A Study of the Authenticity of “Braided Journalism” in the Era of Media Convergence from the Perspective of Ethics

Zhang Li＊

Abstract: Authenticity is the basic ethical principle of journalism. Under the background of media convergence, “braided journalism” has a feature of content integration. While providing people with many more information resources, “braided journalism” faces the challenge of how to confirm the authenticity of the contents. To regulate the production of “braided journalism” and ensure it is authentic and ethical is an important job in developing contemporary media communications.

Keywords: media convergence, braided journalism, authenticity, journalism ethics

In ancient times when information and news were spread by flags, drums, beacon fires, and face-to-face communications, no one would have imagined that one day “information can be spread” via a microphone, where everyone can be either a message sender or receiver. In the 21st century, the booming Internet technology has enabled the general public to be heard, which has completely reshaped the communication landscape. Surrounded by an ocean of information, everyone becomes a part of the ocean, speaking sonorously or keeping silent, and no one can stay away from the noise of reality. The advent of the Web 2.0 era has turned the audience of communication activities into producers and transmitters of the contents. News communication mechanisms have also changed: We media has become a common communication outlet and along with the shift from one-way communication to mutual communication has reshaped the processes of news production, participation, interactivity, mobility, and introduced micro-communications that have become the most obvious feature of the new media ecology. Against this backdrop, “braided journalism”①In his book Twitterville: How Business Can Thrive in the New Global Neighborhoods (China Renmin University Press, 2010), American scholar Shel Israel proposes the concept of “braided journalism,” which is a new form of news generated when traditional media is integrated with new media.emerged.

“Braided journalism” originated from the technology of User Generated Content (UGC). American scholar Shel Israel believes that the contents of “braided journalism” are produced by three communication outlets; traditional media, citizen journalism, also called we media which are the communications between non-media practitioners, and Internet websites and social media. Although many of these outlets have no news attributes, they are venues that constantly produce and communicate new information and content. As traditional and new media have become increasingly integrated, a new communication trend that combines Weibo, WeChat, microvideo and clients has taken shape and “braided journalism” has become a common form of news.

1. Features of the content production of “braided journalism”

The development of network media technology has enabled personal discourse space to extend to the front of the public domain. Against this backdrop, the general public can release “news” they see or hear in certain space and time to the public anytime and anywhere via social media and personal communication tools. The thriving of “citizen journalism” has led to a passion for “DIY news” among the public. Meanwhile, traditional media is seeking a transformation of news production amid the new media environment. Rather than adopting a confrontational attitude toward social media and we media, the trend has been to seek cooperation. This is how “braided journalism” was generated. The advent of “braided journalism” changed the way people obtained news in the era of media convergence. Such an attribute is mirrored by the fact that “braided journalism” is a news form integrating the news reports of professional media practitioners and ordinary people. In the formation of “braided journalism,” social media and we media have enriched the information source and expanded the communication channels of traditional media. When the communication of traditional media, which follows the principle of “5W” (when, where, what, why, who), is integrated with the communications of we media, which features “5A” (anyone, anywhere, anytime, anything, anyway), “braided journalism” will bear both the professionalism and seriousness of traditional media and the openness and interactivity of we media. In a sense, it is the optimization and reorganization of the production and communication patterns of new contents. It has become a complement to conventional news, and even an institutional layout of news communication in the era of media convergence.

1.1 The sharing of resources

Social media and we media communications have become common models for people to exchange and share information resources. “Citizen journalists” record accidental events with news value in their daily life and release and transmit the news via we media or social media. For professional media absent from news spots, the news resources provided by citizens are a complement to professional news resources. Since “citizen news” can link with the global knowledge system, it has provided more content resources and a wider communication space for traditional media. Under the trend of media convergence, in most cases, traditional media keeps an open mind toward social media and we media. They make full use of the communication resources of these new media sources and unearth the themes of news by integrating their reports. Take the BBC’s international news and information division as an instance, they have given mobile phones to villagers in northern Nigeria. With these phones, the BBC can be in contact with the villagers and learn of the latest progress in the land rights dispute between the local government and the residents, and then make professional surveys and reports based on acquired facts. Sky UK acquires news resources via Twitter and other social media. The New York Times offers posts for “social media editors” who unearth contents with news value from the news resources of social media. In China, many traditional media outlets have opened their official or personal websites, WeChat official accounts, Weibo accounts and blogs, to pool and share news resources in a timely manner.

1.2 The cooperation feature of communications

Social media and we media have become an information source for traditional media, providing news clues and topics for follow-up investigation. In the meantime, social media and we media represented by websites, Weibo and WeChat official accounts, have become common platforms for the public to release news. What’s more, by opening Weibo accounts and WeChat official accounts, traditional media and professional reporters can release contents through more means, complement their news reports, and enhance the visibility and appeal of news. The cooperative communication of “braided journalism” has enhanced the freedom of the press together with more diverse reporting perspectives and richer content. A case in point is the program “I-Report” of CNN opened in 2006. The program encourages citizens to record fresh news in their daily life, and to upload it to a special Email address or a special channel of a website which can then be edited and released by CNN. In covering the shooting incident that happened at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, America in 2007 CNN obtained more than 400 audio, video and photo uploads from ordinary citizens. The scenes disclosed in its formal report had been captured by students of the university via cell phones. CNN also established a set of assessment systems to measure the quality of citizen reports, and rated 20% of the “citizen journalists” as super stars as a form of encouragement. In the era of media convergence, CNN embraces the trend and chooses to cooperate with citizens to produce news.

1.3 The openness of content

Since “braided journalism” values the participation of ordinary citizens, citizen journalism is superior to traditional media, whether in the quantity or release speed of information. Meanwhile, for “citizen journalists” active in participation and “braided journalism”, news can be reported anytime and from anywhere and the news becomes more expansive in themes and more open in content. With the help of we media and social media, “citizen journalists” have broken the limitations of time and space and tapped into the social potential of communications thus becoming capable of reporting and transmitting news and emergencies from all corners of the world in a timely manner. South Korea’s news website “OhMyNews” is a successful media outlet for public news following the news concept of “Every Citizen is a Reporter” and “openness-based progress.” With the general public participating in their news reports, it has shaped the largest media agency of exclusive news reports in South Korea, and become a leading player in the country’s new media circle. “OhMyNews” holds an inclusive attitude towards contents. Adopting a real name registration system and a following news editorial system, it employs professional editors to verify the information provided by citizens, which indicates the quality awareness of journalistic professionalism when it comes to new forms of news.

1.4 The generation of news topics

During the generation of “braided journalism,” since new information keeps emerging to extend the boundaries of content, other topics can be generated when a certain topic is being reported. Traditional media can follow the opinions of ordinary citizens on social media and unearth topics and set up themes to offer in-depth reports. For example, Jing Yidan, the host of CCTV’s “Focus Report,” opened her personal Weibo account. Her team members could then identify new topics with news value in netizens’ follow-up discussions of each post which would be used as contents and themes for future programs. During China’s Two Sessions (annual plenary sessions of the National People’s Congress and the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference), Jing Yidan also used Weibo to collect relevant topics and even used netizens’ topics as themes.

2. A study into the authenticity of “braided journalism”

Since news communications exist to help people learn more about the real world, the authenticity and accuracy of news information plays a fundamental role in mankind’s practice of transforming the objective world. Authenticity is the lifeline and the essential feature of news. In the information society, information is no longer a scarce resource, but somewhat excessive. Therefore, it is very important to screen and select accurate newsworthy information. Different from the news covered by traditional media, the generation process and features of “braided journalism” mean that the authenticity of its contents must be tested by more procedures.

2.1 The contradiction between authenticity and timeliness

Regarding the definition of news authenticity, wide and in-depth discussions have been conducted in academic circles. A basic viewpoint is that authenticity is defined from the perspective of epistemology, namely the authenticity and truthfulness of cognition. This means that if people’s cognition can truly reflect objective things and their laws, then we can say that the cognition is “authentic,” otherwise “false.” Authenticity is the essential requirement of news, the basic principle of news communication, and the common media ethics observed by the global news media industry. When Clifford G. Christians, a famous American scholar in media ethics, proposed the viewpoint of “global media ethics,” he listed truth, human dignity, and nonviolence as three basic principles. He believes that the authenticity means that news reports must reflect the core and essence of facts; you have to restore the social context of news to make the news truly reflect facts; the authenticity of news is co-shaped by facts, attitude, culture, and language (Christians, et al., 2008, pp. 135-172).

It is wrong to simply deem news communications as objective data communications since it actually means the production of social knowledge. News should not only mirror reality but also explain the facts in a superb way, and approach “authenticity” at a deeper level. In the face of the complex, dynamic, and changing world, to grasp the authenticity of news is to capture the core of its themes, learn the essence of things, and gain insights into hidden social connections to reach “authenticity.” With the accumulation of relevant knowledge of reporting materials, outstanding professional reporters can make prudent judgments and rigorous analysis, and then extract core facts and report more in-depth descriptions. They can offer adequate information services to their audiences, and more importantly, clarify the context, grasp the essence and provide constructive thinking for resolving social issues. That is the basis of, and reason behind, the establishment of news credibility and authority of traditional media.

Different from the age of traditional media, the era of media convergence features the integrated development of new and old media, which complement each other, thus expanding the vehicle and channel of news communications. Yet, in the era of media convergence, news communication follows the concept of “reporting everything immediately,” rather than “putting the facts first and news second.” The public, as the major players of we media communications, are not professionals and lack the expertise and professionalism of news communicators. Therefore, it is inevitable that some negative news might be generated. Normally, when a piece of news occurs, especially that with significant and abnormal contents and that are closely related to daily life and about strange people and things, such news will be quickly forwarded and transmitted in we media and social media. What’s more, overhyped descriptions, emotional commentaries and recreational expressions are always added to the news, making it difficult to distinguish truth from fiction, thus generating unreal news and undermining the credibility of media convergence in news communications. Such phenomena highlight the contradiction caused by the anomie of media ethics in the era of media convergence, namely the contradictions between information technology and news ethics and the contradictions between timeliness and authenticity. Speediness and timeliness are important features of the news communications of the new media. Yet media ethics dictates that rigorous checks and verifications should be made on contents to be transmitted. In technicism-dominated new media communications, the ethics dimension of news communications is weakened, while the phenomenon of amorality becomes obvious. Therefore, it is common to see transmission behaviors that discard or avoid ethical principles for the sake of the so-called news effects. Clifford G. Christians believes that in the era of media convergence, the crisis that news communication is facing is not the contravention of rules, but the vacuum of normlessness of new media communication. When communication activity is going overboard about timeliness and goals, ethics, ideals and cultural pursuits will be discarded amid the mechanical application of new media technologies, and technological excellence takes the place of ethical excellence. Another ethical conundrum is how to ensure the authenticity of “braided journalism” in the context of media convergence.

2.2 A dimension enriching news authenticity

2.2.1 The holographic information source advantages of new media communications have made it possible for “braided journalism” to infinitely approach “authenticity.”

New media communication features open contents, free expression and hidden identity, and can pool opinions and voices from various perspectives, contributing to its huge popularity and capability for self-checks and self-error corrections. When fake news is spread, it is always exposed by netizens amid doubts and textual research. For this perspective, we can say that new media communications can help eliminate the false and retain the true. Besides, new media communications have provided a means of expression for professionals with rich knowledge. They can analyze issues from a professional perspective to clarify the facts. Their discussions with netizens also spark the spirit of science and rationalism, thus influencing the crowd prone to fetishes and blind obedience.

2.2.2 The converging of multiple contents and resources makes the presentation of the authenticity of the news all the more three-dimensional.

In the context of media convergence, the authenticity of the news is also more three-dimensional, involving both the authenticity of the report and the authenticity behind the scenes. Besides the authenticity of news reported by the media, there is also authenticity hidden behind the contents of news reports, and authenticity that has not been involved in the framework of media reporting, yet still exists objectively through that all details of a news event include the whole truth and the truth of each detailed aspect from objective truth to human truth. With the available anonymity of media communications, people can express their opinions more freely. When objective truth is presented, people also express their feelings, emotions, attitudes, and other human truths, making the authenticity of “braided journalism” multi-dimensional and complex. To some degree, such multidimensional authenticity of news can deepen and enrich the public’s understanding, cognition, and critical ability to better understand things.

2.2.3 The combination of traditional media and new media enables the generation of rumor-refuting news.

Without professional content processing, new media communication is de-professionalized. As a result, the authenticity of news features original reality and sometimes the co-existence of true and false news. Particularly, for the sake of speed and sensational effects, we media communications always come with a combination of true and false news and information. For traditional media, therefore, they must rely on their professionalism and social resources to get involved in we media communications to rectify errors, verify authenticity, or offer professional analysis and explanations, restoring the authenticity of news with their authority and credibility. So, when imprecise we media and professional traditional media come together, rumor-refuting news is generated. The emergence of rumor-refuting news helps clarify truth, and advocates a questioning spirit in society, thus upholding the “authenticity” principle of news.

2.3 Dilemma in verifying the authenticity of news

2.3.1 As part of the producers of “braided journalism,” “citizen journalists” have limited media literacy and lack self-awareness of news ethics.

When Dan Gillmor proposed the concept of “we media,” he noted that “the rise of grassroots journalism comes with moral issues, such as authenticity and outright deception.” Since the information release threshold of we media is low, most “citizen journalists” are ordinary people at the grass-roots level. They have not received professional training in journalism, have little awareness of professional ethics, and are varied in their capability of selecting the contents for communication and judging the value of information. Therefore, compared with news from traditional media, “braided journalism” offers contents with a higher degree of uncertainty, with false news cropping up now and then. Though new media communications have the ability of self-correction, such ability is utopian amid the complex media environment. A feasible approach is to rely on traditional media to check or clarify. Yet for traditional media, since “braided journalism” features integrated news, it is somewhat difficult to check the contents. For traditional media, a piece of news can only be released after it is gathered, edited, written, checked and proofread by professional reporters and editors. Since “braided journalism” has the elements of grassroots-based citizen news, some of the content cannot be fully included in the procedure of professional checking. That’s why fake news is always generated in “braided journalism.” Such phenomena include; spreading news to create social panic such as disaster news, generating false and controversial topics such as the report of a Shanghai girl fleeing a village of Jiangxi Province in early 2016 which turned out to be a fabricated story, releasing imprecise, irresponsible and exaggerated news such as the rumor that “domestic casual inspections find that 55% of stainless steel water jugs in the market are made of non-food grade ‘high manganese steel’ which might damage the nervous system after long-term use.” Such seemingly science-based reports are exaggerated fake news.

2.3.2 Thoughtless forwarding and multiple forwarding make it difficult to ensure the truth of “braided journalism.”

Since netizens are prone to follow suit, seek novelty and entertainment, most of them lack the ability of independent thinking judgment and an awareness of social responsibility. In most cases, once a piece of news is published, it will be reprinted, forwarded and transmitted in a short time. When the news is forwarded and transmitted among different types of media, those who forward and transmit the news may not properly understand the contents, or forward it while making a deliberate misinterpretation out of context and even expressing extreme viewpoints. As a result, the truth of news contents will be undermined, even distorted. When Chinese scientist Tu Youyou won the Nobel Prize in 2015, an article titled “My gratitude to sweet wormwood and four people” went viral in the WeChat Moments, reaping over 100 thousand page views in one night. Yet the article was later proven to have been fabricated by a netizen. A staff member of a Wuhan periodical, who deemed Tu Youyou’s address too academic, fabricated the article, which was easier to understand, with the full title “Award-winning speech of ‘Tu Youyou’ my gratitude to sweet wormwood and four people (a folk version).” Yet during the crazy forwarding, the quotation mark of “Tu Youyou” and the note “a folk version” were deleted. The original chaffing was deemed by many media as the real address of Tu Youyou and forwarded widely, with page views more than that of the real speech of Tu Youyou.

2.3.3 In new media transmissions, the “gate-keeper” supervision mechanism is often weak, even absent, making news free from the supervision of news transmission mechanisms.

The endless information stream of new media gives reporters and editors less time to check and judge. To grab the audience market as soon as possible, “immediate release” has become the most stressed rule in communications’ practice, leading to the wide spread of news with no substance, biased views, and miscellaneous contents. Scholar Chen Lidan believes that, in the era of media convergence, a great deal of unchecked “journalism of assertion” appears, challenging the model of traditional “journalism of verification.” Meanwhile, for the maximum share in the mass market, the “journalism of assertion,” fabricated purely to cater to the concepts and tastes of an audience, completely abandons the spirit of doubt and verification of truth. In addition, social media, including portal websites, are transforming to converging platforms. No longer being responsible for content generation, such platforms function more as venues for information exchange and sharing for users. As a result, the “journalism of aggregation” has been spawned, a news form combining rumors, facts, guesses, and imagination which means a test and challenge for audiences in terms of knowledge and critical thinking ability.

3. Examination on the authenticity of “braided journalism” from the perspective of ethics

Though “braided journalism” has new features absent in traditional media, its essence as news is still there. As authenticity is still a fundamental principle of journalism ethics, we must admit that the loss of authenticity due to “braided journalism” will cause a considerable negative impact on society. We also must admit that when “braided journalism” excessively pursues the so-called authenticity of news, the fundamental principle of journalism ethics is also violated.

3.1 The untruthfulness of “braided journalism” will make people misunderstand objective things causing behavioral errors.

News is regarded as a necessity of modern society because it can provide people with exact information about the world and society, and help people know and approach the real world in a proper manner and choose the right direction and path in practice. Meanwhile, news enables people to learn about things in a wider scope, gain more knowledge and have a better understanding of the world. If a piece of news is false, or false information is provided, then the news cannot truly reflect the essence of things. This will lead to the deviation and misplacement of people’s understanding of objective things and may lead to mistakes in behaviors and practice, even social disorder. In October 2008, CNN released a piece of news in the column “I-Report,” a program featuring the participation of citizens in the report. The news said that Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple Inc., suffered sudden chest pains and difficulty breathing, and a physician was called. It was said that the news came from a reliable insider whose name was unknown. Affected by the news, Apple Inc.’s stock slumped by 10 percent immediately after the opening quotation. Worldwide netizens followed and forwarded the news related to Jobs. When the news was later proven by Apple to be false, Apple’s stock price rallied immediately. Though “I-Report” stresses timeliness and news on the scene, and CNN’s website declares that “You should shoulder the responsibility yourself whether you read the news or not, or trust the news or not” and notes “This is a piece of news that has not been filtered and edited,” they cannot eliminate the negative social impact of false news.

3.2. Once the authenticity of “braided journalism” is absent, the ultimate consequences will be the decline of media's credibility and damage to its authority which will finally affect the value orientation of society.

News is a source of authoritative information for a society, with the principle of authenticity being its lifeline. Since the value orientation of news communications guide the value orientation of the whole social culture, news has the functions of social adjustment, public opinion guidance, and cultural integration in the social operating mechanisms. If news communications violate the fundamental principle of authenticity, and false news keeps cropping up, the final consequence is that the social functions and value responsibilities of the news media will be weakened. As a result, the news media will not be able to play their roles in adjusting social mentality, establishing social identity and trust, and regulating social order, thus affecting the orderly operation of society.

3.3 “Braided journalism” should follow a moral bottom line to pursue truth and should not seek truth immorally.

However, authenticity in the communications of “braided journalism” does not equal the “truth” of simply “recording everything heard.” As a social instrument the news media should shoulder social responsibilities and obligations. Amid the context of media convergence with excess information, the news media should be proactive in functioning as the “filter” of public information, judge the reporting value of information contents, and select and report events with news significance and value. They should not “record everything heard,” or even violate fundamental ethics for the sake of grabbing attention, which means a challenge to the bottom line of media conscience and even the violation of laws. For instance, it is wrong to expose the privacy of persons concerned without their consent just for the sake of news authenticity, or even expose them to Internet violence via a cyber manhunt. It is right to pursue the authenticity of news, yet it is wrong to publicize any news just because it is true. The authenticity of news is different from that of science. Since communication is a social behavior, it has another standard, namely value judgment. This means, even if the fact is true, we have to judge whether a piece of news can trigger social conflict, whether it will violate social ethics or hurt others from the perspective of media ethics. News publishers should have the sense of social responsibility and an awareness of ethics. An ethical limit is necessary when they pursue the news value and authenticity of contents and not all real contents can be reported.

4. The spread of “braided journalism” entails professional norms and ethical awareness

The appearance of “braided journalism” reflects that communication in the era of media convergence is more dynamic, which is a challenge to orderly communication. The development of digital network technology has fundamentally changed the structure of news and added to the uncertainties of communication links, making it relatively complex and difficult to check the authenticity of “braided journalism.” Therefore, it is necessary to intensify the regulation of the communication of media convergence. On one hand, we should rely on external institutional norms and on the other hand, we also must rely on internal ethical constraints.

4.1 It is important to strengthen information verification in the communication of media convergence, formulate fact verification systems, and set up relevant verification and correction systems.

Considering the prevalence of “braided journalism” in the era of media convergence, many media agencies stress the importance of information verification. They have formulated detailed operational procedures, clear rules and regulations on information verification during the process of content gathering, writing, and editing both from the perspectives of media ethics and their news business. For instance, information verification is listed as an important working norm in the Associated Press Reporting Handbook, Reuters’ Handbook of Journalism, and BBC’s Editorial Guidelines. America’s Washington Post, Britain’s The Guardian, and Germany’s Der Spiege all have rules on news sources, anonymous news, and the exchange of news, to ensure the authenticity of news. Following the development trend of journalism in the network era, America has set up fact verification websites and projects, such as the website “Factcheck” launched by the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania, which checks and corrects contents questioned by netizens; PolitiFact, the most famous verification project, leverages the strength of reporters and the Internet to check issues being questioned. In 2015, the website checked 77 statements of Donald John Trump during his presidential campaign and found that 76% of them were “false.” Therefore, Trump’s statements were deemed by the website as the “2015 Lie of the Year.”

4.2 Traditional media and new media should be connected to form a mechanism for mutual supervision, verification, and correction.

Mutual supervision should be improved within the traditional media sector and meanwhile the public should be engaged in the supervision and correction of news. In the context of media convergence, the production of “braided journalism” features strong interactivity. The public is the audience, participants and supervisors of news communication. Therefore, the public should use new media platforms to supervise the authenticity of news, and be guided to make their own communication behaviors meet the norms of media ethics.

4.3 Efforts should be made to intensify the self-discipline of the media industry and media practitioners.

The self-regulatory organizations of the media industry should be strengthened. Since 2013, China has been establishing provincial-level news ethics committees. Going forward, efforts will be made to intensify the normalization and standardization of their functions. Besides, China can draw lessons from other countries. One practice is to establish press councils and other organizations which can appraise the professional ethics and behaviors of media agencies and media practitioners and handle complaints from the public regarding the moral behaviors of journalists. Press associations should intensify constraints on the media industry and extend their social functions beyond services and public relations to include supervision and guidance on industry selfdiscipline. Meanwhile, self-discipline of media practitioners should be strengthened. Business training should be offered to newcomers to the media industry to enhance their holistic competence, and enhance their media literacy and awareness of professional ethics.

4.4 Efforts should be made to improve the formulation of relevant news laws and regulations in the era of media convergence.

China has released The Provisions on the Administration of Internet News Information Services, Interim Administrative Provisions on Internet Publishing, Administrative Provisions on Internet Audio-Visual Program Services, Administrative Provisions for Electronic Bulletin Services on the Internet and other regulations on news communication on the Internet. Yet more efforts should be made to follow the practical problems of news communications in the era of media convergence and to improve these regulations to make them more targeted and feasible. Particularly, law-based regulations and governance should be intensified in the gathering, verification, editing, communication, network ethics, and other aspects of information contents.

4.5 Media literacy education should be offered to the public.

Chorus, a scholar of communications, proposed such a formula: Rumor equals the importance of an event to the audience multiplied by degree of ambiguity and divided by critical ability of the public. The formula visually reflects the non-neglegible role of the public’s critical ability in identifying true and false news. In the era of traditional media, media ethics only apply to professional media practitioners. In the era of media convergence, however, media ethics relates to everyone in the media public opinion field. The contents to be transmitted can no longer be checked only by professional media practitioners as the public has also become producers and transmitters of contents. Therefore, the scope and object of media ethics are different from that of the traditional media era. The media literacy of the public should also be included in in the process of media ethics improvement as it is important to enhance the media literacy of netizens and make them aware of the responsibilities and obligations of self-checking news contents while enjoying the right of information release.

5. Conclusion

To fulfill the social responsibility and leverage the social benefits of news in a real sense, the only way is to follow the principle of news ethics and release authentic news to reveal the truth. For “braided journalism,” a media form in the context of media convergence, it is imperative to follow traditional news professionalism and the norms of news ethics. No matter what era and whatever the transmission method might be, ensuring the authenticity of news and following the principle of news ethics are always the bottom line of news transmission, the foundation of media credibility and authority, and the basic value orientation of an orderly society.