A story about the suicide of a 13-year-old girl from the St. Louis area, reported by the St. Charles Journal, was blown up by readers, who, in a crowdsourcing effort, found identities that were withheld in the article, and posted them online. 13-year-old Megan Meier had a history of depression but seemed to be doing better after a boy named 'Josh Evans' asked her to be a friend on MySpace. The two quickly formed a friendship, but one day Evans turned on her, sending her hateful messages, which ultimately caused her to take her own life. However, Evans never existed. He was the creation of the mother of a former friend of Meier. The St. Charles Journal kept the identity of that woman anonymous in order to protect her own teenage daughter.

However, enraged readers of various blogs that posted the story decided to take it upon themselves to find this woman. Using details from the story along with property records, the readers located the woman who they believe to have created Evans and posted her name, address, phone number, and business registration records online.

This example shows that journalists can no longer withhold information from their audience, because whatever they withhold, readers will find on their own. It also shows that withholding the name could have created the controversy. Readers were so enraged by this woman that their frustration at the withheld identity forced them to find the identity themselves.

This story is a question of ethics. Was it ethical for the paper to withhold the name from its audience? And on the other hand, was it ethical for bloggers to post the supposed name and address of the woman? These are the ethical concerns that come with the territory of new media.

William P. Cannon, a blogger, is working on writing the ethics statements and policies for his corporation. He poses three points on ethics from a new media standpoint:
-All of the ethical rules or statements that have applied to print are valid for new media.
-Most of the "new issues" related to multimedia can actually be addressed by saying, "What if this were in print?"
-Most newsrooms apply ethics well, but do not have enough open discussions about the changing face of the media.

Another example of the power of the audience is the crowdsourcing involved in events such as L.A. Auto Show. The show was more about creating long-term buzz about the cars rather than immediate sales, reported the L.A. Times.

Reporting on the show goes far past media day, which is what is important to industry leaders. They understand that coverage extends way beyond traditional media forms now. “Media days are just step in a modern publicity campaign. If this year's auto show, or any such event, is to be a success, it needs to elicit strong coverage from consumers across the Web, perhaps even more so than from the pros in print and on air,” says Robert Niles of Online Journalism Review.

Source: Online Journalism Review
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