User:Amandadivito


 * - Amanda Di Vito

Social Media and The Question of Accountability

Background
According to Wikipedia, Social Media refers to the use of web-based and mobile technologies to turn communication into an interactive dialogue. Examples of social media include, online blogs, online newspapers, podcasts, email, and social networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter. Social media is used by many people for different reasons such as business, communication, entertainement and the sharing of information. From 1971- 2011, social media has made great advances in all areas from email to social networking and online news. Social media continues to grow and develop within every aspect of today’s culture.

According to Wikpiedia, Accountability refers to is the concept in ethics and governance with several meanings. It is often used synonymously with such concepts as responsibility,[1] answerability, blameworthiness, liability, and other terms associated with the expectation of account-giving. Accountability works together with social media in terms of deciding who should be held accountable for the information relayed to the public. Journalistic accountability refers to the question if journalists should be held accountable for what they produce. It should mean that journalists should be held 100% accountable for the work they produce.

Idea:
According to old standards, journalists must follow a code of norms when writing their articles or producing news. With the development of social media, these norms seem to be disappearing and social media has become something than anyone can engage in and share stories. It looks like there have been some implication of rules of accountability for new social media just as there are rules for old forms of portraying news. By having rules for new social media, accountability by social media is possible.

Old Rules For Journalists
On CAJ - The Canadian Association of Journalists, there are two lists: Ethic guidelines and Princples for Ethical Journalism. These lists state the rules for ethical journalism in print in sections that include accuracy, fairness, privacy, independence and diversity are some examples. (link in website) I am going to discuss these rules and how journalists must abide by these when writing an article or producing a story. I will talk about the idea of having a set page of rules for journalists to follow so that they are held accountable for their work.

New Rules For Social Media
In this section, I will use the CAJ website again and talk about the issue of how CAJ had to revise these two lists of ethical principles for journalist work because of the issue of social media. They have now included digital media sections in the lists and have taken into account news that is put up on websites such as Facebook. For these new forms of social media, the CAJ have made specific changes to the old ways of doing things to accommodate the changing ways of how news is produced. They stress how accuracy and truth remain a constant main goal when social media is constantly trying to disseminate the news. A trend of companies beginning to follow and revise their guidelines has been seen but at the same time some companies have not take the accountability of social media into concern and have not revised their guildelines.

Embracing the Change
Discuss idea of a company such as CBC who is embracing the change to social media. I am going to discuss their old rules for accountability versus their new rules for social media. I will use the actuall documents of their rules and mission statements to make this section more credible. I will evaluate how they have made the change to social media and the steps they are taking to receive accountability for their new forms of social media.

Refusing the Change
Discuss the idea of a company such as the Globe and Mail that are taking steps away from the developing social media world to promote their newspaper. I will talk about how they have produced glossy paged newspapers to promote the reading of their paper. They believe that people want to read high quality newspapers and the glossy paper makes for a more attractive read. The truth is, people want their news fast, easy and simple and looking through a newspaper may not be the most efficient way anymore when there are new forms of social media such as internet newspapers that are faster and easier to get to. The Globe and Mail is refusing the change of social media by not taking part in the movement. They are relying on glossy pages to promote their newspaper. They also have not revised their journalistic accountability guidelines in part of not taking part of the social media movement.

Counter View
In this section, I will discuss the idea that bloggers are a large part of developing social media but are not bound by guidelines like journalists that work for CBC are. The question that arises here is should these bloggers have guidelines? Example of Kinsella: he gets more hits per day than some news articles. Should he have guidelines for his blog? Should he be accountable for his work even though he doesn’t follow any guidelines? I will discuss how some organizations such as The Society of Professional Journlists have revised the guidelines for Professional Journalists to suit online bloggers. I will discuss how online bloggers should have a code to follow whether they are professional journalists or just casual bloggers. I will support my argument with the fact that if they are able to put information out into the open they should be held credible for what they are producing and should follow the guidelines.

Benefits of Companies Adopting New Social Media Guidelines
This section will be based on my opinion that having new social media guidelines is a good idea. It is a way of bringing in the new and still keeping the traditions of the old that people are used to. It is a way to keep things in order and fair for all. I will also support the idea of online bloggers having guidelines. By revising old guidelines to fit the changing norms of today’s society, accountability by social media is possible. There will be a set way of doing things that everyone must follow and this will create trust for the readers of new social media.