bs143110@ohio.edu
With social media now a major part of a reporter's work day, one question must be asked: Can you add a source as a friend on Facebook or follow them on Twitter and Instagram?
The sources journalists talk to can potentially be active on social media. There's a strong chance that you could possibly interact with a particular source for many other stories down the line. Even though you constantly talk to them, is it right to add them on social media?
In my time at Ohio University, I have seen many journalists follow different athletes, leaders of organizations and organizations themselves on Twitter.
My ultimate goal in life is to be a sports writer for a major news outlet. At OU, I write about some of the sports teams to try to build my resume while I can. I have become friends with some of the students who are also looking to be sports writers, and I have seen them interact with some of the athletes from various sports on Facebook and Twitter. For that to happen, the athletes have had to potentially accept requests to talk to them. The interaction is not huge, but it's out there.
My experience
During my time at OU, I have also added athletes on Facebook and Twitter. Some of them have accepted my requests and others have not. I even follow the women's soccer coach on Twitter and he is also my Facebook friend. I can easily connect with him on both websites if I absolutely need something. At the end of last school year, I had to do a project for a class that looked at the differences in media coverage between "money" sports and "smaller" sports. I interviewed four women's soccer players and one field hockey player.
I have the phone numbers of all of those athletes. I'm not sure if it's right, but in the middle of the most recent soccer season, one of the players suffered a pretty serious injury during one of the games I was covering. I happened to interview this player for my project last year. After the game, I sent my condolences to her via text message. It's horrible to see someone you've gotten to know get injured during a game. In the end, I was happy I could be there for someone.
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| Twitter. Photo from dailygenius.com. |
Other examples
Julia Angwin, who is a journalist and an author, was in the process of deleting all of her Facebook friends on February 2013. She thinks Facebook cannot provide her with a level of privacy she commands. She wants to protect all of the sources that she uses. She also doesn't want to be shocked when she finds information about herself that she cannot control. With the way Facebook has changed over the years, she is writing a book about online privacy.
One AP reporter's official reprimand over an innocuous comment on his Facebook page sparked the ire of union officials on June 2009. They demanded the AP clarify its ethics guidelines and are also urging reporters to watch who they add as friends on Facebook. Richard Richtmyer had typed something on Facebook that he shouldn't have typed, and the 51 AP colleagues who he added on Facebook saw what he posted.
The final word
I think it's OK to add sources you know on social media as long as you are careful. Your job could be on the line if you're not careful about how you use social media. Here's a video to close things out:
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