Online journalists face many of the same ethical challenges that their brethren in newspapers, TV and radio struggle with. But there are ethical issues unique to the online world that confront everyone from traditional mainstream journalists who have moved online to the thousands of independent bloggers who practice various forms of journalism.
Poynter brought together two dozen of the key players in the online journalism world to examine and grapple with important ethical questions. Our goal was NOT to write a rulebook, for that
goes against how we at Poynter approach ethics and ethical decision-making. Furthermore, absolute rules are antithetical to the spirit and style of the Internet.
Poynter's Online Ethics Conference was geared to identifying key principles and developing a set of protocols -- decision-making tools -- that would guide online journalists in navigating the ethical potholes and minefields in the cyber landscape. We viewed the conference as an essential step in a continuing, work-in-progress effort to connect excellence and ethics in online journalism.
We all have a lot of work to do.
We welcome your help.
