Should bloggers follow rules?
The News & Observer has a big Sunday package that asks “Should bloggers have a code of ethics to follow?”
It includes essays by Anton Zuiker and Ruby Sinreich as well as brief profiles of some Triangle bloggers.
Anton writes:
… we haven’t agreed on a blogger code of ethics, and we never will. That’s because anyone can be a blogger, and a blogger can be anyone. In America, we don’t require artists or novelists or songwriters or talk show hosts or cell phone conversationalists to swear on a code of ethics for their chosen medium of expression. Don’t think that bloggers will be the first.
I think Anton’s got it right: Blogging by itself is a form of expression. Use it for journalism and maybe you should follow something like a journalist’s code of ethics. Or maybe you could adopt some basic principles, as Jeff Jarvis has.