Navigating the “Ethical Bureaucracy": A Comparative Empirical Study of New Media Research Ethics in Türkiye and Global Contexts

The rapid evolution of networked environments has intensified ethical challenges in media research, highlighting the need to move beyond procedural compliance toward more reflexive practices. This study examines the lived experiences and ethical dilemmas encountered by new media researchers through a comparative qualitative approach focusing on Türkiye as a distinctive legal and socio-cultural context. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with twelve researchers (six from Türkiye and six from global regions including the US, Ireland, Spain, Pakistan, Brazil, and Nigeria). Findings indicate differences in how researchers perceive ethics: while global participants emphasize researcher identity and reflexivity, Turkish participants focus more on data security and academic integrity. Across contexts, participants describe Institutional Review Board (IRB) processes as largely procedural and lacking field-specific expertise. The study suggests that current challenges in digital research ethics cannot be addressed solely through legal frameworks and highlights the need for more context-sensitive and educational approaches within ethics governance.