Like many ethical issues, the answer may be, “It depends.”  I think we can all think of situations in which using a tweet or FB comment would be newsworthy, but there are also plenty of gray areas, as Duffy suggests.

Of course, no matter the circumstances, one of the biggest concerns is identity verification.  Ever have your Facebook page hijacked by someone just playing a joke on you?  Unless my friends are highly unusual, I”d say it’s fairly common — especially among parents.

Is using social media “quotes” similar to overhearing someone talking at the next table in a restaurant and using those comments in a story?  Or does the fact that it’s “published” online make a difference?  Let us know what you think.

Here’s how it works:

Beginning at midnight on Dec. 15, students ages 14 to 22 can tweet their support for the First Amendment with the hash tag #freetotweet, which will enter them in the “Free to Tweet” scholarship competition. Students are encouraged to freely express themselves in their entries, which can be posted on any publicly viewable social media platform, including blogs.

The goal is to spread the word that a free press and free speech matter, so even non-student journalists are encouraged to take part.

Sign up for an email reminder, so you won’t forget.

For a multimedia journalist, producing a story on his or her own, getting it right is just as important, but tougher to accomplish.

Jacqueline Ingles calls herself a multi-platform, one-woman band reporting at KXAN in Austin, Tex. She knows that working across platforms means meeting a tougher standard.

Not only do I have to present fair and accurate pieces on air, my online pieces must be as clean and grammatically correct as a newspaper writer’s article.  I have been called out many times by readers for placing a period where there should be a semicolon.  It may not seem like a big deal, but viewers and readers do not know you are juggling eight balls in the air.  You also took on the job of juggling those balls, so do it right.  They expect quality out of their journalists, and it is your job to deliver.

Ingles wrote an article for Quill, which included a list of suggestions for those working as solo journalists — here are some of my favorites:

DO

• Write your online script, walk away for 10 minutes, come back and re-read what you wrote before hitting PUBLISH.
• Call your superiors if you need more time to get your story ready.  Never rush to the Web or to air.

DON’T

• Steal natural sound from one piece of b-roll and place it under other video.  This is unethical, and you are lying to your viewer.
• Blame all you have to do in a day for errors online or on TV.  You took on this job and you must make it work.
• Think reporting is all about you.  If you have to sacrifice looking good on TV for a better story, drop the makeup and hair curler and get to work.

Section titles include: Social Media, Taste and Tone and Third-Party Content.

The Post’s ombudsman says that some people aren’t going to like the fact that the guidelines allow reporters to sometimes post directly to the Web without the content going through an editor.

Others, like New York University’s Jay Rosen, have spoken out against the social media guidelines, which he calls an “invitation to self-censorship.”

The digital guide is apparently a supplement to the print edition’s stylebook, which is NOT a public document.

This all raises many interesting questions:

• Why the transparency with the online guide and not the print guide?
• How are the standards online different than those in print?  Do they have to be?

And take a look at our word picture from the guidelines.  The emphasis is on content, with news, information and social right behind.

Seems like these guidelines are on the right track.  What do you think?

Elected officials often don’t like the way they’re covered but they usually put up with it. After all, they’re on the public payroll and media coverage goes with the territory. But last month, in a 24-hour period, politicians on both coasts had it out with television journalists who cover them.

In Seattle, KOMO reports that the mayor’s office sent an email to the local television stations telling them not to crowd around the mayor at press events or try to reach him at home.

The email was sent shortly after a group of reporters and photographers approached McGinn at a Friday morning event to ask him about his appointment of a bicycle club leader to fill a $95,000-per-year transportation policy post.That impromptu question-and-answer session came the morning after a KOMO News reporter and photographer went to McGinn’s house at 9:05 p.m. to see if he was available to talk about the surprise appointment.

The email included this screenshot:

That’s helpful, right? My guess is that most people who saw the email had a good laugh and went back to work. But what happened in Georgia wasn’t so funny.

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the governor’s press office was angry about a story by WAGA’s I-Team that a fundraising firm hired by the governor was connected to his daughter-in-law. So the next day, state troopers blocked a WAGA crew from covering a public bill signing.

Both the mayor and the governor may have legitimate complaints with their local stations, but their reactions seem out of line, don’t they? Are journalism students being taught how to deal with officials who want to control the news media?

Sourced from: NewsLab

But reporters don’t always do a good job of exploring those differences for the audience to tell richer stories.

“If you can get to appreciate ‘otherness,’” says Irby, “embracing conditions of difference can help us move to a place where we can begin our conversation.”

Irby says following an interview, you need should ask yourself three questions:

1. What surprised you?

2. What did you learn?

3. What else do you need to learn?

“Your surprises will invariably surprise others,” Irby says.  ”You always have further questions.  All of us have a capacity to learn more about others.”

And Irby says exploring the diversity of the people we talk with matters — whether we’re talking about disability, sexual orientation or race.

“Portrayals of minorities reflect how the majority society views and treats these issues and people,” says Irby.

Irby suggests to be an ethical journalist, you must educate yourself on as many dimensions of diversity as possible.

“Reporting based on prejudice is inherently inaccurate.”

“Tucson is an hour from the border, so diversity in the newsroom and Spanish as a second language is definitely a plus,” Chapin says.  “I’m constantly doing interviews in broken Spanish (because I’m really not good at it yet!)  and having producers or photographers translate for subtitles when I get back. ”

Fortunately, says Chapin, her newsroom can bank on the expertise of a wide variety of backgrounds.

“We have several Hispanic reporters, two Native American producers, two Vietnamese reporters, and people from all religious backgrounds, as well as some extreme conservatives and liberals,” Chapin says.

She says that her news director, Forrest Carr, routinely assembles the newsroom for discussion on ethical issues.

“I noticed that it makes for not only great conversation and debate, but also it helps hold our own reporting accountable,” Chapin says.  ”I think because we have so many different backgrounds, we get a lot of good perspectives.

For example, Chapin mentions that the newroom had to ”straighten out” what they should and shouldn’t call illegal immigrants.

But the value of diversity really hit home for Chapin this week.

“A photographer here at the station found himself in Mexico covering a 17-year-old who was shot to death by a Border Patrol agent,” Chapin said.  “Martha, our producer, set up the interviews for them by using calling cards to Mexico and speaking in Spanish to the family members.”

“At the same time, I was covering a story about a jumping castle that blew away in a dust devil, injuring two children.   Turns out, the families were both Iraqi refugees who only knew Arabic.  Fortunately, we could call in our other producer to translate so we could run subtitles!” said Chapin.

For Chapin this is an excellent example of how diversity in a newsroom can truly be a benefit.

“You never know who or what cultural or language barriers you’ll encounter as a reporter,” says Chapin.

And she adds with a smile, there’s an app for that.

“I have a language translation app on my iPhone for such occassions as well… just in case.”

The latest RTDNA/Hofstra University Annual Survey found that, overall, the percentage of minorities in both radio and television fell for the third straight year, although the drop in television was small.

“Again, the percentage of minorities in television decreased from the year before.  In fact, we end the decade with no gains whatsoever for minorities in TV news, and the percentage of minorities in radio news is down substantially,” said Bob Papper, professor of journalism at Hofstra University and the survey director.
 

According to the survey, women in radio news rose slightly, but the overall percentage of women in TV news went down. 

Could some of the troubles TV and radio stations are having be a result of this lack of commitment to diversity?  It sure seems like it would be eaier to reach diverse audiences with a more diverse staff.

John Hamer of the Washington News Council came up with the ideaas a way for journalists and newsrooms to make a public promise to their readers, listeners and viewers. He named it the Tao of Journalism (get it?) and set up a nonprofit to administer the voluntary pledge and copyrighted seal. The website’s FAQ says “a TAO pledge/seal is a way for journalists to publicly declare that they will live up to those basic principles as a way to earn trust.” And if they violate those principles?

The goal is to encourage the public to provide oversight and determine if TAO seal users are living up to the pledge. There will be no official oversight group, licensing body or regulatory association.

But there is a fee. The Tao of Journalism charges $25 a year for individuals and $50 for organizations to post the seal. So far, there are 20 names in the TAO directory, almost a third of them from outside the United States. It appears that only one signatory is from a major U.S. news organization–David Horsey, the editorial cartoonist at the Seattle P-I.

Hamer told Columbia Journalism Review earlier this year that he expected journalists to be wary. “The attitude is, ‘Nobody can oversee us, we oversee everyone else.’ When you think about it, it’s just a massive double standard.”

Maybe what journalists object to is being asked to pay for a seal that certifies their support of principles they already adhere to. The cost is low compared to the annual fee for other online “seals” like TRUSTe ($299 and up) and BBBOnline ($200 and up). But those well-established organizations require formal applications and questionnaires that have to be reviewed before a website is certified.

What’s your view of this initiative? Is it necessary? Would more journalists sign on if there were no fee attached?

Sourced from: NewsLab (check the comments on the original post)

“This year, the winning entries go beyond the basics of diversity coverage and truly embrace the concept of community,” said RTDNA chairman Mark Kraham. “These organizations set a high and apt standard of how diversity coverage should be done.”

CNN and CTV News – Prince George’s Community Television were both selected as winners in the television category.

CNN was awarded for the highly recognized “CNN Presents: Latino in America,” and CTV News was honored for its piece “Black, White and Shades of Gray.” 

In the radio category Alabama Public Radio was chosen as a winner for its “Matters of Race” piece, American Public Media was honored for its “Early Lessons” and WBEZ-FM was selected for its compilation of diversity coverage. 

Check out the award-winning entries for yourself — they are impressive examples of how journalists can create powerful storytelling by sharing the experiences of the many different types of people who make up our news audiences.