Adhering to the Same Ethics in the Age of Social Networking
getting duped or misled. The assertion that the ethical positions urging journalists to report stories of legitimate public concern not simply of mere curiosity and to make sure the private information they include in their stories does not cause more individual harm than public good does not mean that journalists should stop doing their job of seeking and reporting the truth. It merely means that the public’s justifiable right to know should always outweigh the individual’s right to privacy when reporting and publishing stories. Although the law states that to publish personal information it must be of legitimate public concern, the term newsworthy has become unclear and typically refers to stories the public simply wants to know. The ethical argument that newsworthy stories must go beyond mere public nosiness and instead truly affect the public as a whole more than the single individual needs to be codified in law, because the online world has changed people’s perception of what is considered private. This rapid change has complicated the jobs of journalists, because it is the ethical issues that have been blurred and challenged, not the legal ones. One of the most important aspects in journalism is consistency, and incorporating this ethical stance into privacy law will only give reporters a clearer guide into how they should approach stories, especially ones that integrate social networking sites. Journalism changes people’s lives, and eliminating the unclear boundaries of ethics will only be a change for the better.
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