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As "Bill Cosby Dead" became a trending
topic, Facebook group owner Gorman was
forced to come clean.
"My name is Jonathan Gorman and I am the
page admin/creator. With the recent
slowdown of likes and high amount of
attention from news sources. . .
I have come to the conclusion that I should
tell you all the truth. Bill Cosby is not
deceased," he wrote late Tuesday. "I made
around 315 THOUSAND people angry."
"I love you all for making me
laugh at your stupidity for the
past day and a half. You're
great," Gorman wrote.
AN ETHICO-LEGAL PARADOX Legal principle
Criminal law
Common law
Contracts and
commercial law
State regulation
Business Interest
Public Interest
Ethical principles
Greater good
Right-to-know
Do no harm
• Law and regulation tend to trail
innovation and application.
• No prior knowledge or scrutiny of
apps
• Some uses can be problematic
• Does the public interest ever justify
breaking the law for greater ethical
reasons?
• The grey areas where law and ethics
collide
TECHNO-LEGAL TIME-GAP
• Media Freedom &
Regulation
• Free speech
• Commercial Speech
• Hate speech
• Privacy / Data Privacy
• The ethico-legal paradox
• Accountability
• UGC
• Liability
• Surveillance
• Commercial
• Social
• Suppression
• Counter Surveillance
CLOSING THE GAP?
BRIDGING THE PARADOX?
• Convergence + Speed
• Social & Mobile
• New applications coming on stream
• Massive amounts of new and
improved data
• A techno-legal time-gap
• Legal, regulation , custom and practice
• Applications and Arguments
• Political economy
• Ethico-legal issues & paradox
• Privacy
• Power & influence
• Democracy
http://digital-paradox.net/
IF THEY CAN, THEN SO CAN WE
The Sun last week said it was
"absurd" to continue the British black
out and defended publishing two
photos of the naked prince on the
grounds that they were freely
available across the internet,
including on the websites of
mainstream media organisations
such as CNN.
If material is in the public domain and
everyone is talking about it, yet we ignore it,
we might be seen as missing out on an
important element of a news story and failing
to inform our users.
• Sun Editorial
Old rules no longer apply
• Harry‟s Privates y v Royal
Privacy
• Right to know invoked
• Becomes a „free speech‟
argument for British tabloids
HARRY NO-PANTS IS FAIR GAME
• Public interest defence
• Harry compromised his
own privacy
• We respect the privacy of
the respectable royals
(Wills & Kate)
• Laddish behaviour
• Just doing normal stuff
(according to friends)
There is a clear public interest in publishing
the Harry pictures, in order for the debate
around them to be fully informed.
The photos have potential implications for
the Prince‘s image representing Britain
around the world.
• The Sun‘s editorial defence
"Prince Harry. Give him a break. He may be on the public payroll
one way or another, but the public loves him, even to enjoy Las
Vegas.‖
Rupert Murdoch‘s tweet
A NEW MEME – ABANDON PRIVACY FOR PRIVATES
• People prepared to give up
privacy to back Harry
• A new „Rule Britannia‟
• Tabloid media uses it as an
excuse to push the boundary of
„taste‟ under cloak of public
interest
MILITARISING THE MEME
D Squadron, the King‘s Royal Hussars, posing
naked with tanks
in Helmand, Afghanistan
#salute4harry
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2194521/Prince-Harry-Facebook-group-strips-support-party-loving-royal-naked-Vegas-photos-furore.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
“WHAT STAYS IN VEGAS?” • A breach of a code of silence
• Who breached the code?
• Which code takes
precedence?
• Story now takes precedence
for the news media
• Gossip as reportage
"Las Vegas is about adult freedom," a
spokeswoman for the [tourist] board told
USA Today. "It's important for friends to
know what activities can be shared
publicly and what activities are protected
by the code."
DETAILS AND NAMES LINKED TO HARRY
• Paparazzi
• „fake‟ Facebook accounts
• „protected‟ Twitter accounts
• Fan Pages on Tumblr
• Social Surveillance of Harry
has been unleashed
http://www.christianpost.com/news/prince-harrys-fans-harrassed-for-secrets-on-
spike-wells-facebook-account-80664/
A HASTY CORRECTION • Verification – after
publication
• Authentic - questionable
• Voyeurisitc view of a very
public private life
• Vicarious pleasures /
entertainment / values
• Race to the bottom?
Harry‟s legs
Christianpost.com
changes its mind about a
source
NEW TIN, SAME SARDINES?
• How public is Facebook?
• How do you manage contacts
who you know on Facebook?
• Can you use false profiles on
Facebook to gather
information?
• Is it OK to discuss ongoing
court cases on Facebook?
• Courtroom Tweeting
• Twit Def and stupid tweets
• Personal v Professional
social media profiles
For the most part, the five main issues
that are causing the most problems, are
issues that have always been problematic
– they have just been transplanted into
digital scenarios instead.
These five issues are:
1. copyright
2. verification
3. protecting sources
4. gathering information using false
pretences
5. contempt of court
Is this all there is to it?
Claire Wardle Networked Knowledge blog
http://clairewardle.com/2011/09/21/journalism-ethics-in-a-social-media-world/
WHEN IS A BEER AD NOT A BEER AD?
• Sponsor responsible for user
comments on social media sites
• Encouraging comments as a form
of advertising and value add for the
brand
• Facebook‟s commercial rules?
• Political economy and ethics /
liability
When a user ―likes‖ a brand post, or
expresses a view in a comment on a brand
page, they push the brand out into their
peer network attached to their own identity.
For VB to claim that User Comments aren‘t
advertisements is to suggest that they
don‘t create value for the brand.
http://theconversation.edu.au/ruling-on-alcohol-brands-facebook-sites-will-shake-up-social-media-marketing-8974
stricter monitoring of Facebook pages by
brands was against the ―spirit of social
media‖ and ―commercially unviable‖.
Advertisers could abandon Facebook as an
interactive advertising channel because of the
difficulty monitoring conversation on their pages.
SMIRNOFF – ENABLING, NOT ADVERTISING
• Do Facebook users
understand the dynamics or
are they being used as useful
idiots?
With several thousand images online, each
time a fan tags, likes or comments an
image, it pushes that image out into the
news feeds of their hundreds of friends.
These images have a targeted and
promotional character.
They embed the brand within the mediation
of nightlife on Facebook.
A precedent (appeal pending) regarding
liability for ethical behaviour in social
media
WHAT ABOUT RACISM – „OFFENSIVE HUMOUR‟
• Another free-speech
argument?
• Facebook eventually
closed it
• US v Australian
jurisdiction
• Invoking 1st
Amendment
The Aboriginal Memes Facebook
page carried hundreds of images
indigenous Australians as drunks and
welfare cheats.
The Australian Communications and
Media Authority is investigating
Race Discrimination Commissioner
Helen Szoke said it could breach
Australian anti-discrimination laws.
http://www.3news.co.nz/Facebook-removes-racist-Aboriginal-Memes-
WHO IS A JOURNALIST?
• Barriers to entry falling
• Are bloggers part of the
journalism community?
• Is there a useful
demarcation between
professional and amateur
• Should the rules be the
same or different for
professional and amateur
reporters?
The ‗democratization‘ of media –
technology that allows citizens to engage
in journalism and publication of many kinds
– blurs the identity of journalists and the
idea of what constitutes journalism. (Ward)
http://ethics.journalism.wisc.edu/resources/digital-media-ethics/
To what extent existing media ethics is
suitable for today‘s and tomorrow‘s news
media that is immediate, interactive and
―always on‖ – a journalism of amateurs and
professionals?
Stephen Ward, Digital Media Ethics
http://ethics.journalism.wisc.edu/resources/digital-media-ethics/
DIGITAL FAULTLINES
Unresolved tensions between
‗traditional‘ journalism and the
technological capacities of
‗News 2.0‘
Heightening tension between
local and global journalism
accuracy, pre-publication
verification, balance,
impartiality, and gate-keeping
Online, it was almost as if the reporters
were not just camping outside the dorm,
but barging into the rooms and leafing
through personal journals.
―You have reporters that will create a
Facebook identity just to get students‘
contact information, or who will start an
online memorial to get people posting for a
story. It‘s just inappropriate,‖ Virginia Tech
student journalist Courtney Thomas told
The Guardian newspaper.
http://www.journalismethics.ca/social-media-poses-digital-dilemmas-for-journalists.html
VIRGINIA TECH –
APRIL 2007
• False pretences
ANONYMITY ONLINE
• Allowing anonymous
comments on news sites
• Verification of Twitter &
other accounts as
genuine
Traditional journalistic codes of ethics warn
that people may use anonymity to take
unfair or untrue ―potshots‖ at other people,
for self-interested reasons.
Journalists should avoid anonymous
sources in most cases
Online anonymity is easy and provides a
cover for uncivil discourse
THE NEED FOR SPEED
• Speed over accuracy
• No prior restraint
• Correction after
publication
a media that thrives on speed and
―sharing‖ creates the potential for great
harm
TWITTER
• Should we really be
trying for objectivity
here?
• Is Twitter for
professional or
personal use?
• Should reporters
separate the personal
and the professional?
• What about being
„genuine‟ in social
media spaces?
One of the key contemporary journalistic
dilemmas — how to define or redefine
objectivity in the social media age — is
being played out live on Twitter.
Reporters‘ use of the platform to express
feelings and opinions on a range of issues
has raised red flags about professional
conduct and bias.
(Juie Posetti http://newmatilda.com/2009/06/16/twitters-
difficult-gift-journalism)
THE PERSONAL AND THE POLITICAL
WITHIN THE SOCIAL
• Can we continue
the analog pretence
that journalists
don‟t have or
shouldn‟t have
opinions?
Is Twitter an ethical and credible source?
Should journalists have two Facebook
accounts?
Do newsrooms need an ethics code for
social media?
Is it ethical for journalists to ―like‖ political
campaigns?
Greg Wingert / Working Press
http://workingpress.spjnetwork.org/2010/10/05/social-media-boom-spurs-ethics-dilemmas/
A REVIVAL OF PARTISAN JOURNALISM
• A strengthening of the public
sphere?
• A further entrenching of elite
opinion?
• The cementing of inbuilt and
unconscious bias?
Blogging is about speaking one‘s mind.
Traditionally reporters have been expected
to cover events impartially.
Increasingly online (citizen?) journalists
see themselves as partisans or activists for
causes or political movements, and reject
the idea of objective or neutral analysis.
(Ward)
THE NEW FRONTIERS
The ethical challenge is to redefine what
independent journalism in the public
interest means for a media where many
new types of journalism are appearing and
where basic principles are being
challenged.
(Ward)
IMAGE MANIPULATION
NEW WAYS TO INVADE PRIVACY
• The right to be forgotten v.
the right to do business
• Technical solutions like “Do
no track” code
BEHOLDEN TO FUNDERS
• This has always been an
issue
• The political economy of
journalism
• What about trusts and
philanthropy
• Who pays the piper calls the
tune
• Freedom of speech and
freedom of the press are not
the same thing
How independent are not-for-profit
newsrooms if they rely on funding from a
limited number of donors?
What happens if the newsroom intends to
report a negative story about one of its
main funders?
From whom will these newsrooms take
money?
How transparent will they be about who
gives them money and under what
conditions?
(Ward)
CITIZEN JOURNALISM AND UGNC
• User-generated
news-like content
• The conditions of
citizen journalism
• Eye-witness and
social media
verification
Should citizen journalists be required to be
balanced and impartial?
Should shield laws and other protections /
privileges be given to bloggers, citizen
journalists and other non-official reporters?

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Ethics in Social Media: Digital Dilemmas?

  • 1. As "Bill Cosby Dead" became a trending topic, Facebook group owner Gorman was forced to come clean. "My name is Jonathan Gorman and I am the page admin/creator. With the recent slowdown of likes and high amount of attention from news sources. . . I have come to the conclusion that I should tell you all the truth. Bill Cosby is not deceased," he wrote late Tuesday. "I made around 315 THOUSAND people angry." "I love you all for making me laugh at your stupidity for the past day and a half. You're great," Gorman wrote.
  • 2. AN ETHICO-LEGAL PARADOX Legal principle Criminal law Common law Contracts and commercial law State regulation Business Interest Public Interest Ethical principles Greater good Right-to-know Do no harm • Law and regulation tend to trail innovation and application. • No prior knowledge or scrutiny of apps • Some uses can be problematic • Does the public interest ever justify breaking the law for greater ethical reasons? • The grey areas where law and ethics collide TECHNO-LEGAL TIME-GAP
  • 3. • Media Freedom & Regulation • Free speech • Commercial Speech • Hate speech • Privacy / Data Privacy • The ethico-legal paradox • Accountability • UGC • Liability • Surveillance • Commercial • Social • Suppression • Counter Surveillance CLOSING THE GAP? BRIDGING THE PARADOX? • Convergence + Speed • Social & Mobile • New applications coming on stream • Massive amounts of new and improved data • A techno-legal time-gap • Legal, regulation , custom and practice • Applications and Arguments • Political economy • Ethico-legal issues & paradox • Privacy • Power & influence • Democracy http://digital-paradox.net/
  • 4. IF THEY CAN, THEN SO CAN WE The Sun last week said it was "absurd" to continue the British black out and defended publishing two photos of the naked prince on the grounds that they were freely available across the internet, including on the websites of mainstream media organisations such as CNN. If material is in the public domain and everyone is talking about it, yet we ignore it, we might be seen as missing out on an important element of a news story and failing to inform our users. • Sun Editorial Old rules no longer apply • Harry‟s Privates y v Royal Privacy • Right to know invoked • Becomes a „free speech‟ argument for British tabloids
  • 5. HARRY NO-PANTS IS FAIR GAME • Public interest defence • Harry compromised his own privacy • We respect the privacy of the respectable royals (Wills & Kate) • Laddish behaviour • Just doing normal stuff (according to friends) There is a clear public interest in publishing the Harry pictures, in order for the debate around them to be fully informed. The photos have potential implications for the Prince‘s image representing Britain around the world. • The Sun‘s editorial defence "Prince Harry. Give him a break. He may be on the public payroll one way or another, but the public loves him, even to enjoy Las Vegas.‖ Rupert Murdoch‘s tweet
  • 6. A NEW MEME – ABANDON PRIVACY FOR PRIVATES • People prepared to give up privacy to back Harry • A new „Rule Britannia‟ • Tabloid media uses it as an excuse to push the boundary of „taste‟ under cloak of public interest
  • 7. MILITARISING THE MEME D Squadron, the King‘s Royal Hussars, posing naked with tanks in Helmand, Afghanistan #salute4harry http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2194521/Prince-Harry-Facebook-group-strips-support-party-loving-royal-naked-Vegas-photos-furore.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
  • 8. “WHAT STAYS IN VEGAS?” • A breach of a code of silence • Who breached the code? • Which code takes precedence? • Story now takes precedence for the news media • Gossip as reportage "Las Vegas is about adult freedom," a spokeswoman for the [tourist] board told USA Today. "It's important for friends to know what activities can be shared publicly and what activities are protected by the code."
  • 9. DETAILS AND NAMES LINKED TO HARRY • Paparazzi • „fake‟ Facebook accounts • „protected‟ Twitter accounts • Fan Pages on Tumblr • Social Surveillance of Harry has been unleashed http://www.christianpost.com/news/prince-harrys-fans-harrassed-for-secrets-on- spike-wells-facebook-account-80664/
  • 10. A HASTY CORRECTION • Verification – after publication • Authentic - questionable • Voyeurisitc view of a very public private life • Vicarious pleasures / entertainment / values • Race to the bottom? Harry‟s legs Christianpost.com changes its mind about a source
  • 11. NEW TIN, SAME SARDINES? • How public is Facebook? • How do you manage contacts who you know on Facebook? • Can you use false profiles on Facebook to gather information? • Is it OK to discuss ongoing court cases on Facebook? • Courtroom Tweeting • Twit Def and stupid tweets • Personal v Professional social media profiles For the most part, the five main issues that are causing the most problems, are issues that have always been problematic – they have just been transplanted into digital scenarios instead. These five issues are: 1. copyright 2. verification 3. protecting sources 4. gathering information using false pretences 5. contempt of court Is this all there is to it? Claire Wardle Networked Knowledge blog http://clairewardle.com/2011/09/21/journalism-ethics-in-a-social-media-world/
  • 12. WHEN IS A BEER AD NOT A BEER AD? • Sponsor responsible for user comments on social media sites • Encouraging comments as a form of advertising and value add for the brand • Facebook‟s commercial rules? • Political economy and ethics / liability When a user ―likes‖ a brand post, or expresses a view in a comment on a brand page, they push the brand out into their peer network attached to their own identity. For VB to claim that User Comments aren‘t advertisements is to suggest that they don‘t create value for the brand. http://theconversation.edu.au/ruling-on-alcohol-brands-facebook-sites-will-shake-up-social-media-marketing-8974 stricter monitoring of Facebook pages by brands was against the ―spirit of social media‖ and ―commercially unviable‖. Advertisers could abandon Facebook as an interactive advertising channel because of the difficulty monitoring conversation on their pages.
  • 13. SMIRNOFF – ENABLING, NOT ADVERTISING • Do Facebook users understand the dynamics or are they being used as useful idiots? With several thousand images online, each time a fan tags, likes or comments an image, it pushes that image out into the news feeds of their hundreds of friends. These images have a targeted and promotional character. They embed the brand within the mediation of nightlife on Facebook. A precedent (appeal pending) regarding liability for ethical behaviour in social media
  • 14. WHAT ABOUT RACISM – „OFFENSIVE HUMOUR‟ • Another free-speech argument? • Facebook eventually closed it • US v Australian jurisdiction • Invoking 1st Amendment The Aboriginal Memes Facebook page carried hundreds of images indigenous Australians as drunks and welfare cheats. The Australian Communications and Media Authority is investigating Race Discrimination Commissioner Helen Szoke said it could breach Australian anti-discrimination laws. http://www.3news.co.nz/Facebook-removes-racist-Aboriginal-Memes-
  • 15. WHO IS A JOURNALIST? • Barriers to entry falling • Are bloggers part of the journalism community? • Is there a useful demarcation between professional and amateur • Should the rules be the same or different for professional and amateur reporters? The ‗democratization‘ of media – technology that allows citizens to engage in journalism and publication of many kinds – blurs the identity of journalists and the idea of what constitutes journalism. (Ward) http://ethics.journalism.wisc.edu/resources/digital-media-ethics/
  • 16. To what extent existing media ethics is suitable for today‘s and tomorrow‘s news media that is immediate, interactive and ―always on‖ – a journalism of amateurs and professionals? Stephen Ward, Digital Media Ethics http://ethics.journalism.wisc.edu/resources/digital-media-ethics/
  • 17. DIGITAL FAULTLINES Unresolved tensions between ‗traditional‘ journalism and the technological capacities of ‗News 2.0‘ Heightening tension between local and global journalism accuracy, pre-publication verification, balance, impartiality, and gate-keeping
  • 18. Online, it was almost as if the reporters were not just camping outside the dorm, but barging into the rooms and leafing through personal journals. ―You have reporters that will create a Facebook identity just to get students‘ contact information, or who will start an online memorial to get people posting for a story. It‘s just inappropriate,‖ Virginia Tech student journalist Courtney Thomas told The Guardian newspaper. http://www.journalismethics.ca/social-media-poses-digital-dilemmas-for-journalists.html VIRGINIA TECH – APRIL 2007 • False pretences
  • 19. ANONYMITY ONLINE • Allowing anonymous comments on news sites • Verification of Twitter & other accounts as genuine Traditional journalistic codes of ethics warn that people may use anonymity to take unfair or untrue ―potshots‖ at other people, for self-interested reasons. Journalists should avoid anonymous sources in most cases Online anonymity is easy and provides a cover for uncivil discourse
  • 20. THE NEED FOR SPEED • Speed over accuracy • No prior restraint • Correction after publication a media that thrives on speed and ―sharing‖ creates the potential for great harm
  • 21. TWITTER • Should we really be trying for objectivity here? • Is Twitter for professional or personal use? • Should reporters separate the personal and the professional? • What about being „genuine‟ in social media spaces? One of the key contemporary journalistic dilemmas — how to define or redefine objectivity in the social media age — is being played out live on Twitter. Reporters‘ use of the platform to express feelings and opinions on a range of issues has raised red flags about professional conduct and bias. (Juie Posetti http://newmatilda.com/2009/06/16/twitters- difficult-gift-journalism)
  • 22. THE PERSONAL AND THE POLITICAL WITHIN THE SOCIAL • Can we continue the analog pretence that journalists don‟t have or shouldn‟t have opinions? Is Twitter an ethical and credible source? Should journalists have two Facebook accounts? Do newsrooms need an ethics code for social media? Is it ethical for journalists to ―like‖ political campaigns? Greg Wingert / Working Press http://workingpress.spjnetwork.org/2010/10/05/social-media-boom-spurs-ethics-dilemmas/
  • 23. A REVIVAL OF PARTISAN JOURNALISM • A strengthening of the public sphere? • A further entrenching of elite opinion? • The cementing of inbuilt and unconscious bias? Blogging is about speaking one‘s mind. Traditionally reporters have been expected to cover events impartially. Increasingly online (citizen?) journalists see themselves as partisans or activists for causes or political movements, and reject the idea of objective or neutral analysis. (Ward)
  • 24. THE NEW FRONTIERS The ethical challenge is to redefine what independent journalism in the public interest means for a media where many new types of journalism are appearing and where basic principles are being challenged. (Ward)
  • 26. NEW WAYS TO INVADE PRIVACY • The right to be forgotten v. the right to do business • Technical solutions like “Do no track” code
  • 27. BEHOLDEN TO FUNDERS • This has always been an issue • The political economy of journalism • What about trusts and philanthropy • Who pays the piper calls the tune • Freedom of speech and freedom of the press are not the same thing How independent are not-for-profit newsrooms if they rely on funding from a limited number of donors? What happens if the newsroom intends to report a negative story about one of its main funders? From whom will these newsrooms take money? How transparent will they be about who gives them money and under what conditions? (Ward)
  • 28. CITIZEN JOURNALISM AND UGNC • User-generated news-like content • The conditions of citizen journalism • Eye-witness and social media verification Should citizen journalists be required to be balanced and impartial? Should shield laws and other protections / privileges be given to bloggers, citizen journalists and other non-official reporters?

Editor's Notes

  1. One of the key contemporary journalistic dilemmas — how to define or redefine objectivity in the social media age — is being played out live on Twitter. Reporters’ use of the platform to express feelings and opinions on a range of issues has raised red flags about professional conduct and bias.(posetti http://newmatilda.com/2009/06/16/twitters-difficult-gift-journalism)
  2. Newsrooms need to put in place a process for citizen-supplied material, which may be bogus or biased. How shall sources be identified? How much vetting is necessary for different sorts of stories? Should citizen contributors be made aware of the newsroom’s editorial standards? (Ward http://ethics.journalism.wisc.edu/resources/digital-media-ethics/)