No Freedom of Speech for AP Journalists
A deputy managing editor at The Associated Press has issued a formal warning to the company’s employees after two journalists voiced their opinions on New York's approval of gay marriage and the Casey Anthony murder trial on social media sites. (more)
A deputy managing editor at The Associated Press has issued a formal warning to the company’s employees after two journalists voiced their opinions on New York’s approval of gay marriage and the Casey Anthony murder trial on social media sites.
“These posts undermine the credibility of our colleagues who have been working so hard to assure balanced and unbiased coverage of these issues,” wrote Deputy Managing Editor Tom Kent in an email. For its “bad faith” insistence that reporters should publicly divorce themselves from any and all thoughts and emotions that arise out of their work and behave strictly as instruments of the press — a common view among members of the mainstream media — the remark should have Sartre spinning in his grave. –ARK
Poynter:
From: Kent, Tom? Sent: Wednesday, July 06, 2011 2:57 PM? To: ? Subject: Expressing personal opinions on social networks
Colleagues,
In at least two recent cases, we have seen a few postings on social networks by AP staffers expressing personal opinions on issues in the news.
This has happened on the New York Senate vote on gay marriage and on the Casey Anthony trial. These posts undermine the credibility of our colleagues who have been working so hard to assure balanced and unbiased coverage of these issues.
AP’s News Values and Principles state that anyone who works for AP must be mindful that opinions they express may damage the AP’s reputation as an unbiased source of news. This point is contained in our social network guidelines as well.
Failure to abide by these rules can lead to disciplinary action. The vast majority of our tweets on these stories — and on other issues in the news — have been completely in line with our guidelines. They pose no problem at all, and are consistent with the importance of AP staffers being active on social networks.
But social networks, however we may configure our accounts or select our friends, should be considered a public forum. AP staffers should not make postings there that amount to personal opinions on contentious public issues.
Please let your supervisor or me know if you have any questions on this. And thanks.
Tom
>
WAIT, BEFORE YOU GO…If you're reading this, you probably already know that non-profit, independent journalism is under threat worldwide. Independent news sites are overshadowed by larger heavily funded mainstream media that inundate us with hype and noise that barely scratch the surface. We believe that our readers deserve to know the full story. Truthdig writers bravely dig beneath the headlines to give you thought-provoking, investigative reporting and analysis that tells you what’s really happening and who’s rolling up their sleeves to do something about it.
Like you, we believe a well-informed public that doesn’t have blind faith in the status quo can help change the world. Your contribution of as little as $5 monthly or $35 annually will make you a groundbreaking member and lays the foundation of our work.
The U.S. cannot violate its international agreements, only withdraw from them. That's our political press' story, and it's sticking to it.
No matter how egregious the remarks or transparent the speaker's motivations, the press cannot bring itself to call out racism by its name.
The wire service conveniently omits that Trump's pick for attorney general pardoned six officials for their role in the Iran-Contra affair.
An exclusive new report finds the multinational is storing your location data—even when you explicitly tell it not to.
Police block off streets and mobilize hundreds of officers one year after white supremacist violence roiled the Virginia city. Some activists fear the heavy police presence could be counterproductive.
Just because Donald Trump is using the recent chemical attack as an excuse to bomb Syria does not mean the attack didn't happen. We need to acknowledge the reality of Syrian suffering at the hands of Assad, Putin and the U.S.
There are currently no responses to this article.
Be the first to respond.