Is it time for a new code of ethics for citizen journalists and bloggers?

Quesiton: Do we need a new journalistic code of ethics?

Jeff Jarvis: A code of ethics doesn’t solve anything. It might be a guide, but at the end of the day, individuals have to make their own ethical decisions every time they face a question and a quandary. 

I have had editors who’ve stood by me and defended me when I pissed off somebody in the company, and I’ve also had editors who’ve come after me and said ,“Oh you can’t do that because it’s gonna piss off somebody.” And no code was going to deal with that. 

I think that I’ve learned new ethics in the blog world online. Now it’s not to say that they’re better and it’s not to say that I reject the ethics of journalism that I learned before, I don’t, I teach them.  But I’ve learned an ethic of transparency online. And on my blog now, I tell the stock I own and who I vote for and all kinds of things, things that I wouldn’t have done back in the days when I was a full time reporter, but I think are very important now. 

So I’ve learned an ethic of transparency, I’ve learned a new ethic of the correction.  On blogs if we make a mistake, we don’t erase it, we cross it out, we fess up, we admit it was there and if we don’t do that very quickly, we’re going to lose credibility. 

I’ve learned an ethic of openness and collaboration.  When I’m working on a story, I’m working on an idea, I ask my readers to help me and they are very generous if I just ask.  Those are new ethics that I’ve learned online that I think old media can learn from. 

At the same time, there are ethics of the old world that live forever, that are immutable, fairness, accuracy, balance, not objectivity but I think those are things that we can do a better job of helping to teach from old media from our experience.

Recorded on: April 30, 2008