The internet basically operates under no specific ethical regulations; this has led to some bloggers going out of their ways to act with impunity. An act such of that of Wiki leaks disclosing thousands of Unites States military classified documents was unethical and undermining media ethics.
Should a website be held responsible for the comments posted on it?
Websites should not be held responsible for any comments that users post on it by third parties since they are not publishers or speakers to any kind of comments posted by its users hence are not liable to the consequences of such data. Websites only provide platforms for people to share ideas any defamatory comments by any user should lead to prosecution of the individual user not the site unless the site operators also contribute to the debates.
How might ratings and readership figures influence a journalist’s ethics?
High ratings and readership figures would highly influence the ethics of journalists in that they will always be highly ethical due to the audiences that the material reach. Any mistakes would likely be noted and the effects would also be massive hence greater consequences.
The Press is known as the 4th Estate. What is the 5th Estate? Give an example
The Fifth estate is a class of people within the society other the clergy who are first estate, the nobility who are second estate, the commoners who are third estate and the press who are fourth estate. An example is the civil society and the poor within the community. It might also stand for media outlets like bloggers who are not mainly a media outlet as such.
Who is more ethical, a journalist or a blogger? Why?
Journalists are more ethical than bloggers. While a journalist has to incorporate all opinions, even the ones that might be inconsistent, Bloggers only write what they want. Bloggers also do not have to avoid writing on topics that might have conflicting interest like journalist they simply disclose such interest to the internet world.
Bibliography
Drumwright, Minnette E. Ethical issues in communication professions: New Agendas in _ Communication. 2013.
