“I don’t know how to run a newspaper.
I just try everything I can think of.”
- Charles Foster Kane in Citizen Kane
I recently had an interesting conversation with a journalist friend about the question of blogging and accountability. Like many of his colleagues, my friend believes in the role of gatekeepers from an ethical standpoint of public good - facts versus hearsay and that sort of thing. I agreed.
As I write this, I meditate on the fact that I do not have the luxury of a personal editor to go over this post - a post that might also benefit from a professional turnaround time (time to edit, refine and further research). At best, I can afford an hour or two for this non-paying work - and it is work.
That said, I welcome a set of basic standards appropriate to the realities of this particular writing context.Thing is, who gets to define them? And can we really apply the standards of an old paradigm to a very new (and different) one?
UPDATED: Jan. 10/2008
(Draft) Bloggers Code of Conduct from Tim O’Reilly. There are a bunch of other similar docs out there (that I might have referenced) but this is one of newest. Visit individual media sites for their own policies - CBC and BBC, in particular, are at the forefront.
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