Private Blogging, Public Lives
Linda Mason, who PE readers know by now as the senior vice president for standards and special projects at CBS News, yesterday informed CBS News employees of the network's rules concerning personal blogging. Mason, who is updating and overseeing the network's standards sends out reminders and updates from time to time. Yesterday's caught our eye because, well, it concerns blogging. Here's what Mason advised:
"In this time of the exponential growth of blogs, there are CBS News employees who are creating and maintaining personal blogs. Before any such blog is created, the SVP of Standards must be informed and must approve the blog . For those of you who are already in the blogosphere, you must contact the SVP of Standards. There can be no messages or information posted on these blogs that is potentially damaging to CBS News if made public."Outside blogging by journalists, and employees of other industries, has been a point of contention in the past and some bloggers have lost their jobs, even when operating anonymously. And certainly there is a responsibility for those in the media to take care with perceptions, but how easily are blogs policed? Should people, even those in the media, have the freedom to blog about what they would like?