We need a new amendment: Freedom of the Tweet
Image via CrunchBase
ESPN has joined the ranks of news organizations putting handcuffs on their journalists when it comes to Twitter and other social networking sites, reports the New York Times:
Soon after ESPN issued 12 guidelines to its employees about social networking on Tuesday, Ric Bucher, one of its N.B.A. writers and analysts, wrote on Twitter, “The hammer just came down, tweeps: ESPN memo prohibiting tweeting info unless it serves ESPN.”
He then added, “My guess is I can still tweet about my vacation/car shopping, etc.” …
The guidelines say that on-air talent, reporters and writers are prohibited from having sports-related blogs or Web sites and that they will need a supervisor’s approval to discuss sports on any social networking sites. They will also be restricted from discussing internal policies or detailing how stories are “reported, written, edited or produced.”
News organizations don’t know how to handle Twitter. It’s another publishing platform and they fear that they’re losing “proprietary work” when their journalists tweet there. And then of course, there’s the possibility of a journalist inadvertently spoiling a scoop.
At the same time, it seems silly to me that the mainstream media are making it a habit to censor information flows. It’s antithetical to the journalistic mission. Plus, we journalists create audiences and excitement about stories by tweeting, status updating, and blogging. I would argue (again) that this is the kind of thinking that is actually “killing journalism.”
(Thanks for sending, Jon Pessah.)
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I agree with you comments wholeheartedly, particularly about creating excitement and an audience. I follow a lot of the ESPN guys and they give little nuggets of reporting that simultaneously are fun for the reader and harmless to divulge. ESPN is way off base. For more on my thoughts check out my blog post, “ESPN To Employees: Stop Tweeting You Twerps!” http://carrasquillo.wordpress.com/
ESPN has really had an advantage in Twitterville, because so many of their reporters are on there–people love corresponding with them (using the @ symbol so we all wind up seeing the tweets). I think the problem comes in trying to control what information is shared. I’ve gotta imagine they will allow Tweeting again once they have established some guidelines for them, a way to monitor what’s being said (besides just “following” them, and feel more comfortable with the medium. I hope, anyway. But I think the NFL should totally crack down and ban it entirely during games. There’ll be too much attention-seeking during games!