Blogging Etiquette Gets Personal
A discussion that began on a journalist’s personal blog has sparked a wider debate on ethics in the age of social media as the lines between journalists’ professional work and their personal activities blur. It began when Adam Tinworth, the head of blogging development for Reed Business International, criticised the National Union of Journalists on his blog for still not “getting” social media such as Facebook and Twitter, and for responding defensively to calls to include social media in their training.
In a follow-up post, Tinworth noted that an NUJ representative had visited his blog from an email with the subject “effing blogs” (http://bit.ly/blogs2). This turned into an unseemly spat when Chris Wheal, a freelance journalist and the head of the NUJ professional training committee, who had sent the email, criticised Tinworth for not contacting the union first for a comment before publishing his post. “Please consider the implications of your actions in future and follow basic journalistic standards and ethics before pressing the ‘publish’ button. Is that too much to ask of a journalist?” Wheal asked.
