Mozactly

The Society of Professional Bloggers (Or response paper #4)

October 13th, 2008

It seems every industry benefits from the existence of blogs. That is, except for information distribution industries. Because there is an inherent conflict - blogs give more information for less money - organizations that charge for information are left struggling. While this shift poses dangers because the bloggers are not always professionals and real information is hard to sort from fake, bloggers are necessary in a journalistic landscape with fewer reporters and more ads. In the name of democracy, our society needs to self-regulate blogs and form a professional society to help train the bloggers and educate the public about reliable information.

“If Paul says it’s OK, we can chat”

The following is a real story, with the names of people and organizations changed to protect my anonymous standing as the author of this blog. But, suffice it to say, this example repeats itself for reporters in several different forms and across several different companies, and illustrates just one of the challenges facing traditional journalists:

I called a high-ranking employee at a local non-profit the other day to get more information for an article I was investigating. The employee, whom I will call Sally, talked with me for a few minutes as I introduced myself and explained that I was trying to find out more about the topic. Suddenly, Sally clammed up and told me I’d have to call Paul, the director of communications for the non-profit’s umbrella organization.

“Before I talk to you any more, you’ll have to run it by Paul,” Sally told me. “He’ll ask you several questions to find out more about what you are trying to find out and determine if he wants me to talk to you.”

Astonished (especially since the topic was a positive one from this organization’s perspective), I said, “Really?”

“Yes. It’s simple really. Call Paul and tell him why you want to talk to me. If he says it’s OK, we can chat,” Sally retorted.

Paul ended up saying OK, and Sally and I chatted as if there had been no screening to the communication. But I was left with a bad taste in my mouth. If Paul said it was OK? Sally probably has her masters degree, she is the director of her department and she is the one in the trenches everyday on the particular program I was trying to find out about. Plus, she is an American adult with the freedom of speech granted to her in the Constitution. Yet, she has to get permission to speak to me.

This is not uncommon. I’ve been scolded by spokespeople for contacting employees directly (even though involving the spokespeople has added about four days to communication time), and even Quinnipiac University wants to have its control on the messages coming out of the student newspaper.

My point is that with “professional” communicators employed by almost every organization, there is a severe blockage of actual information being communicated. Journalists have to combat that, fewer staff members at news outlets and shrinking space to display the news when trying to complete their mission to inform society and keep a watch on the government. Bloggers can only help.

That’s right: Bloggers can help journalism

To say this, I need to take a step back from my role as a reporter. I need to look at the landscape as a person who believes the free flow of information is necessary to a democracy. As I look at the landscape of journalism, I see that traditional news organizations are losing grips on the power to make sure the information gets out: losing grip in a pile of red tape, rising costs and shrinking morale. And at the same time, regular citizens have more power to inform each other about what is going on in the world.

“In the age of the Internet, anyone can be a journalist,” wrote Bob Lutz, the vice chairman of General Motors, in his first blog entry for his Fastlane blog. Robert Scoble and Shel Isreal quote Lutz in their book “Naked Conversations: How Blogs Are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers.” (Scoble and Isreal, 2006, page 49) In the margin of my copy, next to Lutz’s quote, I wrote “Yikes.” Because on first read, it’s a scary concept. If anyone with a computer can be a journalist, why did I go to college? Why do I decline free tickets or food at events I cover? Why do I pay for a membership of the Society of Professional Journalists and attend continuing education trainings?

But the characteristics that separate me and other journalists from bloggers don’t change what our fundamental goal is: to inform people. So why can’t bloggers also become professionals?

They Can.

Blogs are already accepted by some as a complement to traditional news. Several bloggers have received “press passes” to national events. Dr. Axel Burns, in his essay “Wikinews: The Next Generation of Alternative Online News” contends that blogs are part of the “second tier” of journalism.

“It is fair to describe the new alternative online news services, spanning from dedicated news sites like Indymedia to the ‘random acts of journalism’ (Lasica 2003: 73) committed by news bloggers, as a second tier of journalism which acts as a corrective to the first, commercial tier.” (Burns, 2006)

Why can’t they make that leap into the world of professionalism? Dr. Alex Halavais outlined some of the requirements for professionals in class the other night. They include education, a code of ethics and a certain skill set. Often there are professional organizations that support the individuals, and provide the above requirements. I searched for a professional bloggers society. The closest thing I have found to it is problogger.net, a blog about how to be a professional blogger. Darren Rowse is a professional blogger who set up the site to post articles and tips about blogging. It’s a start. But there is not code of ethics listed on his site. Even the links to articles about ethics discuss one or two specific incidents, but didn’t list a code of ethics professional bloggers should follow.

Since now  “anyone can be a journalist” (Lutz, 2005) and more realistically, anyone can be a blogger, I believe all students should be educated about types of information, how the media work and why free ideas are crucial to democracy. That education should be part of the public education that students already receive, along with math, social studies and reading (Let’s not launch into a debate on how over-burdened students and teachers are today with unfunded mandates. I tend to agree. I’m simply suggesting the need to educate our youth about these topics to help fuel our society).

Education would help consumers understand the moldability of information. For example, in “The Secret Strategies Behind Many “Viral” Videos,” Dan Ackerman Greenberg confesses to manipulating search engines, RSS feeds and even bloggers to get his companies’ videos displayed more prominantly on YouTube. These “viral” videos are ads in disguise. And the article shows how easily the flow of information can be twisted for profit.

Greenberg says to get his clients’ videos on the top viewed page on YouTube, he pays bloggers to post the videos, creates forums to fabricate comments about the video, and posts the videos on people’s MySpace and Facebook pages. (Greenberg, 2007) The undefined professionalism of blogs allows this to happen. It creates the problem of “filtering,” which Cass Sunstein describes as another threat to democracy in his article “Democracy and Filtering.”

“People should be exposed to materials they would not have chosen in advance. Unanticipated encounters, involving topics and points of view we have not sought out and perhaps find irritating, are central to democracy and even to freedom itself.” (Sunstein, 2004)

Under a professional blogging model, an opinionated blogger could make an effort to have a list of links with opposing points of views, to help people navigate the Web for a variety of view points. Professional bloggers would always identify themselves and any potential conflicts of interest, such as paid content or other affiliations. Maybe they would willingly wear this T-shirt. (from the fynalcut blog.)

Some would say a professional association for bloggers wouldn’t offer them anything they can’t already get for free on the Internet. But I believe it would. The professional blogging society would create standards, reliability and credibility in this expanding media. I think with the changes we are seeing in the traditional news media, it is imperative that bloggers use their power for the good of society.

P.S. I’m collecting established ethics practices on blogging, linking to the site where it was mentioned. I have one so far. Feel free to add more if you find them!

Blogging code of ethics

1. Bloggers should disclose when they are receiving payments from individuals or organizations

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