Legal & Ethical Issues of Online Journalism

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The legal and ethical issues of online journalism pose real and serious threats to journalists who do not comply to the guidelines. These ethical and legal issues may arise if a journalist had not been careful enough, or has not cared enough to present morally and ethically perfect work. 

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These issues are 

Libel liability - when publishing some harmful information about a certain someone, one might always come under fire for libel. Journalists can more often then not find themselves thrown into court over a libellous statement. 

Obscenity: a narrow range of material that describes or displays sexual material in a manner designed to cause arousal and lacks artistic, literary or scientific value. Usually used with print media and now the Internet.

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Indecency: a broad range of sexual and nonsexual material, including certain words, nudity or other things that could offend manners or morals. Usually used with broadcast media.

Forum shopping - this means that while the internet is open to any and all eyes that wish to come upon it, and because of that forum shopping may occur. Forum shopping happens when some litigants have their legal case heard in the court thought most likely to provide a favourable judgment.

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All of these factors truly and heavily undermine journalism. The fact remains that no matter what, as journalists the only thing we have to our name is our reputations and credibility, and when we lose them, what else do we have left? What else do have in order to be able to call ourselves journalists? Journalists should wholeheartedly embrace the way the world had changed and how journalism has evolved, and stick to the guidelines in order to 1. stay credible and on top of their game and 2. be able to call themselves true journalists and finally 3. avoid any legal and ethical implications. 

Online Journalism Censoring in Egypt

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For what seems like forever, Egypt has been enforcing rigorous censorship on what seems to be all available channels of media, from publications to T.V. content, to music.

It seems like whatever the government deems inappropriate will must definitely receive a form of censorship. 

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The true reasons and intentions behind these actions are not as important as the fact that censorship is sometimes truly, most definitely needed. Besides the fact that the government takes steps in order to ensure it's citizens from any harming content, it seem like that that very protective bubble will sometimes crossover onto other mediums and shield the citizens of Egypt from some important information.

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Despite the fact that the constant censorship overshadows every aspect of our lives, it seems like one medium will somehow prevail. That medium is the internet, because at the end of the day the internet is a powerful tool on which many can and will voice their free opinions. The constant surveillance on said powerful can at times become a beacon of hope or a negative side effect, but either way, the fact remains the online journalism remains under scrutiny from censors in Egypt, especially when projected onto a powerful platform such as a credible and trustworthy news website. 

Traits of Journalism

The traits of journalism are, simply, guidelines to which one must abide in order to ensure correctness within ones work. They are unspoken rules, and define whether or not a journalistic piece is correct.

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The first trait is fairness. This trait, simplified, explains how in order to be recognised as a credible journalistic source, a platform must always show unbiased behaviour towards whomever or whatever the piece is about. A piece of journalism must always be written with full objectivity.

The second trait of journalism is attribution. Attribution simply means that one must always present enough options, such as hyperlinks within online journalism, in order to have provided full information to the reader.

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The third trait of journalism is accuracy. This trait means that one must always always always present extremely accurate information to the public, by way of journalism. In order to gain credibility, a publication must always exhibit signs of accuracy when reporting the news, no matter what.

The fourth trait is relevance. The trait covers how the fact that news must always be relevant to the public reading it, as well as the society it presents itself in. An Egyptian man, for example, would not be very interested in reading about a petty crime in Croatia as mush as he would be in something happening in his own country.

The final trait is newness. Newness applies to the fact that news must always be updated to show the newest, most urgent news. Always have publications on top of their game, updating the news as it happens, and always giving their readers the chance to be able to access breaking news whenever they can.

Egyptian Parliamentary Elections

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The second phase of the Egyptian parliamentary elections are underway. Egypt saw two days of rapid voting for the next members of parliament. Though the turnout was scarcer than expected, some Egyptians made their way down to the voting polls to voice their opinions. Local neighborhood watch group Zamalek Guardians yield tens of volunteers every election, and this time was no different. Young men and women, middle aged housewives, and grown men all get together for a few days at a time during election season to oversee, organize, and help smooth out the election process. They work up to a week before elections take place  just to make sure to facilitate the process for all voters to get the right info & reach their polls easily with no difficulties. Alongside most departments like the military, police, traffic department municipality.

Though the average number of voters to hit the Zamalek polls reaches up to 7,000 people per election, the parliamentary elections of November 2015 saw a massive surge in numbers. Just under 1,900 voiced their opinions this time around, and Zamalek Guardians officials are concerned. One concerned citizen asked why "citizens complain day in and day out about the state of the country, and yet don't show up to vote when they should."

The question remains, why haven't Egyptians taken a bigger interest in the parliamentary elections when they could prove to be a source of positive change? As of today the upscale neighborhood saw a tie between nominees Mohamed Hamouda and Mohamed Maasoud. Citizens are already complaining about both nominees, and saying that neither can get the job done, that both are not their top choices. 

And yet, despite the complaints, very very few people actually visited the polls to vote. So it seems that citizens are at a standstill. Neither do they want to vote, nor do they approve of the results, which means that no matter who is elected in the end, things wstill won't finally calm down.