Blogging Etiquette, Regulations, Ethical Publishing

Description (translated):
By Aduka Taruna. Greetings to the Muslim Malaysians and the non-Muslim Malaysians. After being convinced by my friend, and the self-realization on my part, I humbly apologize to the entire Malaysian and the citizens in Johor, for my impulsive action of publishing an article of such inhumanity.
Source: http://adukataruna.blogspot.com/2010/01/permohonan-maaf-kepada-seluruh-rakyat.html


The above is the apology statement by a Malaysian blogger, who previously posted immoral remarks on the late Sultan of Johor. Aduka Taruna 29, is alleged to have insulted the late Sultan of Johor (Bernama, 2010). The apology statement above was made after the severe law threat by the authority. Taruna's reckless action may cause him the fine of Rm50,000 or one year of serving in the jail, or both. More recently, 38 out of 352 filed lawsuits were compounded and the total collected fine summed up to Rm460,000 (Bernama, 2010).

Technological advances has driven blogging into a widespread culture (Cenite et al., 2009). Blogging is the publication of an online journal, often within a frequent timeline (Anderson et al., n.d). Viewers can leave comments in blogs to stimulate interactivities between the author and themselves. According to Technorati (2010), bloggers are mostly educated group of people with sufficient amount of financial capabilities. The case of Taruna above proves the existence of a certain blogging etiquette and regulations. However, there exists a controversy of to what extend these blogs should impose a certain code of ethics (Perlmutter & Schoen, 2007).

The popularity of the blog can determine the standard level of code of ethics. For example, a popular blog that suddenly goes out of its standard and starts to provide false accusation could bring out serious repercussion. Bloggers hold to themselves a certain social responsibilities and ethical behaviours in the cyber space. The four ethical principles that should be followed are truth telling, accountability, minimizing harm, and attribution (Cenite et al., 2009). The 'minimizing harm' principle is violated when the blogger blog about someone in an offensive and unthoughtful manner-Taruna's case is a good example. Althought blogging is also about freedom of expression, certain negative manners like demation, false accusation, or publishing slander should not be practiced. Afterall, an ethical publishing is what that defines a journalistic writing.

(Words 317)

References
Anderson, E, Greenspun, P, Grumet, A n.d, Glossary, philip.greenspun.com, viewed 14th November 2010, http://philip.greenspun.com/seia/glossary.

Bernama, 2010, Aduka Taruna must apologies formally before judge, mmail.com.my, viewed 14th November 2010,
http://www.mmail.com.my/content/26059-aduka-taruna-must-apologies-formally-judge.

Cenite, M, Detenber, B, Koh, A, Lim, A, Soon, N 2009, Doing the right thing online: a survey of bloggers' ethical beliefs and practices, New Media Society, vol. 11, no. 4, pp. 575-597, viewed 14th November 2010, http://ejournals.ebsco.com.ezlibproxy.unisa.edu.au/Direct.asp?AccessToken=2999F938S32LEEZM9MLW2Z1HA9Y28S39SM&Show=Object.

Cyber Journlist, 2003, A bloggers code of ethics, cyberjournalist.net, viewed 14th November 2010, http://www.cyberjournalist.net/news/000215.php.

Perlmutter, D, Schoen, M 2007, "If I break a rule, what do I do, fire myself?" Ethics codes of independent blogs, Journal of Mass Media, vol. 22, no. 1, pp. 37-48, viewed 13th November 2010 http://web.ebscohost.com.ezlibproxy.unisa.edu.au/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=4&hid=15&sid=ffa8ab25-1cbe-4d03-82a4-d6123dc02d33%40sessionmgr4.

Technorati, 2010, WHO:bloggers, brands and consumers - day 1 SOTB 2010, Technorati.com, viewed 14th November 2010, http://technorati.com/blogging/article/who-bloggers-brands-and-consumers-day/.