How much is too much for journalists to blog and tweet?

How much freedom should a journalist have to blog and tweet?

In Ireland, it's a moot point at the moment. Few mainstream media outlets take blogging or Twitter seriously. Nevertheless, if a staff journalist blogged or tweeted something truly outrageous, or scooped their own newspaper, there is no doubt that it would have repercussions.

In the US, the Wall Street Journal (see quoted rules, below) and the Washington Post have led the way with stringent rules about how its journalists should behave on social networks. The New York times isn't far behind.

So just how much should I, and other journalists, be allowed to write or tweet? Should it just be promotional stuff? Does writing about things here and on Twitter lessen the value of what the newspaper has to offer? Or does it enhance it?

WALL STREET JOURNAL RULES FOR JOURNALISTS USING ONLINE MEDIA (courtesy of Editor and Publisher)

* Never misrepresent yourself using a false name when you're acting on behalf of your Dow Jones publication or service. When soliciting information from readers and interview subjects you must identify yourself as a reporter for the Journal, Newswires or MarketWatch and be tonally neutral in your questions.
* Base all comments posted in your role as a Dow Jones employee in the facts, drawing from and citing your reporting when appropriate. Sharing your personal opinions, as well as expressing partisan political views, whether on Dow Jones sites or on the larger Web, could open us to criticism that we have biases and could make a reporter ineligible to cover topics in the future for Dow Jones.
* Don't recruit friends or family to promote or defend your work.
* Consult your editor before "connecting" to or "friending" any reporting contacts who may need to be treated as confidential sources. Openly "friending" sources is akin to publicly publishing your Rolodex.
* Let our coverage speak for itself, and don't detail how an article was reported, written or edited.
* Don't discuss articles that haven't been published, meetings you've attended or plan to attend with staff or sources, or interviews that you've conducted.
* Don't disparage the work of colleagues or competitors or aggressively promote your coverage.
* Don't engage in any impolite dialogue with those who may challenge your work -- no matter how rude or provocative they may seem.
* Avoid giving highly-tailored, specific advice to any individual on Dow Jones sites. Phrases such as "Travel agents are saying the best deals are X and Y..." are acceptable while counseling a reader "You should choose X..." is not. Giving generalized advice is the best approach.
* All postings on Dow Jones sites that may be controversial or that deal with sensitive subjects need to be cleared with your editor before posting.
* Business and pleasure should not be mixed on services like Twitter. Common sense should prevail, but if you are in doubt about the appropriateness of a Tweet or posting, discuss it with your editor before sending.

EDIT: The Irish Times' Genevieve Carbery has pointed out Bloomberg's rather more draconian rules for its journalists:

Comments

[Marie]

For me it's about tasters versus spoilers.

If you can manage to whet the appetite of a potential reader via Twitter without giving away the main meal, then good.

As for blogging, it's great for post-story analysis and discussion, so if your job and wages are in an online site/print publication make sure that a blog post will be a great cheese platter to spend time nibbling on and coming back for more. Apologies for the food analogies but it's lunchtime and I need to eat!

[Neil O'Gorman]

Hi Adrian -

Personally, I think it is really valuable for journalists to comment and give views on all sorts of subjects within their area of expertise on Twitter and blogs. Esp for journo's who write for a Saturday or Sunday paper and only 'appear' once a week. People are keen to engage and for journalists with respected views not to get involved is a missed opportunity. If anything, it adds to their reputation and that of the publication(s) they represent. The more the merrier as far as I'm concerned. Neil

[Gerard Cunningham]

I'm not always sure why I blog. Sometimes, its because I need to vent. Sometimes, to have a scribble pad with a record of a thought that maybe I can come back to later. Sometimes, just to stay in the habit of writing daily when I'm working on something longer term.

I'm not sure how the rules apply to me though. I'm a freelance, and I suspect most blogging journalists in Ireland are too.

Newspapers need some kind of rulebook for their employess, no more than any other business, but they need to be kept simple.
In my opinion the following four commandments work for both staffers and freelances:

* Don't give away story ideas.
* Don't out a source.
* Don't pick personal fights.
* Be a human, but a good one.

[Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/bloomberg-lps-insane-twitter-rules-for-employees-2009-5]

[Cian]

Generally, if I was writing something I'd avoided blogging any detail about the same until at least the story was published. I might tweet or post a Facebook message to see if anybody has any insight into the topic, but that's quite different.

Does blogging and tweeting lessen or enhance the value of what the newspaper has to offer? I think it depends on exactly what you're writing. It can be a case of fine lines which are easy to cross. I'd echo Marie's point on post-story analysis and discussion, and, for print, add in further insight that you just don't have the space for.

Like Gerard, I'd also see my own blog as a scribbling pad, or my section of the internet that I scribble on. Sometimes I think is scribbling publicly on the internet wise?

Recently I've been more worried about any adverse personal impacts of my scribbling at blurredkeys.com. And when I'm not, I often think I just don't have the time to spend on that blog that its topic deserves.

[Gerard Cunningham]

@Cian

One of the boons of scribbling in public should be that people scribble back, providing viewpoints you hadn't thought of. After all, it's a conversation, as new-mediaistas will remind you at length. And no doubt Adrian is going to turn whatever we write here into a column next Sunday :)

The thing is, though I seem to have a regular readership (daily hits are pretty consistent) there's rarely much feedback. The busiest blogpost I had this month, most of my responses came through DM twits and emails. Readers seem to prefer lurking. Go figure.

Oh, and stick with Blurred Keys if you can. This week we;ve had Setanta, the INM rights issue and Leechgate, there's always a market for media criticism.