Peculiarities of journalists' behavior in the social network before seimas elections

Today social media provides citizens with the opportunity to receive news from the first source of information. It is the responsibility of the journalist to become the one who does not allow himself to get lost in the flow of information and content. However, it is noticeable that journalists are increasingly expressing personal opinions on political processes, speaking on various political issues in the public sphere. Thus, the problem of this work is the gap between the ethical standards of journalism and the practical activities of journalists in social networks. This raises the main question of this work – if the activities of journalists are clearly defined in the code of ethics, legal acts, and one of the main values of journalism is considered to be objectivity, impartiality, how the activities of journalists in social networks expand or even change those boundaries. This paper examines the peculiarities of journalists' behaviour on the social network Facebook before the Seimas elections, paying special attention to the cases that may have a political charge. The main goal of the work is to find out how social media expands/changes the professional opportunities and ethical standards of journalists. The entire field of media, from editors to reporters, is analysed in detail, taking into account positions held, seniority, experience, gender and media diversity. In order to see possible trends, two pre-election periods in 2016 and 2020 are compared, when the amount of political content is most likely. The study found that modern media is becoming increasingly relevant and important to media players. Facebook is becoming more of a work tool than a personal space. This master’s thesis has revealed that adhering to ethical standards in the age of modern media is becoming a serious challenge for all players in the media field. While social networks expand the opportunities for journalists, the principles of informing the public and the values of journalism should also apply to journalists after work