The case in which is charged with Dominique Strauss-Kahn is far from complete, but it illustrates how imperative it is for editors, journalists-like to establish clear rules on the use of social networks, as they now play a central role in information. This is the subject of a handbook prepared by ASNE, an organization that brings together leaders of major American media. It sets from examples and existing charters, ten good practices on social networks for journalists.Social networks, Twitter in particular, are at the heart of the "affair Dominique Strauss-Kahn. " Indeed it is through them that the news of his arrest was known fantastic, thanks to them also that we could keep abreast live, for example by following the hashtags # dsk. Journalists were not the last to use social networks to be informed, either to inform themselves, as did @ daftkurt an AFP reporter who live twittered his expectations before New York where the police was held this Sunday, May 15, 2011, while still Director of the IMF.
At the same time, we saw developing a conspiracy theory from the tweet [below] Jonathan Pinet [@ j_pinet], which was the first to leave the matter before the site of the New York Post. It turns out that it is a member of the Popular Youth. It was enough for some [read here a Post article on the subject] are in coincidence a stunt intended to run the UMP definitely a potential rival Nicolas Sarkozy in the presidential election.
Faced with this excitement, it seems clear that it becomes imperative to establish in the newsrooms of rules on the use of social networks.
It turns out that the ASNE, an organization that brings together the heads of major U.S. newspapers, had the excellent idea to publish in May-2011 - a guide to the ten best practices on social networks for journalists [this guide is download here]. To do this, the authors relied on already published charters of 18 Anglo-Saxon media, two news agencies, Reuters and Bloomberg, and several major daily newspapers as the New York Times, Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal The Guardian, etc.. These rules are in fact binding.
In this review, it appears key points, which I repeat in detail:
1. The ethical rules also apply to traditional social networks:
For the authors of the guide, there is no difference between the real and virtual worlds: "Journalists must act on social networks in exactly the same way they would in reality. They should not write something that could not be issued at the One of their newspaper, and could embarrass them personally or professionally, or reach their journals. "It reiterates a principle, for example by the Orlando Sentinel:
"Integrity is our basic principle. Our ethical principles are not changed when we work on different platforms and different media. "
The report cites the example Hiroko Tabuchi, a journalist from The New York Times based in Japan. During a press conference Akio Toyoda, the CEO of Toyota, it published a series of tweets avengers, including this one
Akio Toyoda Took very few questions, ignored reporters incl me who tried to ask a follow-up. I'm sorry, sucks to Toyota. [Akio Toyoda has answered very few questions, ignoring journalists, myself included, trying to resurrect it. I'm sorry but Toyota Gave.]
In reading these tweets, its editor had decided initially to remove the folder Toyota, because if it happens to journalists to complain about their working conditions, the "live openly and c ' is unacceptable. " She changed her mind later, because it held that the tweets Hiroko Tabuchi showed that it was upset by the organization of the press visit, not the products of Toyota, which at the time for calling bulk of its defective vehicles [details here].
2. Everything you write is public. It must assume:
Everything is public, "even if your account is not explicitly linked to that of your employer," says the guide. He also recalls that the confidentiality rules constantly changing social networks, what is private may well one day be released the next day, and adds: "It is impossible now to separate spheres [public and private] while it was still possible a few years ago. "
Politico also specified in its charter
We must work taking as hypothesis that everything is visible to everyone.
The guide includes an example of a Washington Post reporter who used Twitter on a closed account followed by only 90 followers. Its close his account, in which he gave his personal opinion, after being criticized for this reason the Ombudsman [Ombudsman] newspaper. An episode that will accelerate the establishment of a charter for social networks [read here]
Regarding personal branding, the guide is equally explicit: it is acceptable that journalists publish personal content on forums, they should not do too much at risk of weakening the mark [log]. Indeed, any journalist who creates an account on social networks including Twitter must be associated in one way or another the title of his paper, to indicate that it is in writing.
3. Chat with readers, but do it professionally:
Social networks are not simply a tool for dissemination of articles and media content [there are RSS feeds for this], but it is primarily an excellent way to communicate and interact with readers, as illustrated by the experience of a journalist from AFP, Karine Doll. She used Twitter as a tool to work after the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan [details on AFP-MediaWatch].
Provided the interaction has its limitations, the report says, and journalists should not be encouraged to scrap with trolls and internet irresponsible because it "reduces the credibility of the newspaper and increases the visibility of antagonism.»
4. Breaking news must first be published on the media and not on Twitter:
In an era of instant information, the first instinct of a journalist who gets his hands on important information and tweeter immediately, rather than publishing it on the site, which will inevitably take longer. But this practice is in contradiction with one of the main reasons for the presence of media on social networks, "which is to drive traffic to the sites, thereby increasing the scope of quality journalism. "For this reason, many publishers are asking their journalists not to tweet about a topic only on condition of including a link on the newspaper's website [this assumes that the site has published a content before the tweet].
On this subject, the recommendations of its journalists to Politico are unambiguous:
"Remember, your priority is to publish information for Politico, not to increase traffic to Twitter (...) Do not publish important information before you can include a link to the article reviewing the website Politico. We do not distribute our exclusive without being able to maximize our traffic on these items. "
However, this priority rule to the site is not absolute. So, when an event is broadcast live by a different media, for example, a news conference covered live on television. In this case, it is possible to tweet. It is also possible in some cases where it appears imperative to disseminate the information without waiting for publication on the site, clear, when the risk of being overtaken by a competitor is too big.
5. Beware of conflicts of interest:
When a journalist or political retweet is a link on the site of a politician, it should be clear that this journalist does not adhere to the ideas of this politician, but he does what tweet or link to this title information. In group SourceMedia, journalists are asked to indicate on their personal blog a formula similar to this: "The opinions expressed on this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer."
Conflicts of interest are very common on Facebook, especially in the selection of his "friends." In this regard, the opportunity now offered by Facebook [The report did not mention it] to create a page "journalist", which is the equivalent of a top company, offers the possibility to overcome this difficulty [read about it Facebook page dedicated to journalists that].
The Los Angeles Times insists on a topic discussed and disputed, whether a journalist is "friend" or joins a group of "one side" must "do the same with those who are" the other side, "and the imperative of finding information that is" balanced "dear to the American media.
Another problem is the buttons like Facebook or fan pages. United States, to follow certain events created by politicians, journalists are forced to click on like, with the result that appears on their wall that they "love" this politician. Others like Sarah Palin uses Facebook to spread its information, which requires journalists to subscribe to its policies fan page. Again, it should be clear that this type of subscription does not mean that journalists adhere to the ideas of Sarah Palin [or that of France Nicolas Sarkozy or Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who has no less than three, here and there and still there to take these two examples].
6. Always identify yourself as a journalist:
The media should demand that their reporters that they are transparent when they are present on social networks, that is to say that their interlocutors must know that they are journalists and the information they exchange with the journalists are likely to be cited in an article or content to a website or a newspaper.
This applies to the Washington Post, which states:
When we use social networks like Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace or Twitter for reporting, we must protect our professional integrity. The Washington Post journalists must identify themselves as such. We must be accurate in our reporting and transparent about our intentions when we take part [in discussions]. We must be clear and concise in describing who we are and what information we seek.
7. Social networks are tools, not toys:
Journalists should resist the temptation to publish on the social networks of false information as a joke, because the guide says "As journalists we represent our media, and therefore we must not abandon our role as truth tellers [" tellers of truth "] when we are on Twitter or Facebook.
Equally important, the guide points out the ethical principles of social networks, who want the original sources are credited. Journalists must always return or crediting their sources, whether "bloggers, citizen journalists or journalists from other mainstream media when it is warranted.»
The policy of the Rockford Register Star is thus cited as an example:
Source must be clearly identified. "A MySpace page on behalf of John Smith", for example
We must tell our readers that the information contained on the site correspond to what we learned from independent sources. Where possible, we must note how long a person posts on the site [quoted source]
We must explain how we have contacted the person who posted [on a blog, Twitter, etc..]. For example, "the efforts we made to contact Smith on particular social network have been a failure. We did not get back to the calls we've made to a person registered under this name on the network. "
A quotation must be specifically assigned. For example, one can write "On such a site, a person registered under the name John Jones said ..." or "A person who publishes under the name of John Jone said ...." However, we cannot write "John Jone said ..."
8. Be transparent and always correct your mistakes quickly when you do:
Again the same rules as apply in traditional media apply, namely that an error must always be corrected. In contrast, social networks, corrections must be made very quickly because we are in the media where everything happens in "real time".
9. Keep internal deliberations confidential:
Journalists should not tweet or feed their Facebook pages with what is happening in their writing, including arbitrations on issues, the choice of titles, etc.. Indeed, it is impossible to explain in 140 characters how to make these choices and this can be extremely damaging to the newspaper or media concerned.
@ Lionel Goncalves
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