TV News: Watch What You Write…
BiB Contributor | Anonymous News Director
As exciting as social media is, it never ceases to amaze me how naïve many of us are. In the past month, I had a conversation with an anchor who took it upon himself to criticize station management for being “cheap.” The news came out on Twitter.
The anchor was flummoxed. He couldn’t believe I had intercepted his “tweet.” Further, he couldn’t understand why his action breached professional etiquette.
“It’s my professional Twitter page. This really freaks me out!” He said. I wasn’t spying on him or inspecting his tweets. I just happened to see his “tweet” on a timeline that was fired off to all of the anchor’s followers.
While we are entitled to our opinions, we should never broadcast anything online that we don’t want the world to see. Even if we are extra vigilant about our privacy settings, keep in mind there is a way to find any information we put online.
The other issue that came up during my discussion was “reasonable expectations of privacy.” What you do on your own time is your business; however, any initiative (such as social media) that has ties to your place of employment is fair game for scrutiny. If you meant to criticize, fine. However, if your criticism is aired without the proper perspective, you can expect a tap on your shoulder. Be prepared to back up your statements. And, depending on what you said, be prepared to look for another place of employment.
These words may seem harsh, but they are reality. A number of articles have recently surfaced in which employees were fired because of something they put online. And in almost each of these cases, the employees thought their comments were private.
The bottom line is social media has redefined newsgathering and dissemination. The digital platform gives people new power. However, with power comes responsibility. Learn to use it wisely, and the sky’s the limit as to what you can accomplish.
