The Council for Mass Media in Finland carried out a study of the rulings of the European media councils related to social media. The study analysed 250 resolutions made by seven European media councils over a ten-year period. The findings highlight a spectrum of ethical issues related to the use of social media as both a source and a publishing platform of journalism.
Unarguably, one of the most difficult issues for the media councils has been where to draw the boundaries of their authority in relation to social media. Thus far, European media councils have taken somewhat different approaches regarding the type of social media content they consider within their remit: while some councils only accept complaints about content posted on the media outlets’ official accounts, others also assess posts by individual journalists.
Some of the complaints handled by the media councils were related to new phenomena and new forms of journalism enabled by social media. The issues discussed included ethical considerations related to live reporting, sponsored content, and the promotion of journalistic content in the social media environment. Moreover, among the key concerns were how corrections should be made efficiently on different social media platforms and how media outlets should keep readers’ comment sections under control on social media.
As for the use of social media as a source of journalism, most questions that arose were related to the conditions under which journalists can approach people on social media or use their social media pictures and posts without violating their privacy.
Although the media councils have come to similar conclusions in many cases, they have also adopted different principles on some ethical issues, as illustrated by the numerous examples presented in the study. The study is intended to help councils learn and be inspired by each other’s decisions and insights in the spirit of sharing best practices. It also provides insight into current ethical issues related to journalism and social media for all those interested in these issues and in journalistic self-regulation.
The study was conducted by the Council for Mass Media in Finland as part of the Media Councils in the Digital Age #3 project co-funded by the European Commission: https://www.presscouncils.eu/
More information:
Complaints Analyst Laura Juntunen, [email protected]