Q2. what are ethical issues associated with online journalism and also suggest ways to solve these ethical issues. CE-2012

Outline
-Online Journalism.
-characteristics of Online Journalism.
-Ethical issues associated with Online Journalism.
-Ways to solve Ethical Issues of Online Journalism.
-Conclusion.

Online Journalism:
It is a form of the traditional journalism practiced through the medium of internet. In other words it is the online version of the traditional journalism.
It is profession of aggregating news reports, issues, events, stories which are produced and distributed through out the internet.

-Characteristics of Online Journalism:
1-unlike print journalism internet made it globally. It has global users and accessible across the world.
2-Unlike print journalism it does not have the space issues. It easily covers all types of news not local to a country but globally. It contains the news items, stories and articles in the depth and details.
3- unlike print journalism it carries the power of the update. News items ,stories and articles can be easily updated . It covers the news 24 hours. News can be published as soon as it occurs any time.
4-Blogs and discussion forums on the news sites promote and encourage the readers to participate in the news process and share their own opinions.
5-News archiving ability provides access to news of any time or date.
6- It is the quickest, cheapest and efficient form of the journalism.
7-Unlike the print journalism it does not contain the fears of the dead-lines .
8- More features can be added to the news items, stories and articles Likes the Videos, moving pictures ,discussion boxes etc.
9- Mistakes and errors can be corrected after publication.

-Ethical issues associated with Online Journalism

1- Competition
Competition it the big threat to the online journalism. It has affected the accuracy, transparency and quality of the news. Competition encourages the news providing websites to cover all types of news. CNN and other news websites which cover the news 24 hourly, have the intentions to publish the news as soon as it occurs. This approach of the news prevails the speed of news over quality. Journalists are found in conflict in choosing between to publish immediate information or waiting for verifying the facts and accuracy. For example Pakistan's elections held on 11 May 2013, Different Media like Geo, A.R.Y news, Express News etc. announced the unofficial results of the election of 2013 on their websites and channels and claimed to be announced the results first. These were unofficial results but competition made them to do such type of activity.

2- Copyright issues.
Due to easily accessible information copyrights have lost their values. Journalists and news makers just copy and past the Whole articles, stories, Videos, photographs etc. They even do not mention the references of the sources. Due to this approach readers can not distinguish between the official and unofficial websites.

3-Plagiarism
Collection of information from different sources and making them own is also a big thread to the online journalism. Collectors do not mention the references and links of the sources from where the information were collected. Due to this approach the credibility of the journalists and writers comes in danger.

4-Blogs issues
Use of blogs is another factor distorting the function of the online journalism. Although blogs are the great form of additional information which may not be provided by the news providers, it is not the reliable form of information. People involved in the blogging may not be qualified journalist.
These blogs are not monitored by the editors and qualifiers journalists. They may misguide the readers. Due to blogging it becomes very hard to distinguish between the news reporters and the an unofficial person.

-Way to solve Ethical Issues of Online Journalism

1- News providers first priority should be the flow of accurate, true and factual information. Speed should not be prevailed over the accuracy and transparency of the news. Although competition affects the quality of the news, articles and stories, news providers should encourage the articles, stories and news items which are based on reals observations. They should conduct interviews from the qualified person,and use reliable sources of information to make these news items ,stories and articles. Stories and articles should be neutral and contain the facts and figures so that they are not criticized by the readers.
2-If journalists and news providers uses the other sources as means of gathering information ,they should clearly mentioned those sources in their news items ,stories or articles. They should use links and references. If they are afraid that these links or references will be disappeared then they should use the names of anthers, dates of publications and other mandatory details in their stories and articles. so that the copy right issues can be minimized.
3-Journalist should be sincere with their professions. They should practiced their responsibilities. The materials which they provide in the stories and articles should not be offensive and cause of criticism. The purposes of the stories and articles should not be social and morals degradation. These stories and articles should be written by keeping in mind the society and country sketch because these stories are read out globally.
4- journalism should avoid plagiarism and give the credit to the real person.
5- Newspapers websites should avoid the advertisements that may cause of offensiveness and social degradation.

-Conclusion
Ethical issues are associated with journalism from it birth. These are associated with all types of Journalism. they can not be completely overcome but minimized.