We’re All Gatekeepers Now: Journalism Ethics for an Unfiltered Age

Dr. Mary Bock (The University of Texas at Austin) // February 16th, 2017 // 3:30pm-4:30pm // Jesse H. Jones Communication Center (CMA) 5.136

Journalistic ethics are no longer just for journalists. The digital media environment has flattened the information playing field, giving long-standing news institutions the same access to an audience as extremist propaganda, citizen bloggers and you: yes you. We’re all gatekeepers now, whether or not we want the job. This presentation will propose and explore three rules for ethical participation in social media: First, seek the best information. Secondly, speak honestly. Third, serve the larger good. Living without an information “middleman” is both liberating and fraught with responsibility. A better digital information environment starts with us.

Mary Bock is a former journalist turned academic with an interest in the sociology of photographic practice, the rhetorical relationship between words and images, and digital media. Her previous career was spent primarily in local television news. She has also worked as a newspaper reporter, a radio journalist, and public relations writer. Most recently, Bock co-authored Visual Communication Theory and Research with Shahira Fahmy and Wayne Wanta. Her 2012 book, Video Journalism: Beyond the One Man Band, studied the relationship between solo multi-media practice and news narrative. She has published articles in Journalism Practice, Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, Journalism, Visual Communication Quarterly, The International Journal of Press and Politics, and New Media and Society.

Free and open to the public