These are the slides for my API social networks webinar for the Minnesota Newspaper Foundation, part of the Upholding and Updating Ethical Standards series of journalism ethics seminars.

1. Upholding and Updating
Ethical Standards
Steve Buttry, API and Gazette Communications
Minnesota Newspaper Association webinar, April 1, 2009
Supported by a grant from the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation
© 2008 The American Press Institute. All rights reserved.

2. Ethics seminars for journalists
 We can bring this seminar to your
newsroom
 One or two-day seminars focused on
ethical challenges related to innovation
 Heavily subsidized, host pays nominal
fee plus meals and lodging
 Contact me or Elaine Clisham,
eclisham@americanpressinstitute.org
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3. Remember time-tested ethical principles
Seek truth and report it
Minimize harm
Act independently
Be accountable
SPJ Code of Ethics
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4. Remember time-tested ethical principles
Seek truth and report it as fully as
possible
Act independently
Minimize harm
“Guiding Principles for the Journalist,” Bob Steele,
Poynter Institute
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5. Questions to guide ethical decisions
1. What do I know? What do I need to know?
2. What is my journalistic purpose?
3. What are my ethical concerns?
4. What policies and professional guidelines should I consider?
5. How can I include other people, with different perspectives and diverse
ideas, in the decision-making process?
6. Who are the stakeholders? What are their motivations? Which are
legitimate?
7. What if the roles were reversed? How would I feel if I were in the shoes
of one of the stakeholders?
8. What are the possible consequences of my actions?
9. What are my alternatives to maximize my truthtelling responsibility and
minimize harm?
10. Can I clearly and fully justify my thinking and my decision?
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6. Questions for exercises
Premise for exercises: You are the top
editor of your news organization
Questions for exercises:
 What do you to about this right now?
 What to you to do to address any
issues this incident raises for the future?
 How, if at all, do you deal with this
issue publicly?
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7. Facebook Fiasco
Your publisher chairs a committee pushing to build a new high
school. Parents are upset about overcrowding at the existing
school(s). A taxpayer group says the new school would be a
boondoggle. Your education reporter is immersed in the issue
and you are pleased with the balance and depth of your
coverage in print and online. The publisher has been keeping a
proper distance, but you push for heavy coverage because of the
importance of the issue. A blog on the taxpayer group’s web site
reveals that the education reporter has been blogging about her
assignments on her Facebook page. While she uses a
pseudonym, the photos are clearly her and she is complaining
about specific assignments she covered for you, wondering if the
pressure for more coverage, which she is feeling from you, really
comes from the publisher. The taxpayer group blog trumpets this
as proof that your coverage is slanted.
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8. Facebook fiasco
 What do you to about this right now?
 What to you to do to address any
issues this incident raises for the future?
 How, if at all, do you deal with this
issue publicly?
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9. Facebook fiasco
The plot thickens:
You check the reporter’s MySpace
page, where she uses her real name.
No blog there, but the language is foul
and the photos include one where she
appears to be smoking a joint.
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10. Facebook fiasco
 What do you to about this right now?
 What to you to do to address any
issues this incident raises for the future?
 How, if at all, do you deal with this
issue publicly?
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11. Twitterdentity crisis
Two of your reporters write a story about how a local bank is affected by
the upheaval in the banking industry. The story in this morning’s paper says
your paper “had an interview set with” the bank president, but he didn’t
return a call to finalize the interview. The story says a reporter instead
asked questions during a live chat the banker hosted on the bank’s web
site. You get an email from the banker, who says he never had an interview
set with your staff. The banker’s email includes screen shots of a Twitter
direct-message exchange. The reporter messaged the banker: “Are you
available for sit down interview on Tuesday re: future of banking?” The
banker’s response the next morning was: “Yes, I’m available from 1:30 to
2:30 today or after 4:30. Who are you and what is the interview for
(publication, broadcast, blog, class)?” The banker noted that the reporter
did not answer the question. The banker’s email also includes a link to the
reporter’s Twitter page, which has no bio and no mention of your
organization. The banker says he never had an interview set with the
reporter.
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12. Twitterdentity crisis
 What do you to about this right now?
 What to you to do to address any
issues this incident raises for the future?
 How, if at all, do you deal with this
issue publicly?
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13. Twitterdentity crisis
The plot thickens: When you talk with the reporter, he says
that many of his tweets discuss his work for your newspaper,
asking for potential sources for stories he’s working on,
linking to stories as they’re posted to the web, etc. Even
though he didn’t fill in a bio, he presumed that someone who
followed him would know he worked for the paper. You check
his Twitter stream and it’s true that he does tweet about work
a lot, including unflattering tweets about sources. In one
tweet, in fact, he tweeted that the banker “said yes to an
interview but apparently doesn’t know what yes means.”
When you meet with the banker, he also shows you that
when your reporter joined his live chat, he used his real
name to pose questions to the banker but never identified
himself as a reporter for your newspaper.
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14. Twitterdentity crisis
 What do you to about this right now?
 What to you to do to address any
issues this incident raises for the future?
 How, if at all, do you deal with this
issue publicly?
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15. Ethics in social networks
 Decide whether to separate personal,
professional profiles
 Always identify yourself as a journalist
in any professional profile or message
 Discuss social networking practices
with your editor/staff
 Be sure to verify identity if using
sources from social networks
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16. Ethics in social networks
 Regard anything you say in a social
network as published information
 Always conduct yourself professionally
in social networks
 Discuss with editor/staff what kind of
groups/friends are acceptable
 Discuss social media boundaries with
your editor/staff
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17. Upholding and Updating
Ethical Standards
Steve Buttry, API and Gazette Communications
Minnesota Newspaper Association webinar, April 1, 2009
Supported by a grant from the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation
© 2008 The American Press Institute. All rights reserved.