Transcript Ethics of Social Media - Career Account Web Pages

Ethics of Social Media
Some AP recommendations:
• One account per site that is used both
personally and professionally.
• Monitor your profile page to make sure
material posted by others doesn’t violate
standards; if yes, delete it.
• Use Twitter’s list function to keep track of
tweets rather than following people
• You can extend and accept friends requests
from sources but “be mindful”
• Refrain from declaring views on contentious
issues in a public forum (Sports and
entertainment OK if not trash-talking)
• Remember any response could go viral
When seeking information
On social networks, you should identify yourself
as a journalist, tell recipients if you're using
social networks in a professional capacity and
remain mindful that people will regard you as
a representative of your newsroom, says Kelly
McBride, ethics group leader at the Poynter
Institute.
AP rules for using information
• “You must never simply lift quotes, photos or
video from social networking sites and
attribute them to the name on the profile or
feed where you found the material.”
• You must verify accounts
• Don’t break news first on social media that
hasn’t gone on the AP wire.
• Can share your stories, etc. on personal blogs
AFTER and as long as you give AP credit
• Don't credit the platform when you use content
from social, credit the user or account. Have a
plan for how you do that.
• It's better to ask for permission even if you can
make a fair use argument
• Tools such as Geofeedia can aid in search of
geolocated, mobile uploads for help w/ veriifying
content.
• Check users' social media footprints before
quoting a tweet or pic as breaking news
NPR adds
• Don’t just spread information. Be thoughtful.
People will assume what you pass along from
other media is from NPR.
• Be transparent. Let listeners know what has
and hasn’t been confirmed.
• Photos. Can be altered. Use healthy
skepticism.
Metasourcing
A new role of confirmation that mainstream
media often play in the social media sphere:
metasources use their authority, expertise and
experience to comment on the validity of noncoventional sources, and put them into political
and social perspective.”
"Our new rules will reinforce the idea that these are
public spaces and what they are saying is not
private and their cyber footprint can be seen," he
says. "They need to act professionally and realize
what they can and cannot do in terms of exposing
a political bias or creating a perception of
favoritism:" Ken Chavez, assistant managing
editor for interactive media at the Sacramento
Bee
Example Social Media policies for reporters