Online Ethics

Last week Kellie Riordan, the content director and editorial trainer for ABC Radio as well as a 2014 research fellow at the Reuters Institute of Journalism at Oxford University, came to speak to us about the ethics involved in the new age of digital media.

After introducing herself, she posed the question: do traditional ethical frameworks still apply to the new online world?

It had me thinking about all things online and how my own personal and professional ethics may be seen differently when working for different platforms. She explained that the more traditional moral codes were something from the 1900s where newspapers came out every 24 hours. As we now live in a world with a 24/7 news cycle it's not hard to see that things may have changed.

Kellie spoke of Vice News, an international online news channel which presents content in a subversive and subjective format. They go about their stories as more a fly on the wall, talking less about the geopolitical context and more about what's happening now.

She then went on to say that rigidly objective news organisations like the New York Times or the BBC may be at risk losing appeal because the are so unbiased. It seems the world now wants concrete and professional analysis but in a conversational way.

This lead to the idea of opinion. In a newspaper everything is clearly laid out and you know what's an opinion piece or a straight news story. With Facebook and Twitter there is no such thing as a contents page whereby the reader understands what type of story they are about to read or click on, bringing us to sponsored content. I talked about this in my podcast with Emma a few weeks ago, which you can check out here.

In regards to this sponsored content, Kellie said it's about news organisations telling their readers they have been paid to publish.

"The standard of independence for commercial and digital publications is about sign posting sponsored content," said Kellie.

Her editorial standards of the future were simple.

1. There needs to be greater transparency

2. We should have more open forms of journalism, places like Vice News

3. A voice that is of the web, driven largely by individual reporters rather than news brands, is the future

4. The public want analysis that is facts-driven rather than opinionative

5. A greater breadth of ideas and perspectives through hyperlinking is crucial

6. We need interaction which places the readers as an expert

But ultimately...

There was also an emphasis on different news apps and websites that are doing the whole interaction thing really well. I wanted to take this opportunity to mention a few.

I created the following video last year as part of a Uni assignment on the possibility of news telecasts becoming redundant however I think it shows a variety of different ways we all access our news and entertainment. If you're interested in the assignment, see it here.

I also use 9News Alerts, which are great for breaking stories as I get a notification every time something major happens. You can choose different topics that are most important to you, which means the app provides a level of personal preference. ABC iView, although not only for news, is also a great app. Personally, I never watch the ABC on TV but like to catch up on certain programs. Feel free to give either of these a try if you are in need of some great news content and want to start sifting through the big online news world.

#ashleighdwan #beyondthestory #journalism #onlinejournalism1 #kellieriordan