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"Since its new publisher took over last summer, The Orange County Register has been praised for being one of the few newspapers in the country that is hiring reporters, and expanding its print edition. But the reaction to one of the Register's new additions has been met with controversy. Depending on who you ask, it's either a smart way to bring in revenue, or a serious breach of journalism ethics."

"The line between news and advertising is going, going . . . As newspapers and broadcast stations scramble for new sources of advertising dollars, are old ethical standards getting lost in the shuffle?"

"Frank Sennett tells Romenesko readers that "even before the latest stumbles by the Atlantic and BuzzFeed with sponsored content online, I saw a need for an end to the Wild West moment we're going through." He hoped to work on some industry guidelines as a Nieman fellow, but didn't get the position. Frank Sennett "I have continued to work on them" while editing Time Out Chicago, he writes. "I haven't done an ethics project since Slipup.com back in the 90s, but this one piqued my interest." Here's what Sennett has put together: Proposed ethics guidelines for online sponsored content"

"Journalists and news organizations are turning to the crowd's aid for reporting and photography, since the right person with a mobile phone at the right time can often give a good picture of the news sooner than newsroom staffers. In "Accurate, Fair & Safe: The Ethics of Social News" at SXSW, two industry pros discussed the benefits of social news gathering - but the benefits don't come without pitfalls."

"This is the first part of a four-part series on native advertising. Part 2: "Publishers become content producers." Part 3: "How ethical is native advertising?" Part 4: "Future of native advertising""

Tomorrow (Jan. 14, 2012) marks the one-year anniversary of Tunisia's liberation from 23 years of oppression under dictator Ben Ali. It was a liberation sparked by one man's shocking public protest against injustice through self-immolation and fueled by the power of citizen journalism and social media. During the last months of 2010, Tunisians captured footage of protests and government oppression and shared them with thousands via Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. Within weeks, similar protests sprang up in Egypt, Libya and other Arab countries, giving birth to the Arab Spring. With the power of the media now in the hands of every citizen with a smartphone, questions about ethics and accuracy are working their way through the journalism industry -- how do we know what we see on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter is true? Who are the media watchdogs for a form of journalism rooted in unedited immediacy?

Poynter will cultivate and incubate new entrepreneurial media models in the digital space; deepen its understanding of how citizens are consuming news in the digital era; create case studies that analyze and help the public understand the workings of the nontraditional news sector, known as the Fifth Estate, and train those nontraditional journalism practitioners in a variety of journalism areas, including ethics and accuracy.  Poynter, a school dedicated to serving journalism in the interest of democracy, aspires through this project to influence -- for the good of a democratic society -- the news values that are emerging among those who are contributing news and information to this rapidly changing media landscape.

"As we worked with our co-authors, listened to others and watched the contemporary circumstances, the first concept - seek truth and report it as fully as possible - remained primary. But the second principle - act independently - was problematic. Journalism is no longer the province of a homogenous group, once dubbed "the working press," whose financing is generated to produce journalism for its own sake. In the 21st century, journalism may come from think tanks and corporations, from advocacy groups and passionate advocates, from accidental witnesses and curious beginners, and more."