'Videoblogging' human rights on YouTube: An ethical dilemma

• Main Authors: Gimeno, Jacques D.M., Freeman, Bradley C.
• Format: text
• Published: Animo Repository 2011
• Subjects: YouTube (Electronic resource); Social media and society; Communication
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/faculty_research/4127
• Institution: De La Salle University

This chapter discusses what happens when, instead of co-existing, our online and offline worlds clash. In an age where the difference between virtual reality and real life becomes almost impossible to distinguish, a re-examination of core values and ethics becomes a necessity to ensure that human decency is not abandoned and that ethical standards become a core part of virtual public spheres. This chapter discusses a fundamental theme of modern human communication that involves a shift from traditional face-to-face interaction to one that is heavily mediated. Specifically, this chapter focuses on the role of different websites in providing a virtual public sphere, one exemplified by YouTube, where anonymity and immediacy greatly influence human communication in ways that may result in either fomenting greater divisions among societies and propagating a culture of carelessness and disregard for human rights, or one where human rights abuses are exposed, but victims' identities are concealed and carefully protected. © 2011, IGI Global.