Writing / Weblogging Ethics

It seems to me like the internet is doing a great job of blurring the lines distinguishing between different styles of writing. Creative writing has to be written in a down-to-earth manner if you want anyone to bother reading it – the highbrow (hoity-toity) holier than thou attitude just doesn’t cut it these days.

Journalist writing, at least on the internet on non-corporate sites, has to have a strong voice infused with no small amount of personality. The writing has to be clear and concise, yes, but it has to be interesting or no one is going to bother wasting their time.

Just as musical styles are blending (think rhythm and blues punched with rock beats, rock beats combined with sitar rhythms, classical music transformed into dance beats), writing styles are being transformed. The savvy writer, I believe, will be the one best able to harness the changing voice of writing today.

The journalist who occasionally waxes poetic, the fiction writer who researches historical events to use in his piece, the writer who chooses not to focus on a specific genre instead choosing to dabble a little bit here and little bit there, experimenting and growing as a writer, these are the writers who I suspect will ultimately succeed in today’s writing world.

Regardless, there is a certain code of ethics that all writers should at least consider following online. Rebecca Blood, of Rebecca’s Pocket, author of The Weblog Handbook, offers six pointers for webloggers who wish to present themselves as professional journalists. I think these are useful pointers for any weblogger who wishes to be ethical and factual on the internet.

Blood's 6 pointers for professional & courteous webloggers:

• Only publish as facts that which you believe to be true.

This doesn’t mean that you can randomly make obtuse statements that may or may not have any basis in reality. This means that you do the research, and from your found facts, you glean the truth as you see it. If you are making observations that have no basis in research, you say so. If you suspect a source of being shady or swayed by monetary considerations, you either use another source or list your reservations about said source.

• Link, link, link your sources

If the material is available online, link to it. Regardless of whether the information provided on the site supports or refutes your viewpoint, you should provide a link to each and every source that you reference.

(If the source is an organization that you can’t morally support, perhaps a site based in hate or an otherwise detestable idea, Blood states that it is perfectly acceptable to type out the URL for the site –without- actually posting a link. This way you are still referencing your sources, but you are not driving traffic to a site that violates your personal standards.)

• Fix Your Mistakes – Publicly

If you make an error, whether it be factual or an opinion based on misinformation, correct yourself. Don’t attempt to slink away, however, the bigger person will admit her mistakes and then move on. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes, everyone does. If you make mistakes and then admit and correct them, you will enhance your credibility on the internet.

Even if you fix the mistake in a new entry, make sure to go back into the original entry and make corrections – that way a user accessing that entry from somewhere other than the main page will still see your corrections.

• Consider Each Entry Permanent

Although the internet is the ultimate disposable media, meaning that items on the internet can easily be revised or vanish without a trace, deleting entries can destroy your integrity.

You might post an entry that gathers a lot of repudiations. Your first reaction might be to immediately delete the post, thus halting any further commentary on the matter. The better course of action, however, would be to admit your mistakes. Read the commentary carefully and then do further research of your topic. Open your mind and you just might learn something.

Looking at each entry as a permanent addition to your collection of web writing forces you to slow down and seriously consider what you are writing. Not deleting entries builds your integrity and the integrity of the web as a whole.

The only case where deletion is acceptable is when an entry reveals pertinent information about someone who would just as soon not have that information published on the ‘net. In that case, change the information or delete the entry in its entirety being sure to note the deletion.

On a personal note – you may wish to note: the entries you delete will often be the entries you most wish you still had around. If you have issues about a post being public, say an overly emotional rant, save the post to your hard drive before you delete it. You might thank me on this one later.

• Disclose Conflicts of Interest

If you work, say, for the local community college and you post an entry glorifying the school going on and on about how fantastic the place is, please be sure to mention the fact that the school you are so enthusiastic about just happens to be paying your bills. This goes for any area where you realize your opinion might be swayed by monetary, political, or religious considerations, etc.

Noting your potential conflicts of interests alerts your readers to the possibility of a slanted take on a subjects, despite your best efforts to the contrary, and also improves your integrity.

• Note Questionable and Biased Sources

Again, if you question the reliability of a source, always mention that fact to your potential readers. Not doing so may raise questions of your own reliability. If you link to a site that is obviously biased towards a topic and you don’t mention it, you risk your own integrity. This is not to say that information from a highly biased site cannot be reliable; it just needs to be noted so that your readers can come to their own conclusions.

By following these six rules mentioned in Blood's "The Weblog Handbook" you will be able to build a reputation for yourself as a reasonable, well-educated, and truthful weblogger. You will gain integrity and respect in the internet community. Somewhere along the way, you will start to gather a faithful crowd of readers. Enjoy it!

Comments:

just to clarify, my weblog ethics are intended for people who do *not* consider themselves to be journalists, but who want to ensure their own integrity and to earn the respect of their readers.

regarding bloggers who consider themselves to be journalists, I say:

"Any weblogger who expects to be accorded the privileges and protections of a professional journalist will need to go further than these principles. Rights have associated responsibilities; in the end it is an individual's professionalism and meticulous observance of recognized ethical standards that determines her status in the eyes of society and the law. For the rest of us, I believe the following standards are sufficient."

in other words, these principles aren't equivalent to journalistic standards; they are standards I believe to be sufficientand appropriate to the very different activity of blogging.

Posted by: rebecca blood at October 20, 2004 12:19 PM

Thanks for the comment, Rebecca! Thanks for making a good point and pointing out something that I should have made clear in my entry.

I have to say - it's a good think I read the part in your book where you recommend clicking through your links so that sites you admire will know you were there! ;c) Awesome!

Posted by: moira at October 20, 2004 06:28 PM

WOW, Moira. Such wonderful traffic you have accumulated. :-D

Posted by: Amanda at October 21, 2004 12:12 AM

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