Do we really need a code of ethics for blogging? (from: Blog Resource)
http://resource.oflaherty.dk/modules/news/article.php?storyid=44
Hey guys. It’s almost midnight here but before I hit the deck, I thought of giving everyone something to think about.First, being bloggers, do you consider yourselves as journalists? I mean, cmon, think about it. You have your medium for expression, and you update it regularly with stuff you feel like writing about. Ok that probably does not sum up everything a journalist should be, so I think a follow-up to that would be, what makes bloggers good enough to be called journalists?
Now the reason I asked is because I passed by Justin’s blog (fifteen-minutes.net) recently and he mentioned in one of his posts something about fighting what he calls tabloid bloggers, being the people who blog about something worthwhile but sometimes twist the truths or do not verify the facts. All these tabloid bloggers do, as Justin quotes, “making their owners famous and providing them with some sense of importance.”
With that being said, a solution was suggested. Get some sort of ethics code for bloggers to go away from being the tabloid counterparts and to become the ideal journalists that they should be. The proposed code, patterned from the Society of Professional Journalist’s code, should be a guide for bloggers to achieve professional journalist. A petition was also done for this to push through, which you can check here. Of course only time will tell what’s next.
So, fellow blog network neighbors, what do you think? Should we have some sort of Code of Ethics for bloggers? How do you think would this affect our blogging lives? will it put weight on our judgements or creativity? Or is it just plain stupid? Anyway, I myself will be keeping my eyes peeled into any news that this move would bring about. Until then, if you have comments, don’t be shy to put it in. Remember, there are no right or wrong opinions. The bad thing to do is to have an opinion and not share it.
Alec