Tangled Ethics: Social Media and Sports Media. Presentation at Poynter Kent State Media Ethics Workshop, September 2011.

1. Tangled Ethics:
Social Media and Sports Media
Poynter Kent State Media Ethics Workshop
Presented by Steve Fox, University of Massachusetts
September, 2011

5. State of Journalism
In 2009 Twitter and other social media emerged as
powerful tools for disseminating information and
mobilizing citizens such as evading the censors in Iran
and communicating from the earthquake disaster zone in
Haiti.
The majority of Internet users (59%) now use some kind
of social media, including Twitter, blogging and
networking sites.
-- Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism

6. Online Roundups Aggregation
Opinion Informed Analysis
Long text Microblogging
Outliers in PJs Mainstream

7. The game story is obsolete
The score is in the air
The daily scoop is tough to get
Tough to break news in traditional formats
New workflow involves multiple platforms

11.  Connections matter, not
platforms
 Journalists need to be
platform-agnostic
 All platforms working
together as one

12. Perceptions: Don’t be a dumbass.
You are ALWAYS representing your news organization
Just because you can hit the publish button….

13. One of the many misperceptions of tweeters is that they
don’t report.
As a journalist, Twitter is a tool.
You’re reading, researching and, in many cases,
interviewing for your Tweets.
Don’t take shortcuts. Link out and attribute often.
 Practice journalism, not plagiarism.

14. You’re fighting the image of the ranter. So, don’t.
Use Facebook, Twitter to pass along links to your
blog/written work.
Providing a thoughtful, credible series of tweets will help
create an audience that will follow you for your expertise
and perspective.
Respect your audience.
Watch fort typos and errors and avoid text-ese.

15. 
Consider a series tweets on a topic.
One way to get readers to come back while keeping
entries short.

16.  Old newspaper
construct: Reporters
write stories; editors
write headlines.
 Bloggers write headlines
for audience & search
engines.
 SEO: Specifics in your
headlines help search
engines access content.
 Make your headline work
for you: Cover ground
that draws the reader in.

17.  Don’t just set up your
blog and let it sit.
 A successful blog, like a
garden, needs tending.
 Your audience is not
going to just show up.
Find time to blog and do
it.
 Incorporate pictures,
video, audio, polls.
 Read and comment on
other blogs.

18.  Respond to comments
from your audience.
 Not all the comments
you get will be nice.
 Warning: Thick skin
needed.
 Never respond to snark
with snark.
 Have a discussion, not a
shouting match.

20. A Change of Direction
 Journalism is no longer a lecture – more like an ongoing,
developing conversation.
 Blogs, message boards, online discussions have created a two-
way information highway for journalists.
 The “group formerly known as the audience” is creating
information through wikis and user-generated content.
 It’s far easier for people to communicate from places previously
unimaginable. (ie: tsunami coverage.)