Journalism in a 247 World: Decisionmaking for the Online Editor:

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Decision-making on Deadline From Good, Bad
Ugly to Better, Faster, Easier

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Journalism Ethics The Basics

• Almost all acts of publishing hold consequences
  for stakeholders beyond the publisher
• Ethical decision-making in brief
• Clarifying the principles you stand for
• Identifying the stakeholders
• Considering at least three alternatives
• Understanding potential consequences to
  stakeholders
• Choosing one of the alternatives
• Explaining and justifying your decision

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A focus for online decision-making

• Maximizing clicks, minimizing harm

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In other words, to paraphrase HeatherTheyll
click on it, but will they respect you in the
morning?

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Goals for the session

• Outline a decision-making strategy for
  verification
• Outline a decision-making strategy for
  conversation
• Leave the session as a more effective leader of
  each

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Strategy as Opposed to Rules

• Green light as opposed to red light ethics
• More about adding content than pruning it
• Without enterprising strategies, were doomed to
  playing catch-up, scrambling reactively

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Specifics

• Background on related issues
• Why focus on verification and conversation?
• Key elements in making decisions on deadline
• Break into six groups (20 min)
• three groups develop strategy for verification
• three groups develop strategy for conversation
• Discussion of what weve come up with (20 min)

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Quick Background

• August 2006 Poynter Conference End of the Ad
  Hoc Era for Journalists on Deadline
• May 2007 Poynter Online Series
• Dialog or Diatribe?
• September 2007 Poynter ConferenceFocus on
  Dialog

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Critical Areas/Tensions

• Assertions
• Web Reporting, Commentary, Voice Tone
• The Role of Journalism in the Digital Age
• Credibility Accuracy, Transparency
  Multimedia
• Workplace Issues Speed, Thoroughness Capacity
• User-Generated Content
• Linking
• Wiki for All of the Above

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Ten Critical Areas/Tensions

• Revenue and Content
• Community Generated Content
• Reporter as Commentator
• Credibility, Accuracy
• Speed vs. Thoroughness
• Transparency
• Multimedia and Manipulation
• Voice, Tone and Attitude
• Workflow and Staffing Challenges
• Journalisms Role Watchdog vs. Corporate
• What else?

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Why verification?

• Its something people (and society) need
• Its something news organizations can do well
• Its an area of growth as opposed to decline

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About Verification

• There can be no liberty for a community which
  lacks the information by which to detect lies.
• -- Walter Lippman, Liberty and the News, 1920
• Great resource on the discipline of verification
• The Elements of Journalism, by Bill Kovach and
  Tom Rosenstiel

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Consumer need for verification

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Verification Needed
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In Search of Verification
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Verification (without conversation)
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Verification Challenges

• More reporting from unverified sources, e.g.
  user-submitted video, audio, images, claims
• Difficulty of detecting manipulation and
  deception, especially in multimedia content from
  uncertain sources
• Privacy, other issues linked to content posted to
  MySpace, Facebook, similar sites
• Others challenges?

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Verification Resources

• Conversations in advance (what to do about
  comments on MySpace, etc.)
• Technical tools in place In Photoshop, see File
  Info to check date, camera, etc.
• Colleagues on call Someone capable of zooming in
  and checking for similar pixel patterns, etc.
• What else?

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Why conversation?

• Its something people and society need
• Its NOT something news orgs do well
• Its an area of growth as opposed to decline

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About Conversation

• A dialogue is any conversation animated by a
  search for understanding rather than for
  agreements or solutions. It is not debate, and it
  is not mediation.
• -- Public Conversations Project

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Orange County Register

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What to use police video, tough comments?
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(No Transcript)
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Tallahassee Democrat
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Conversation in search of verification
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Conversation challenges

• Balancing competing principles, e.g. unfettered
  vs. civil discussion
• Messy pursuit of facts
• Differing standards among users, publishers
• Organizations lack of experience, training in
  leading conversations
• What else?

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Conversation Tips/Resources

• Enlist (and train) colleagues to help lead the
  conversation
• Enlist (and train) users to help lead the
  conversation
• Bozo Filters
• Incorporate the conversation into the story form
• Pose specific, open-ended questions in the story
• Replace one-to-one (e-mail addresses of staff at
  bottom of story) with many-to-many (comments)

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Conversation Tips, Resources

• Encourage fact-based conversation (enable links
  in feedback areas)
• Create personal profile pages for users and staff
  that include links to earlier comments, articles
• Enabling users to vote comments off the island
• Decide what you regard as
• Preferred
• Permitted
• Prohibited

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Dimensions of a Decision-making Strategy

• Guiding Principles
• A Process that Gets You to a Good Decision
• Resources, esp. Those Getting You to the Facts

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Examples of Guiding Principles(handouts)

• Seek Truth and Report it as Fully as Possible
• Act Independently
• Minimize Harm
• Display Transparency
• Demonstrate Accountability
• What else?

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A Process ASNE/Poynter Ethics Tool
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A Process Poynter/ASNE Ethics Tool(handouts)

• Define the goal
• Gather facts
• Know your purpose
• Consider principles
• Name the main ones
• ID stakeholders
• Generate options (at least three)
• Evaluate options
• Make a choice
• Test your thinking and explain your choice in
  writing

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A process Steeles Ten Questions(handouts)

• What do I know? What do I need to know?
• What is my journalistic purpose?
• What are my ethical concerns?
• What policies/guidelines to consider?
• How can I include others in decision-making?
• Who are the stakeholders? Their motivations?
• What if I were in shoes of various stakeholders?
• Possible consequences of our decisions?
• Alternatives in maximizing truth minimizing
  harm?
• How can I justify decision to stakeholders,
  public, colleagues?

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The Disciplines of Verification and Conversation
(discussion in groups 20 minutes)

• In light of our discussion, how might you revise
  the principles guidelines you rely on now?
• How might you engage colleagues and audience in
  improving your organizations decision-making
  process in these areas?
• Groups A,B, C Verification 20 minutes
• Group D, E, F Conversation 20 minutes

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Assignment for Each Group --Groups A,B and C
VerificationGroups D,E and F Conversation

• Guiding principles for decision-making about
  verification/conversation
• A process for decision-making about
  verification/conversation
• Resources/tools to help make better decisions in
  these areas