Good journalism is based-and to some extent thrives-on a diversity of perspectives from those who supply information and informed opinions to the public. New media journalism is a contemporary newsgathering and disseminating method with enormous communication potential because it is an online forum that can connect a great number of diverse contributors and audiences. Citizen journalism-performed on a global level through the Web-is a potential marvel because of its wide reach and range of diversity. This paper offers an examination and philosophical analysis that shows which facets of new media information ethics and epistemology can be reconciled with universal ethical and epistemological principles and which, if any, cannot. To that end, we wish to provide groundwork for the description and critical evaluation of universal ethical and epistemic standards consistent with the phenomenon of new media journalism.
Confidential sourcing has proven to be an effective tool for investigative journalism, particularly when highly secretive or high public-impact information is at stake and there are too few transparent sources to adequately inform a news story. Nonetheless, many journalists choose to use confidential sources sparingly or not at all because the potential harms in using confidential sources outweigh, in their view, their potential benefits. This chapter explores three key facets of confidential sourcing in an effort to provide a practical model of ethical deliberation for the use of confidential sources. First, it argues that there are justifications for the use of confidential sources in journalism. Second, it discusses what conditions are necessary for the use of confidential sources, what procedures should be in place to use them best, and why, in these cases, confidential sourcing is at least morally permissible, if not morally obligatory. Finally, contrary to the journalistic convention that once a confidential agreement is made, it cannot be broken, the chapter argues for why journalists are at least permitted — even, at times, obligated — to break confidential agreements.
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