{"id":12413,"date":"2017-10-19T06:08:00","date_gmt":"2017-10-19T06:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mathewingram.com\/work\/?p=12413"},"modified":"2017-10-19T06:08:00","modified_gmt":"2017-10-19T06:08:00","slug":"publishers-are-shooting-themselves-in-the-foot-with-restrictive-social-media-policies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mathewingram.com\/work\/2017\/10\/19\/publishers-are-shooting-themselves-in-the-foot-with-restrictive-social-media-policies\/","title":{"rendered":"Publishers are shooting themselves in the foot with restrictive social-media policies"},"content":{"rendered":"

The relationship between media outlets and social platforms like Twitter has always been a tense one. On some level, publishers know they have to be there, because that’s where the news happens, and it’s also where their content gets shared\u2014<\/span>but at the same time, they are afraid of what might happen if reporters and editors speak their minds.<\/p>\n

The New York Times<\/em> waded back into this particular swamp when it introduced an update<\/a> to its social-media guidelines, and reinforced the fact that its staff are not to express any “partisan opinion” on any social platform. The Times<\/em> also noted that while reporters might be using these accounts on their personal time, anything said on them is the purview of the paper because of their association with it.<\/p>\n

Not to be outdone, the Wall Street Journal<\/em> also released an update to its social-media policy this week. It reiterated the existing prohibition against “posting partisan comments on social networking sites,” and added that the paper’s management believes that some reporters and editors “are spending too much time tweeting.”<\/p>\n

The impetus for these statements is hardly a mystery. The Times<\/em> has come under fire (from the president and others) for being anti-Trump, and the paper’s editors are no doubt hoping to mitigate some of that by preventing reporters from tweeting anti-Trump diatribes. The Journal<\/em>, meanwhile, has been criticized for being pro-Trump<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In other words, these new policies amount to an attempt at damage control. The Times<\/em> guidelines say tweets that editorialize on the news “undercut the credibility of the entire newsroom,” and the Journal<\/em>‘s statement says such behavior “erodes the hard-won trust of our readers.” Everyone must be scrupulously objective, or at least appear that way.<\/p>\n

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NYT's new social media rules, like many of its policies, start from the idea that it's important to hide reporters' true views from readers.<\/p>\n

— Nick Baumann (@NickBaumann) October 13, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n