Journalists, at times, are able to undermine the credibility of the profession by not following ethical practices. But journalists affiliated with news organizations are watched by an entire staff of ethical police: editors. A news organization needs journalists to follow ethical guidelines to maintain its credibility, which is directly related to its financial success.
This circumstance is arguably different from some other professions, in which corporate organizations with a financial motive sometimes undermine ethical conduct to save money.Citizen journalism advocates argue that the marketplace acts as an enforcer of ethical conduct.
However, the professional journalist is also accountable to the news organization; the citizen journalist is accountable only to a vast marketplace that may or may not provide an ongoing motive for ethical conduct.
Citizen journalism argue that bloggers must be more transparent than traditional media. Traditional news organizations value balanced reporting, but that isn’t necessarily an ethical mandate in the realm of citizen journalists. Even advocacy websites with a clear conservative or liberal point of view can be seen as reliable if the information they provide is substantiated.
However, some media ethics experts say citizen journalists cannot act ethically if they don’t know or understand the traditional ethical codes of conduct. Andy Schotz, a reporter for The Herald-Mail, a daily newspaper in Hagerstown, Maryland and Chairman of The Society of Professional Journalists’ Ethics Committee, said it is difficult for consumers of citizen journalism to discern what content has been thoroughly and ethically gathered and what content is inaccurate or biased. click here
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