information in the internet age can be seen to be leading to a dilution of the importance of the traditional news media, that is, there are many more ways for people to both discover and share news, we no longer rely solely on broadcast news outlets such as print and television to obtain information. Is it appropriate for traditional news to report on new media where there might be a conflict of interest? Hirst (2011: 117) writes:

“There is a kind of moral panic developing around social networking sites – fear and scare campaigns in the news media that focus on the unsavoury aspects… online.”

If the traditional media are focussing mostly on the negative aspects of the new media, is this appropriate? A recent scan of online news publishers revealed that only eight percent of articles mentioning Facebook (the popular social-networking site) were positive, whereas 91% were negative or neutral. The majority of negatively-geared posts were in relation to privacy, security or illegal activity. The ethical issue here is if there is an element of competition effecting traditional news and their reporting on the new media as it threatens their position as official watchdog to the public? This is an important, though not ‘new’ ethical consideration relating to conflict of interest and maintaining objectivity in reporting.

References

Hirst, Martin (2011). News 2.0: Can Journalism Survive the Internet. Allen and Unwin: Crows Nest.

Related Posts:

• Digital Media Ethics: Introduction & Definitions
• Digital Media Ethics: Wrap-up
• Digital Media Ethics: Theories for evaluation
• Digital Media Ethics: Advertising
• Digital Media Ethics: Speed and Accuracy

The objective of this series of posts is to explore and answer the question: are there any new ethical issues that arise in the new digital media? In order to answer this question I will firstly define the media, including both the traditional media and new digital media and the difference between the two. A series of posts will then follow which will analyse key ethical issues relating to:

1. Privacy
2. Speed and accuracy
3. Advertising
4. Conflicts of interests
5. How ethical inquiry might be applied to the new media.

For the purpose of this digital media ethics series, the media is defined as channels used to disseminate information to the public (a commonly used and accepted definition). This series will discuss both the traditional media or broadcast media and the new digital media. According to Ess (2009:15) the new media is those ways of communicating which have gone beyond the traditional broadcast (or one-to-many) communication model. The new digital media allows for interactivity and many-to-many communication. It takes communication from the hands of a privileged few, mostly in a professional capacity, and puts it into the hands of anyone with access to new technology. For example the traditional media covers print publications, television (advertising, news and entertainment) whereas new media includes communication methods such as the internet, social networks and mobile phones.

Stay tuned for the next post on Digital Media Ethics: Privacy.

References

Ess, Charles (2009). Digital Media Ethics. Polity Press: Cambridge.

Related Posts:

• Digital Media Ethics: The conflict of interest with Traditional Media reporting on New Media
• Digital Media Ethics: Wrap-up
• Digital Media Ethics: Theories for evaluation
• Digital Media Ethics: Advertising
• Digital Media Ethics: Speed and Accuracy

Is there really a war between traditional news outlets and social media? The way we consume media is changing and traditional news is not as trusted as it once once, they need to get smarter in the way they deliver news to consumers to maintian relevance.

According to Rory O’Connor, Randi Zuckerburg of Facebook believes that ‘expert’ journalists still have their place, people still want an unbiased news source. I completely agree with this. However, the fact remains that many people trust news they hear via their friends more, so if a friend recommends they read a news story, chance are they will. The chart below (from eMarketer, retrieved 7 February 2009) shows that Australian consumers place trust in peers well above both TV news and newspapers. Interestingly enough, online news is also trusted above TV news & newspapers. None of this indicates that people believe journalism is no longer relevant.

In Australia, it seems many traditional news publications feel as though they’re in some sort of war with social media, and rather than embracing it, they simply want to discredit it. But the public has embraced social media, and so traditional media needs to as well to continue to be a relied-upon source of information. Many news outlets are missing out on a great opportunity to find breaking news stories on social media sites such as Twitter. When natural disasters occur – such as the recent Haitiearthquake or last years bushfires in Australia – the news is actually breaking on Twitter as people are able to share updates from their mobile phones whilst on the move. Eye witness reports appear online long before a TV station can secure an exclusive interview, and by the time it makes their 6pm broadcast, it’s old news. This being said, just because something appears on Twitter, doesn’t make it credible, and this is where traditional news has its strength – they have the resources to conduct further research and provide broader and more insightful information. But it needs to be delivered in more thought-provoking and non-traditional formats (no that doesn’t mean a slideshow that will generate 100 clicks for your news site).

Social media provides opportunities for deeper engagement with news content. Imagine, an article is published on a news website, the popularity of this article is based on how many times it is shared (via bookmarking, Facebook & Twitter shares etc.) AND read, rather than a traditional page view metric. The newspaper publisher creates a poll on the popular story to see what more information consumers want on this issue. A follow-up story is published, it is even more widely shared as the consumers feel valued by the newspaper publisher and they tell even more of their friends about it. Ultimately news outlets control what issues we’re privy to, but imagine if the general public were allowed to do the agenda-setting rather than media agencies? There would be MORE news publications, but they would be focussed on smaller niches, be more relevant and we’d end up with news we actually valued!

Traditional journalism still has it’s place. There are naysayers out there who will argue that. But we DO still need an unbiased source for our news. To remain relevent I believe news needs to be delivered in more convenient formats (at the moment that may be via Twitter or a Facebook Application) and cater to smaller, but more engaged audiences by supplying niche news.

Related Posts:

• Social Media in Australia: A collection of infographics and statistics from 2011
• Trends: Most popular social networks of 2009 by search queries
• Social Networks & Search experience growth in website referrals
• Social Media isn’t a fad, it’s a fundamental shift in the way we communicate
• Facebook Roundup