Bloggers must meet same standards of ethics as traditional journalists

With the proliferation of blogs on the Internet, decisions from the courts about who should have protection as the press under the First Amendment have vacillated or been unclear at times, yet they offer warning that publishing falsehoods can open up the potential for lawsuits, even as the courts continue to sort out decisions regarding guidelines writers must meet to be offered freedom of the press protection.



Federal Judge Marco Hernandez of Oregon ruled in 2012 that Crystal Cox, a blogger, was not entitled to media protection through the shield laws of Oregon given the press, leaving her vulnerable to a jury finding her guilty of libel. This issue, when it first came to light in 2011 with the lawsuit, seemed to open the door to denying bloggers media protection under the First Amendment and for future lawsuits against other bloggers.

At the time of this decision, the debates about freedom of the press hit the blogosphere, with anger spilling out of sites across the Internet.  Most of this came about through a lack of understanding of Hernandez decision, as he did not say all bloggers are not journalists but that Crystal Cox is not one.

Cox had opened up approximately 2000 websites referencing different companies.  She was said to have defamed one of these companies in such a way that Attorney Kevin Padrick of Oregon filed a lawsuit against her referencing the website she had created called obsidianfinancesucks.com.  She called the senior principal of Obsidian Finance, LLC a "thug" and a "thief" and made strong accusations about the firm committing financial wrongdoing.  But the court discovered, during its examination of the facts, that Cox had approached Obsidian with her PR service, offering for a fee of $2500 to fix the problems she had actually caused.

Early this year a different decision was rendered, and this time the decision was that bloggers have the same rights of free speech that journalists have, but it also means they are held to the same standards that include not maliciously spreading falsehoods.  It now means writers like Cox must prove she did not know her comments were false at the time they were made. According to the court's opinion, Cox has a history of making allegations of fraud and other illegal activities "and seeking payoffs in exchange for retraction."

Some bloggers often state their presumption that finding the truth is more important than the means used in finding it. There is often a willingness to say too much without contemplation of consequences. Too often criticism becomes a virtual character assassination that allows people not just to criticize but to literally tear apart institutions and individuals with impunity. These are the concerns brought about by legal decisions that hold journalism as a profession with a knowledge foundation. The biggest part of that foundation comes from the ethical discussions of what to print and what not to print as part of journalism training. Another part of the foundation is the presumption of a well-rounded education that helps foster critical thinking and subject matter information related to history, current affairs, science and other subjects that are often tied to news stories.



Many citizen journal sites, such as Digital Journal and Yahoo Voices make some effort to train people in quality writing and offer editing to correct spelling, grammar and other details. Often, however, the writer of the article becomes involved in the comment discussions, which places that writer in the same arena as the readers who may offer more opinions than facts. When a factual account is presented that counters preconceived ideas of certain groups, the writer is forced to defend those facts over and over again which can make those facts appear more and more like opinions. In the world of journalism training, the writer offers the material as a standalone product, allowing readers to sort through the facts to develop opinions as opposed to debating them with everyone else. This produces a shaky ground for the blogger, or citizen journalist,with unfounded or prejudicial facts, without the training and expertise to examine the ethics of printing those facts in the first place.



The openness of the Internet has allowed anyone and everyone the opportunity to write information. Too often blogs have no contact information or a complex set of rules that make it difficult to establish dialogue when information is refutable or clearly wrong. It also offers an arena for plagiarism when whole articles are lifted, or large sections out of context, and there is no contact information. At the same time, many bloggers have special skills and knowledge that can aid in the development of news stories.



Pairing citizen journalists with professional journalists has worked well for traditional newspapers and newspaper – blogs that are hybrid media outlets designed to facilitate writing in the easier blog-style format and the traditional news writing style. The Huffington Post has succeeded in offering an array of writers on various topics along with news stories in the manner of mainstream media.



While bloggers often uncover information before the mainstream press, just as often that information may be presumptive or premature, in the rush to be the first and the one to reach the higher readership to bring the bucks to the blogger. Citizen journalists are paid by page views, most often; so the interest is in the numbers that can make the difference in where their stories are placed on the page and how much they earn. Mainstream journalists are either salaried or paid by the piece, so that page views are less relevant than offering quality material. As the lines blur, and the news information proliferates through many sources, the competition increases and spills over into quality vs quantity issues with respect to article length and number of articles produced for any given publication as well as the orientation and type of features or news. Competition and search engine requirements also mean writers of all stripes must seek to use certain keywords and ideas in certain ways in order to promote the material. Social media becomes the avenue of communicating what topics and titles are available on any given site. This can often mean writing what the reader wants to read or hear as opposed to offering what the customer needs.



The conflict in general in the news industry has much to do with that conflict between what the reader wants and what he or she needs. The blogger is seen as favoring the former, and the journalist the latter. It means sensation-seeking individuals find what appeals in the most high-profile fashion sometimes at the expense of factual material that may not “fit” the attitudes of the target audience.  Those are some of the risks involved with the freedom of the press opportunities that make it difficult to discern what is fact from fiction and the well-researched article vs. one that is made up out of whole cloth with just enough substance to skim through the court doctrines on the First Amendment rights.



Those who favor offering the protection of press freedom to anyone who writes and publishes material open up that proverbial can of worms, because as the protection for the writer may be valuable, the protection of the community as a whole, may be jeopardized as anyone writing anything can mean more confusion than knowledge and more entertainment than information.  The counter argument, however, is that the press is more than a handful of people who go to school at a University and take a series of classes to prove their capability in writing news material.



In fact, as reflected by the commentators on Fox News and CNN, entertainment is often the orientation of the press, both alternative and traditional, as people continue to differ on what constitutes news in the first place and who should relate it as well. Sometime politicians and preachers, along with lawyers and comedians, have entered the news business, along with bloggers, some of whom, after a short citizen journal experience, offer themselves as having the same rights as traditional journalists. This minimizes the profession of journalism, even as the responsibilities for accuracy in reporting increase with the serious issues of the day. It remains a dilemma that has ignited debate, while more and more people enter the journalism business, given the open door that presently exists. On the other hand, those who lack training and/or relevant experience and maintain the blogger role may find themselves having to learn the ethical standards that provide safeguards when facts are wrong and people are hurt as a result.