Washington Post Unveils New Twitter Use Policy
Clash Between Expanding Social Media and Curbing Personal Opinion
Oct 2, 2009
Reaction has been split over whether the Washington Post’s new policy on the use of Twitter as well as other social media by its journalists and other staff imposes undue restrictions. Some at the Post and elsewhere view the changes as requiring employees to give up free speech rights.
In September, the Post’s Senior Editor Milton Coleman sent a memo to the staff with the rules—effective immediately—on their use of “individual accounts on online social networks, when used for reporting and for personal use.” In his September 25, 2009 Ombudsman Blog Omblog on the paper’s Web site, Post ombudsman Andrew Alexander said Coleman had been working on the guidelines since last May.
“All Washington Post journalists relinquish some of the personal privileges of private citizens,” the paper's policy stated. “Post journalists must recognize that any content associated with them in an online social network is, for practical purposes, the equivalent of what appears beneath their bylines in the newspaper or on our website.”
Post Staff Cautioned About Contents and Nature of Tweets and Other Online Postings
“When using these networks, nothing we do must call into question the impartiality of our news judgment,” the rules additionally said. “Post journalists must refrain from writing, tweeting or posting anything—including photographs or video—that could be perceived as reflecting political, racial, sexist, religious or other bias or favoritism that could be used to tarnish our journalistic credibility.
“This same caution should be used when joining, following or friending any person or organization online. Post journalists should not be involved in any social networks related to advocacy or a special interest regarding topics they cover, unless specifically permitted by a supervising editor for reporting and so long as other standards of transparency are maintained while doing any such reporting.”
Others on and outside the newspaper think the tweeting guidelines provide clarification regarding what Post employees shouldn’t write about online, including what happens in the newsroom, the paper’s business activities, or reaction to competitors who challenge the Post’s journalism standards.
Critics Find Too Many Restrictions on Post Reporters in Required Withholding of Opinions
Nonetheless, some observers thought the Post had placed too many limits on what reporters may address and how they can approach stories. “I’ve expounded before on why it’s a bogus idea that repressing opinions makes journalists fairer or more trustworthy,” wrote Time’s James Poniewozik in “The Washington Post Slaps the Twitter Handcuffs on Its Staff” on September 29, 2009. “In short: by having policies like these, newspapers only reinforce an inaccurate idea of their own profession. Objectivity does not mean having no opinions. (Having no opinions more likely is a sign of apathy or stupidity.)”
Aside from Twitter, the news business has had to contend with new considerations that the professional use of Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn pose.
New York Times Editor Bill Keller Calls for ‘Zone of Trust’ After Internal Twitter Use by Staff
Accounts of internal strategy meetings about the New York Times Web site have emerged on the Twitter feeds of Times staff, with repostings of tweets elsewhere, much to the objection of the paper’s editors, John Koblin wrote in “Twitter Culture Wars at The Times: ‘We Need a Zone of Trust,’ Bill Keller Tells Staff,” in the New York Observer of May 14, 2009. “It seems like the culture of Twitter is not an easy match for the stentorian culture of The Times.”
Times Executive Editor Bill Keller has singled out the value of Twitter for reporters in searching for potential stories and sources but doesn’t think it should be used for expression of political preferences or to transmit communications or offhanded comments made by those within the institution.
Nonetheless, concerns have arisen over Twitter regarding public topics, Dylan Stableford noted in a September 29, 2009 piece in The Wrap, “News Media Struggle Over New Rules for Twitter.” “Raju Narisetti, managing editor at the Washington Post, shut down his Twitter account late last week after some of his tweeted opinions – on health-care reform and term limits – drew the ire of the paper’s executives as breaching required objectivity.”
Post ombudsman Alexander, in his September 25 Omblog for the paper, described Narisetti’s tweets as “pretty innocuous” in and of themselves. Two of them stated:
- “We can incur all sorts of federal deficits for wars and what not. But we have to promise not to increase it by $1 for healthcare reform? Sad.”
- “Sen. Byrd (91) in hospital after he falls from ‘standing up too quickly.’ How about term limits. Or retirement age. Or commonsense to prevail.”
- ”For flagbearers of free speech, some newsroom execs have the weirdest double standards when it comes to censoring personal views.”
Though most of these comments were made prior to the guidelines at the Post being widely disseminated, the difference here, Alexander said, is that Narisetti is involved in news content at the newspaper and the Post’s Web site, and can ill afford to be making personal observations that then receive a public airing. “Narisetti said today he now realizes that his tweets, although intended for a private audience of about 90 friends and associates, were unwise,” Alexander wrote.
In addition, some news executives view Twitter as having the potential to undermine news gathering, if proper restraint isn’t exercised, Stableford wrote. “‘There’s a thick, dark line between material that is in the process of being reported, and material that has been vetted and published,’ Jeffrey Schneider, VP of public relations at ABC News, told TheWrap.”
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