Self:

Online Journalism Ethics

July 7, 2009 by Kyle Brady
Tags: Blogger Code of Ethics, Ethics, Fairness, Journalism, Online Journalism
As required by the FTC, a Full Disclosure is available - this piece adheres to the Code of Ethics

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Inspired by a recent ArsTechnica article on blogger ethics, which in turn was inspired by Tim O'Reilly a long time ago, I've put together a list of the principles that my online journalistic efforts operate by, available below and on its own page for clarity and posterity:

Cleanliness, Professionalism, and Appropriate Content

The goal is for content to be well written, intelligent, and thought-out, and as unbiased as possible, in order to better communicate issues to the general public.  Foul language, racist material, and otherwise offensive content is neither acceptable nor used, as it can be seen to detract from the value of the post itself.

Editorial Pieces

Most posts are of an editorial nature, offering opinions, viewpoints, and analysis of issues, rather than pure news.  "Breaking News" is typically avoided, but a distinction is made, via category/topic classification, between news breaks and opinion-editorial in order to clarify the purpose of each piece for readers.

Sources and Linking

Sources will be given to claims, facts, and figures, referencing valid and legitimate data, rather than expecting readers to take all non-opinion content as truth by default.

Updates, Edits, and Accountability

If a piece is updated or edited significantly (i.e. for reasons other than spelling, typos, grammar, etc.), it will be noted.  Furthermore, updates will be given on issues as they develop, at the bottom of the piece, with timestamped material.

Original content is fully accountable to the authors, and will not be removed, significantly edited, or otherwise doctored-in-place as an attempt to hide previously accessible material.  If a cited source is found to be in error, or information is otherwise incorrect, it will be rectified with a note of accountability.

Representation and Presentation

All issues, people, and otherwise foci of pieces will be presented in a reasonable and fair manner, never misrepresenting, misquoting, or otherwise falsely presenting material in an incorrect or untrue manner.

Communication Publication

In certain situations, publication (in part or whole) of communication may occur without consent - purely for reasons of transparency and otherwise righteous purposes.  In all other cases, permission will be requested before publishing private communiques.

Attacks

Exempting expose pieces, attacks on persons, organizations, or groups and people otherwise will not occur.  Doing so for means other than exposing controversial actions, issues, or policies is unprofessional and shall never appear.

Self posts are about me (Kyle Brady), in one form or another.
Kyle can be found on Twitter and MySpace, or reached via email.