Between Exposé and Libel: Online Activity and the Lack of Institutional Accountability

This article on global internet and accountability discusses the increasing audience for individual voices finding avenues for online expression through blogs, websites such as YouTube, and online editorials. The author points out that these voices sometimes progress from commenting on the news to setting the news agenda because they are speaking outside of an institutional framework.

The example given is that of remarks which caused a United States (US) Senator to resign his leadership position due to remarks of a racist nature to which bloggers brought consistent web-based attention. A second example is the impact of videos posted on YouTube about the US presidential election, as well as the emergence of "attack ads" online unaffiliated with the parties campaigning. A third example is a "gripe site" for gathering complaints against a multinational oil company.

The internal accountability of traditional media overseen by editors is not present as an institutional framework for independent online bloggers. As stated here, even United Kingdom (UK) libel laws are "effectively circumvented" because financial penalties leveraged against assets do not work where there are no significant assets.

"To address the absence of accountability mechanisms and concomitant concern that there is power without responsibility, there have been some attempts to develop self-regulating Codes of Conduct. One of the most high profile is that started by Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, and Tim O’Reilly, who coined the term 'Web 2.0'." The O'Reilly-Wales collaboration has produced a modular code and includes postings of a number of other codes. According to the author, this has proved controversial. With little for bloggers to lose, the article speculates that social norms and pressures may be ineffective. The casual and conversational nature of the internet challenges both social norms and accountability. The borderless nature of the internet presents an accountability enforcement challenge; the author suggests a need to address the potential of the imbalance between the power of online publication and the lack of accountability.