I've just finished reading the first few chapters of Brian Solis and Deirdre Breakendridge's book Putting the Public Back in Public Relations.
The fourth chapter and its overall theme really stuck out to me. It discusses the recent shift from newspapers and magazines to online media (mentioning the extreme decrease in newspaper sales in the past few years). It then goes on to acknowledge the current quandary and discussion surrounding the topic of traditional versus new journalism. Are those who blog considered journalists, or do they fall into a separate category?
As the book mentions, journalists who graduated even ten years ago, all had the same messages, lessons and information crammed into their brains during their college careers: Tell the truth; Always fact-check; Grammar and spelling are of utter importance; Keep promises with sources; Get at least two independent sources to back up information; and so on. The key message here stresses the integrity and honesty of journalists through their relationships with their sources, audiences, editors, plus their precise and accurate storytelling.
Looking back to my Media Writing I class, I feel like I was I was taught these things, with the course focusing on the use of the AP Stylebook, as well as the accuracy and conciseness of my stories.
However, I feel like my peers and I are in a transition stage, between this 'traditional' perspective and a new up-and-coming view that's emerged from the advent of new technology and online opportunity.
The ethics involving online blogging are straying away from traditional journalism, and in all reality, how could we truly expect them to adhere to something so incredibly different? Like Solis and Breakenridge mention, blogging has become more about discussions—with tools like commenting and the ability to go into a post at any moment and make immediate changes—as opposed to a simple one-way street of providing information, like with newspaper writing. Now others are having a say in bloggers' stories, being able to leave feedback, contribute information and correct mistakes if they're there.
While no formal code of ethics is in place for these 'citizen journalists,' I think it's truly important to maintain the same core values writing for your blog as you would writing a newspaper article.
In the long run, I believe it'll be your loss if you become too carefree in your facts and don't take the time to check accuracy and spelling. Audiences are smart. They'll catch on. Readers won't continue to read blogs muddled with inaccurate information, dishonesty and garbled punctuation and spelling making them difficult to read.
I guess we'll see what the future holds.
