in Journalism and Mass Communication
By The Next Web, Jul 14 – The Next Web has written before about the double-edged sword of social media. On the one hand it can boost profiles and raise revenue, on the other it can get a lot of people in hot-water if someone steps even a little bit out of line.
From a journalistic perspective, social media is also emerging as an important tool for hacks to engage and network with the wider community. And the BBC has today published its social media guidelines for its staff working in news.
By Dylan Stableford on Yahoo News, July 14 – A week after issuing a memo warning staffers not to express their opinions on Facebook and Twitter, the Associated Press sent an updated copy of social media guidelines to its global news staff.
The new guidelines include “an elaboration of our policies on expressing personal opinions on social networks,” Tom Kent, the AP’s deputy managing editor for standards and production, wrote in the memo. “Just as social media and its uses continue to evolve, so will our policies related to this topic.”
From the updated “Opinion” section:
Everyone who works for AP must be mindful that opinions he or she expresses may damage the AP’s reputation as an unbiased source of news. AP employees must refrain from declaring their views on contentious public issues in any public forum and must not take part in demonstrations in support of causes or movements. This includes liking and following pages and groups that are associated with these causes or movements.
