Journalism Ethics for the Digital Age

Denis Muller

Journalism is being transformed by the digital revolution. Journalists working for media organisations are having to file and update stories across multiple platforms under increasing time pressures. Meanwhile, anyone with sufficient literacy skills and access to the internet can aspire to practise journalism, and many are doing so.

And yet journalism in any form still depends for its legitimacy on the observance of ethical principles and practices. For example, it has to maintain a commitment to telling the truth, and to minimise deception and betrayal; deal with conflicts of interest; protect sources and their confidences; know how to report on traumatised and vulnerable people; and know when to respect privacy.

Journalism Ethics for the Digital Age covers all these areas and more. It traces the ethics of journalism from their origins in philosophy to the new challenges brought about by digital technology, with practical examples to show how ethical values and principles can play out in the real world. An invaluable tool for ethical decision-making, this is a book for professional journalists and citizen journalists, for students in the disciplines of journalism, media, communications, and applied ethics, and for the engaged reader everywhere.

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Details

Format:Paperback

Size: 8.27in × 5.31in

Extent:256pp

ISBN (13):9781922070951

RRP:$14.95

Pub date:29 Jun 2014

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Denis Muller

Denis Muller was a journalist for 27 years, 22 of them at The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, where he held senior editorial positions, including chief sub-editor and news editor at the Herald, and associate editor at The Age. As assistant editor (investigations) he also established the investigative reporting unit at the Herald. Since leaving newspapers in 1993 he has conducted an independent research consultancy, taught in the political science program at Melbourne University, and now teaches media ethics and law in the University’s Centre for Advancing Journalism. His doctoral thesis (2005) was entitled ‘Media Accountability in a Liberal Democracy’. He is also the author of Black Saturday in the Media Spotlight.