Ethical levels as a guarantee of quality journalism

The questions about who is to be considered a journalist and what the social role of mass media is have gained importance ever since the appearance of social networks and the questioning of the economic model following the 2008 financial crisis. This paper reflects on the relation between democracy and quality journalism, and links its condition of possibility with ethics. This paper suggests as a condition for quality journalism an ethical commitment on several levels: on the professional level, on the level of the news company and on the level of the professional sector. In the first part of the paper, the profession-specific ethical challenges shall be presented (first level). In the second part, two topics are addressed: the ethical perspective of the news company (second level) and the demands made by the media as companies from quality journalists and journalism. In the third part, the topics addressed are the ethical perspective of the professional sector (third level) and the pending task of an appropriate regulation of the sector according to current challenges.