The Ethics of Cyber “Citizen Journalism”

One of my colleagues recently held a panel at the 2006 Broadcast Education Association conference. “The ‘Citizen Journalist’: The Challenges They Pose to Broadcast Educators” focused on the impact of “citizen journalism” on the mainstream media. This panel began a discussion led to ethics of citizen journalism and what influence the ethics code of journalists would have on this new breed of journalism. This topic turned to the three key issues that have fueled and will continue to fuel the growth in this field; exposure, equipment, and exchange of funds. As long as there is a distribution method available for these journalists, as long as the technology is made portable and affordable for the general public, and as long there is a market for information, there will be an influx of citizen journalism. News organizations, as mentioned my friend, will need to overlay the ethical values of their organization to air the submissions.

However, the question that I wish to pose is what ethical standards should cyber “citizen journalist” follow? Should they mimic their professional brethren and follow the code established for them, develop a personal set of beliefs or perhaps something in the middle? I would think the best bit of advice to this group would be to follow a tenement of the medical field, do no harm.