Communications in Humanities Research ISSN: 2753-7072
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Research Article

Ethical Journalism under an Evolving Digital Landscape—Challenges and Opportunities

Lei CaoUniversity of California*

* Corresponding author: [email protected]

Abstract

Technologies revolving information and communication are evolving at an astonishing rate nowadays. People surfing the internet can obtain a wide range of information within a short period of time, which would otherwise be unachievable with a pen-and-paper approach. However, coming with this convenience is the concern about mis/disinformation and biases. This concern is especially strong when the major source of news becomes online media platforms with a diverse range of user generated contents and stakeholders. Centered on this topic, the subject of this study is the relationship between platform governance and responsible journalism. This article covers the ethical responsibility of social media platforms under the evolving digital landscape, their ethical and legal implications on regulating news coverage, and the challenges, as well as opportunities, involving platform regulations. The aim of this research is to review similar studies in the past, and to provide pointers for more in-depth research in the future. After reviewing relevant literature, this study finds that an increasing public demand on accountability has been placed on social media platform companies within the past five years. The conception for platform governance and regulation has also shifted from self-regulation dominated to policy-co-regulation dominated.

Keywords: Journalism; Mis/Disinformation; Media Responsibility; Platform Governance
Published: November 5, 2025
DOI: 10.54254/2753-7064/2025.HT29459
Volume: CHR Vol.95
pp. 143-149
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