How online journalists get ensnared by spinning webs

BEING A JOURNALIST is a tremendously interesting job. The information hunting, the writing, the influence - I enjoy every aspect of what I have to do.

There are a lot of web journalists, and 'real' journalists, for that matter, who have no formal qualifications. Perhaps like me, they stumbled into writing through something else. Print publications often have experienced chaps and chapettes at the helm to make sure everything is up to scratch and that often isn't the case with the web, meaning that lack of experience and knowledge of the trade is all too obvious. There's nowhere where this is more apparent than in journalistic ethics.

What are the pitfalls for smaller web publications? Inexperienced writers on smaller publications can be manipulated into writing articles that can easily ruin their reputation with sources, with their editors, and with experienced people in the area they're covering.

While one of the basic features of creating a news story is to contact the company you're writing about, that's not always possible. It could delay a story and mean you lose the scoop. Worse still, if the company really doesn't like the story you're writing because it's very very true, in the UK you might be faced with an injunction which the firm's lawyers have got by phoning up a judge.

Secondly, if you are leaked information, as far as possible check its validity and verifiability. Many companies will manipulate you by leaking a titbit of information that does not paint the whole picture.

The matter of vendors paying for press trips is far trickier. It's common practice in Europe for vendors to sub the price of an airticket and a hotel, but in the United States print journalists look askance at this practice. Press trips can be dangerous. A huge slab of UK fashion journalists went up in flames during a press trip to Cairo some years back. If you do accept the company's shilling or dollars, do not allow it to sway your judgement.

Trips to foreign parts can be pleasant, but your writing and opinion should not be buyable. Some journalists feel that if a company flies you somewhere, you at least owe them a good story. My feeling is that if a company flies you somewhere, it's for their commercial advantage, and compromising your integrity by writing a 'soft' story helps no one.

That opens another can of worms - the approachability and friendliness of the company. If a company is easy to work with, gets you what you need on time, and spends time making sure you understand products, strategy and technologies, that will inevitably going to create a feel-good factor about the company that could shine through in reviews or news articles. So too a company that is a pain in the ass to deal with and gives you constant grief is likely to see some of that negativity come through in any piece written about them. Whether or not this should be the case is a matter of debate. I've seen some journalists justify the situation as a simple matter of human nature - you will help out people that help you out - and I've seen some journalists damn the idea to hell. Equally, I've seen many print journalists put on their 'professionalism' hat and damn the idea, but turn around and write nice things about their favourite company the next day. The bottom line is that a journalist should treat everyone he interacts with fairly.

Be in it for the long haul. There is so much competition when it comes to hardware sites that many writers will sell their soul, presuming they have one, to get an exclusive. In the short run, the exclusive may boost your traffic and create something of a buzz. In the long term, there are two possible outcomes. Firstly, the exclusive story you wrote was bang on the nail and you look brilliant. The alternate is that the exclusive was fed to you to get good coverage where none should have really existed. This can lead to you looking stupid when everyone else comes to a different conclusion.

In the final analysis, trust no one. A spinner's job is to get good coverage for her or his firm. You can forget any notion of trust or sensibility - they will feed you the sugar-coated version of the facts to give you the picture they want you to have so that you will write nice things the way they want you to. Never trust anything that anyone says to you, because there are too many unscrupulous people out there. Before you even think of putting finger to keyboard, check and check again, unless you want to look like an idiot. Spinners and journalists play by different rules. Cutting off companies, manipulating words and quotes and people make for bad journalism. On the other hand, cutting off journalists, manipulating words and quotes and people can often make a good spinner. The battleground is hopelessly unfair, but the ultimate advantage that journalists have is that they are needed, even if sometimes they're not wanted.

By maintaining a good reputation and working on your craft you will get a top job where you wield influence, and the misery that a spinner made your life in the past will sure as hell come back to bite him or her on the ass in the future. You may have to live with short to medium term hassle when you're working your way up the ladder, but by maintaining credibility and trusting no-one you do better in the long run.

Generally, these precepts have served me pretty well. The crucial thing about being a journalist is reputation, because without reputation you are nothing. Selling out for short-term gain won't get you anywhere because credibility is everything. There will always be stories you write that companies don't like, and there will always be friction. However, if you know you've done a good job and written a fair story that is underpinned by a definite ethical code, you can stand by your story and flip off anyone that says otherwise.

There are some interesting examples of how this can work in practice. I was recently invited to look at some PCI Express hardware to evaluate, but I could only see the hardware for a short space of time. There wasn't enough time for me to build a fresh PCI Express system but this was no problem, I was assured by the spinner in question, because I could use his system.

Now, this immediately set off some alarm bells in my head. The spinner was being nice to me in offering me this opportunity, and I wanted to take advantage of it. However, using somebody else's system to run numbers on? Who knows what's been done to the system, what hardware has been tweaked and what the Windows install is doing? The chances are nothing at all, but do you really know that? And while such an "exclusive" would be great in the short term, if the system is doctored, my long-term reputation is out of the window. The result - I passed on an opportunity for a good story, but I have avoided any potential for damage to my credibility.

Here's another example. Recently I had some numbers leaked to me about the market share of some companies. One company rang me up and offered me the numbers. Great, a chance for an exclusive. But I used my journalistic principles to check, check and check again. I phoned the other companies involved in the market who each gave me their spin on the situation. Faced with so much conflicting spin I was getting dizzy. I evaluated the situation and then penned the story. I ended up pissing off all the companies involved because I didn't follow any one company's line, but it was, in the opinion of a certain few key people, the best story on the subject out there. I followed all the rules, I am certain that my story was valid, and I can flip off anyone that says otherwise. Bingo.

Will those companies make my life more difficult in the future for going against their opinions? Sure as hell they will, but that short-term hassle is worth the long-term reputation you will build as a fair journalist.

It's an awkward situation, because in a world where getting results is all that matters to spinners, good journalism is often undervalued. But, come the great day, Citizen, they will be first against the wall. µ

L'INQS
European Codes of Journalism
Ethical guidelines for PRs NUJ
NUJ code of conduct
Intel's Guide to the European Press
Ethics and Credibility in Online Journalism
Media Ethics Online
San Francisco State University Journalism ethics