Crypto Media’s Ethics: How Journalists Can Promote Mass Adoption

• Crypto media has faced ethical challenges for years, and the issue of transparency is key to gaining public trust.
• Molly Jane Zuckerman discussed her experience with ethics challenges in the industry and proposed solutions to integrate best practices into the space.
• She co-founded the Association of Cryptocurrency Journalists and Researchers, which works on a standards guidebook to help reporters and news agencies.

Crypto Media Facing Ethics Challenges

The prevalence of Ponzi schemes, decentralized finance scams, nonfungible token rug pulls, and questionable centralized exchange bookkeeping in 2020 put the issue of ethics in the crypto space on blast. Generally speaking, good ethics have been an issue for years, with transparency being paramount if the industry is to earn wider public trust.

Molly Jane Zuckerman’s Experience

Ray Salmond and Jonathan DeYoung sat down with crypto media veteran Molly Jane Zuckerman on Cointelegraph’s podcast The Agenda to discuss her experience with ethics challenges in the sector and potential solutions for integrating best practices into it. When asked about improving crypto media and journalists facing “shadowy pressure” from their companies, Zuckerman highlighted that greater transparency is needed.

Association of Cryptocurrency Journalists & Researchers

Zuckerman co-founded the Association of Cryptocurrency Journalists & Researchers (ACJR) to create a “rule book” for people working in crypto beyond what their newsroom tells them — a standards guidebook that would help reporters adhere to better ethical practices. She explained how access can easily be abused by those with large amounts of money which can tempt even those with high moral standards.

Universal Code of Ethics?

Salmond then asked whether there should be a universal code of ethics within crypto media — something beyond just self-regulation or guidelines — as well as what role journalists could play in promoting mass adoption within this space. While acknowledging that more research was necessary in order to make any definite statements on this matter, Zuckerman noted that having a clear set of rules could go a long way towards ensuring better practices are adopted across all platforms.

Promoting Mass Adoption

To promote mass adoption within this sector, Zuckerman suggested that journalists focus less on short-term gains or projects’ success rate alone but instead take into account whether they’re helping add real value over time while also advocating proper regulation rather than fearmongering about it. Ultimately though, she believes that education should remain at the core when discussing crypto topics since understanding what it is and how it works will ultimately lead more people towards its usage over time.