See the Responsibilities of Professional News Agencies and NGOs in The Networked Digital Age Through the Xinjiang Cotton Campaign of China

Abstract

With the dramatic development of networked digital technologies, miscellaneous applications, especially social media, have permeated all aspects of human life. The most prominent feature of social media is that the public is exploited as free labour for generating information in the emotional-oriented context, which has brought enormous challenges for professional news media and organisations. This essay draws on this feature of social media and a recent online campaign in China to argue that professional news media and organisations should take responsibility for keeping the veracity of information and sustaining the ethical value of journalism.