How connected should journalists be?

Add comment January 28th, 2009

Here’s an interesting Poynter column on journalists’ responsibilities when it comes to contributing to social networking sites.

There’s only one comment posted, but it’s a good one. Here’s an excerpt:

“Objectivity is now a barely relevant word in journalism. The important and, I believe, more noble goal is fairness. … Pretending I do not hold any biases or (gasp) that I haven’t publicly expressed thoughts of my own would be folly. I do not hide my work experiences or ideas from my sources, and my professional relationships are stronger as a result. But I always strive for fairness in my work, even when I write/record/post with a perspective or point of view.”

There’s also a link to the New York Times’ policy regarding social networking sites. It’s a good guideline.

Curious what our readers think about journalists using sites like Facebook for personal and professional uses. Is it OK? Wrong? Why?

me and my shadow (can’t … resist … pun)

2 comments July 23rd, 2008

this week, we had a young aspiring journalist visit the newsroom. instead of spending time in the sun or sleeping in (if i were a teenager again, these would be high on my list), he spent almost four hours at the news tower.

brylind lawson of roscoe, a 16-year-old from hononegah high school, had a smile on his face most of the morning as we gave him a tour and showed him what it takes to tell stories in “the new world.”

he said he could see himself in our chairs someday. that’s what we love to hear.

Journalists could take cues from ‘American Idol’

5 comments April 10th, 2008

While reading another blog today, I found this link to Shawn Smith’s New Media Bytes.

Smith says David Cook’s run on “American Idol” provides lessons to those of us who gather and post content on news Web sites. I buy it.

Cook has taken risks, done his homework and done things differently than other “Idol” singers, according to Smith.