Jim Romenesko on Jim Romenesko resigning from Poynter

11/20/2011

 
A couple of weeks ago Jim Romenesko resigned from the Poynter Institute after a dozen years as one of the most influential media writers online.

At the time the institute suggested there were issues involving the structure of his posts, following a review that suggested there was an "overaggregation" of content.

Romenesko has resurfaced at his namesake site and filed his version of events. 

Meantime Poynter has renamed Romenesko+ to MediaWire.
 

Canadian Association of Journalists on best practices in digital accuracy

11/17/2011

 
The ethics committee of the Canadian Association of Journalists (full disclosure: I am a former member) has produced a primer on best practices in digital accuracy.

Its scope includes a very stern opposition to unpublishing and a very strong support of transparent corrections.

The committee, led by Toronto Star public editor Kathy English, determined several best practices for the industry. Among them: helping readers report errors, transparency in corrections, prominent placement of corrections, and timeliness in the effort to correct.

The committee also reiterated the need for uniform standards across all platforms, including the discipline of verification.
 

The Jim Romensko resignation, aggregation, attribution, and the ethics involved

11/11/2011

 
The media blogger, Jim Romenesko, long popular among journalists and non-journalists alike for his sage curation of media stories, left the Poynter Institute's site abruptly yesterday after a dozen years as a contributor.

His departure followed a complaint that his blog (of which he is but one contributor) had been overaggregating content, making it less of an incentive to visit the original source. Julie Moos at Poynter outlined the ethical dilemma involved. There were some questions, too, about the techniques of attribution and linking. These came from a journalist working for the Columbia Journalism Review, who has outlined the saga in a post today.

The departure has drawn criticism for the way it was seemingly handled, and in that regard the Poynter faculty has weighed in with a variety of views. The always lively Reuters blogger, Felix Salmon, has chipped in on the matter, too, wondering about the validity of journalistic standards in an age of aggregation.

But the concerns are significant in an age of content curation, sharing and linking, because they raise questions about the obligations of media to provide credit and direct traffic elsewhere as they build upon stories.
 

The debate on the ethics of identifying Herman Cain's accusers

11/09/2011

 
For some time, media organizations were aware of the identity of one of the women accusing Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain of sexual harassment. Until Tuesday, no one chose to identify her.

Then, when The Daily did so, other organizations responded by doing so.

This prompted a debate on the ethics of shielding and identifying and the considerations of vulnerability, victimization and privacy that factor into decision-making on such matters.

The Poynter Institute's Kelly McBride provides an overview of the issue. She found the initial decision to conceal her identity "baffling" and suggests the episode reveals a lack of journalistic leadership in the pursuit of truth.

What do you think?
 

Associated Press tells its journalists to take responsibility for ReTweets

11/04/2011

 
Associated Press has amended its social media guidelines to be clearer about the responsibilities inherent in redistributing another account's Tweets.

The news agency says its staff should not ReTweet in a way that makes it appear they are expressing an opinion or support. And a disclaimer that the ReTweets are not their own views does not suffice, AP says.

It is telling staff to avoid the unadorned ReTweet. It argues that implies support. This is in line with many other organizations that view ReTweets as little different than expressions of opinion.
 
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