Introduction: Media Ethics in a Global Age

Summary

Media ethics, the study and application of the norms of journalism, should confront the most important questions that swirl around contemporary practice.

Today, these normative questions arise from a revolutionary change in journalism and information media in general: the evolution of a digital media that is global in reach, use, and impact. Journalism is now distributed along global, digital networks. Moreover, journalism is created by individuals who are not professional, mainstream journalists. The capacity to publish to a public is now in the hands of anyone with access to the Internet. Professional journalists, who once dominated the media sphere, now share the space with tweeters, bloggers, citizen journalists, and social media users around the world.