Ethics Assignment

Drawing a line on social media as a working reporter seems to be a lot tougher after reading this article and reading many opinions on this issue. I understand the argument of being careful with how you represent yourself online. I am careful right now due to being an Resident Adviser. I agree that it is important to present yourself in a professional manner because anyone and everyone may have access to your facebook or twitter accounts.

However, I feel censoring yourself - whether it's through your political beliefs or opinions on elections or issues - because your job may get mad at you is a bit unfair. I would definitely do what Cheryl Rossi and Matt Stannard do and have two separate accounts, with one being personal and the other professional. What employers need to understand is that journalists have a life outside of their work. To limit them in their opinions or punish them because it may make their company look bad seems unfair.

If it is going to be a professional account, I agree that journalists should include their place of employment information on there. Because social media can and is playing a major role as a news outlet, journalists should have the same attitude towards it as they do towards their work.

One of the most notable controversies involving a journalist and social media came when Terry Moran, an ABC news employee, tweeted that Obama called Kanye West a jackass. His tweet was quickly removed but it spread rapidly, and ABC apologized for Moran's tweet. Concerning this, I see it both ways:
This is not news and what Moran tweeted was not false information so to apologize for the tweet seems unfair to me. He heard something interesting and tweeted about it. I do not see the harm in what he did.
However, Moran was there covering an interview for his job and he tweeted something that had nothing to do with what he was doing. I could understand why ABC felt it made them look bad. Still, I lean more towards Moran's side.

Putting myself in the shoes of the editors/managers, I definitely understand their side for wanting to place limits/rules concerning journalists use of social networks. Journalists and newspapers or networks should be unbiased. If a journalist makes it clear their stance on issues, many can and will interpret that as biased and in a way, lose credibility for their company. Since social networks have become another tool for news, journalists should treat it and represent themselves and their companies well through it if they are going to use it as a way of reporting news.

Whether someone is a journalist or not, they need to be responsible with what information they put out there for the world to see. A good example is the story of Dan Leone, a former employee of the Philadelphia Eagles, being fired for insulting the Eagles and referring to them as "retarded" after they traded away one of his favorite players. Yes, everyone has the right to free speech. But when you use language that can be offensive and display it on the Internet, you should accept the consequences, especially when you are a representative of a company. It should not matter if you are a journalist or not. When someone gets hired, they need to realize they are part of that organization and must always represent it in a professional, mature manner.

This issue of drawing the line is tricky. I see and understand both sides to it. My solution to this would be for journalists and for anyone else to have two separate accounts of Facebook, Twitter or Myspace, with one being for personal reasons and the other for professional and work-related reasons. Still, it is important that the user represents himself in each account in a respectable and professional manner. Because, at the end of the day, they are giving many people access to information into their lives, and information can spread once it is put out there. It is best to just be safe about it and monitor what information is put out.