Online journalism refers to news content produced or distributed through internet or World Wide Web, Particularly material created by journalist who works for mainstream market driven news organization. Urban dictionary define online journalism as the art of making up a story with something that sounds like idea but isn’t, and then spending the entire time writing about how your speculative idea would play out, if it had any basis, delivered via World Wide Web.
Nowadays people prefer online news rather than conventional news because we can read all the mainstream newspaper via online. Online journalism is the popular form freedom of expression where people can write, comment as nobody can control them. But some misused the unrestricted form.
If we look at one edge, we can see that online journalism if it unrestrained, it create chaos among the community. For example, the usage of word “Allah” to replace the word “God” and “lord” by non-Muslim in their official newspaper has been object by Muslim because they feared to cause confusion among the Muslim as a whole.( http://cj.my/video/18348/allah-issue-what-they-say.html/)
Furthermore, some of the bloggers writing are too radical and can disrupt the harmony of nation. Just as the case of Malaysian bloggers, Khairul Nizam Abd Ghani or “ Aduka Taruna” who insulted late sultan Johor, Sultan Iskandar ibni Almarhum Sultan Sultan Ismail . The most surprising is when the video of Datuk seri Anwar Ibrahim sodomized Saiful Bukhari have been uploaded on Youtube. Whether it’s true or not, this kind of video and picture should not been uploaded because is all about the pride and dignity of people.
According to former TV station journalist at NTV7, Joshua Wong Ngee Chong, he said that “in any ethical dilemma, for instance censorship and political interference, we must always ask ourselves the purpose as journalist. We must minimize harm and act independently”. Many of the bloggers and web based reporters around the world are jailed due to their writing. (http://www.thenutgraph.com/understanding-ethical-journalism/)
Ethical concern in online journalism is the way the information and photo can be right to use around the world. This mean by any mistake and violating ethical will be more damaging and extensive. Hyperlink for an example is helpful tool in online journalism but can lead to potential problem, as the web page they link to may be inaccurate, offensive, or inappropriate. In this situation internet must be monitored and users must know what type of online journalism they should select. Dilemma in online journalism there is conflicts between instant publish or waiting for the news whether it is accurate or not. News updates are often posted as they happen which allows early access to information but sometimes it may be inaccurate news.
In conclusion, online journalism has to be monitored by government and multimedia act because some of the news are inaccurate and can harm the harmony of the nation. Prevention is better than cure.
