Guidelines for journalists using social networks

Increasing use of Twitter, Facebook and other social networking sites by journalists has some news organizations setting ground rules and others just taking a wait-and-see approach, reports Editor & Publisher. Bill Keller, executive editor of The New York Times, told E&P: “I have asked people to use common sense and respect the workplace and assume whatever they tweet will be tied to the paper….Even when they are tweeting personal information to their followers, they are still representing The New York Times.”

The Wall Street Journal’s guidelines for social media use were regarded by some as completely missing the point of social Media. BeatBlogging.org noted:

This memo should have been titled the 1990s newspaper refrain of the decade, “Don’t scoop yourself!” But this is the Web. No one seriously talks about scooping themselves anymore.

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