Driven by digital technology, journalism ethics takes on a new feature, i.e. transparency has become the new focus in journalism ethics and standards. The journalistic transparency aims to restore trust between journalism and the general public, bringing the process of news production to the front stage. The trust crisis in American journalism, the decline of journalistic objectivity as well as the relationship shift between journalism and the audience accentuate the importance of transparency in journalism ethics. There is also controversy about journalistic transparency. Whether transparency can improve the credibility of journalism and whether transparency can become the new “objectivity” standard are the focuses of the debates. Despite the existence of disputes, the practical values of journalistic transparency are not affected. In practice, whether journalism should be transparent is certain, but the degree of transparency demands more discussion. This paper proposes the concept of “appropriate transparency” and its four criteria: Credibility, degree of bias, public interest and minimum harm, and user experience. As an emerging code of ethics, the practical value and effect of transparency has yet to be evaluated.