Its Tuesday night and I am watching TV, I have spent the time between my shows, to do on again off again research on “Blogger Ethics” . Most posts I have found center around the new FTC rules around disclosure and blogging. They debate the need for transparency and the potential for abuse of power the blogosphere has in influencing consumer buying and the absurdity of the FTC requirement.
Although I am a Canadian, the servers that host this blog are in the USA and therefore this blog does fall under US law. I currently have a disclosure statement that addresses this legal requirement:
This blog is not primarily financially driven. If it were, I would have advertising and try sell stuff.
That said, beginning December 1, 2009, the FTC requires bloggers to provide disclosures whenever there could be hidden interests or unspoken biases related to recommendations.
If I interview someone and they grab the bill for lunch, I would need to specify this, as I would if I use an Amazon link that gets me 8 cents instead of an Amazon link that gets me 0 cents. If someone gives me a comfy t-shirt with a logo and I wear it in a photo, ditto. Disclaimers all over.
This would be tedious for me and a continual eye sore for readers. But the law is the law.
To cover my ass and preserve your reading experience, please assume that, for every recommendation, link, and product mentioned on this blog, the following all hold true:
- Blogger got fed
- Blogger got some sweat gadgets
- Blogger got some cash
- Blogger got schwag
- Blogger got stock options
It is rather humorous in nature and was borrowed liberally from Tim Ferriss’s 4hourblog.com disclosure statement. Although it does address a form of professional ethics and the legal necessities required by the FTC, it falls far short of being a statement of ‘Blogging Integrity’.
Blogging Integrity
Ethical integrity in blogging became the focus of my Google search. I was pleased to find a fantastic read on Weblog Ethics on rebecca’s pocket. This post was written in 2002 and predates what has become the blogosphere as we know it today. Which indicates that Rebecca had accurately predicted the “values” that would be prized in this new medium back in 2002. In her post she outlines six primary tenants for the ethical blogger:
- Publish as fact only that which you believe to be true.
- If material exists online, link to it when you reference it.
- Publicly correct any misinformation.
- Write each entry as if it could not be changed; add to, but do not rewrite or delete, any entry.
- Disclose any conflict of interest.
- Note questionable and biased sources.
Doing some further research I believe that Rebecca’s original tenants seem to me to be the basis of many a ‘Blogger Code of Ethics’ statements.
Sample Blogger Code Of Ethics
- I will tell the truth.
- I will write deliberately and with accuracy.
- I will acknowledge and correct mistakes promptly.
- I will preserve the original post, using notations to show where I have made changes so as to maintain the integrity of my publishing.
- I will never delete a post.
- I will not delete comments unless they are spam or off-topic.
- I will reply to emails and comments when appropriate, and do so promptly.
- I will strive for high quality with every post – including basic spellchecking.
- I will stay on topic.
- I will disagree with other opinions respectfully.
- I will link to online references and original source materials directly.
- I will disclose conflicts of interest.
- I will keep private issues and topics private, since discussing private issues would jeopardize my personal and work relationships.
Originally from the Forrester Best Practices report, Blogging: Bubble Or Big Deal: When And How Businesses Should Use Blogs.
What is Missing
I discovered this small post on the Web Strategist Blog that had a large impact on my perspective of the effect a blog post could have on non-participants of the internet. I had never previously considered the impact about mentioning someone by name in my blog that is not an active participant in the internet. Many people use the internet (consume information) but relatively speaking dramatically fewer people have active internet presences.
Today over lunch, I told my friends I’m careful not to blog about folks that might not already be on the web. What I say about them can quickly find it’s way up search results, impacting their personal brand. The same goes to companies that do wrong, a blogger with incredible page rank can quickly destroy a search marketing program. I blogged about him using his first and last name a while ago, and it’s the top search result in Google. Since employers are known for doing Google searches for new employees, this is power I must yield carefully.
As a result of reading this post, I have resolved never to mention anyone in my blog who does not have an active presence on the internet. I would hate to inadvertently hurt anyone’s career through my words potentially taken out of proper context coupled with the fact that my perspectives (spin) maybe the only one showing up on Google. That would not be fair or balanced and does no proper service to anyone.
Call to Action
Over the coming days I am going to write a statement of ethics accessible from the footer menu of this blog for all visitors to see. My statement will incorporate everything I have learned from my research today. Before writing it, I will re-read pertinent sections on the the best practices of opinion journalism found within the The Elements of Journalism (speaking of FTC disclosure, that is an affiliate link to Amazon.com) to put me in the right frame of mind.
I also will rewrite my disclosure statement to something more akin to David Weinberger’s blog disclosure.
I think every ethical blogger should publish a statement of ethical conduct in some shape or form on their blog beyond what has been currently mandated by the FTC.
photo credit: Let Ideas Compete
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