Dear Colleagues,

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UN, 1948) is the standard set for all peoples and all nations. Its nineteenth article proclaims that everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression, and this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. This is a great demand and responsibility, because without ethics, there is no journalism; without journalism, there is no democracy. To serve citizens, journalism must be accurate, independent, impartial, accountable, and show humanity (Resolution 1003, Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, 1993).

The COVID-19 pandemic accentuated the global crisis derived from disinformation and misinformation, posing a threat to media responsibility and ethics in a changing media environment (Recommendation 2075, PACE, 2015). The essence and principles of journalism are alive, which have not changed: seek truth and report it, minimize harm, act independently, be accountable and transparent (Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics, 2014). However, new global and specific dilemmas and challenges are currently being presented for which there are no algorithms to solve them.

The increase in public access and participation in the production of messages, especially in social networks (user-generated content, prosumers, influencers), disrupts the rules of the game. The adoption of technology in journalistic coverage raises remarkable and unresolved questions (immersive journalism, augmented realty, drones, artificial intelligence, big data, etc.). Similarly, interest in the human being has increased: the mental health (burnout, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder), the feelings (empathetic content, militant journalism), and the physical protection of the reporters (threats, harassment, murder).

We are calling for papers whose theoretical, methodological, multidisciplinary, and substantive approaches advance and analyze journalism ethics practices around the world. We are interested in scientific papers which focus on the analysis, study, and description of media ethics in the widest spectrum of professional practices. Suggested topics include (but are not limited to):

• Big data, journalism, and communication
• Communication of technology
• Corporate and institutional communication of entities with a scientific and technological base
• Disinformation and fake news
• Environment and communication
• Gender and communication
• Health communication
• Media accountability
• Media and digital literacy
• Media and human rights
• Media ethics
• Media and Law
• Media self-regulation
• New technologies in journalism and communication
• Photojournalism
• Political behavior in the digital public space
• Public opinion
• Public speech on social networks
• Public understanding of science
• STEM vocations and media
• Science, technology, and society.

Dr. Carlos Maciá-Barber
Guest Editor

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• media ethics
• accountability
• disinformation
• misinformation
• fake news
• public understanding of science
• journalism self-regulation
• social corporate responsibility
• hi-tech journalism
• citizen journalism