In this morning’s Washington Post, Ombudsman Andrew Alexander explains how on Friday, a joke Tweet posted by sports columnist Mike Wise resulted in a 30-day suspension from the paper.
According to Alexander, “Wise said he had it on “good authority” that Roethlisberger’s suspension would be reduced to five games. He said he planned to publish it to his Twitter account as an experiment to show how unverified information often is picked up and spread online. Soon, he tweeted: “Roethlisberger will get five games, I’m told.”
Several news outlets, as Wise predicted, picked up the story.
Within hours, Wise apologized via Twitter for his joke.
Mike Wise's tweets on Aug. 30 after his fictional tweet about Rothlisberger's suspension.
Alexander explains the Post‘s reasoning behind the suspension:
But The Post’s internal rules say explicitly that when using social media, “we must remember that Washington Post journalists are always Washington Post journalists.”
Further: “Post journalists must recognize that any content associated with them in an online social network is, for practical purposes, the equivalent of what appears beneath their bylines in the newspaper or our Web site.”
For journalists operating in today’s multimedia world, there’s no excuse for a lack of awareness about the risks and responsibilities of social media. It’s a topic of endless discussion in the industry and at The Post. The fact that Wise’s “experiment” was somewhat premeditated only underscores his bad judgment.
But at its core, what Wise did isn’t about social media. It’s about fabrication, which is indefensible, even if done in jest. Our business is truth. A journalist’s falsehood on Twitter is the same as a falsehood in the paper.
So here are some things to think about.
- Is a columnist held to the same standards as other reporters in the newsroom? They have more liberty with their writing and many, especially sports columnists, are liked by readers for their opinions and personality. Was Wise playing to his audience or being careless with the credibility bestowed upon him as a Post employee?
- How does this compare with former Post blogger Dave Weigel, who resigned after posts on JournoList were leaked to the media?
- The Washington Post created a strict social media policy a year ago. When it went out, it was heavily criticized for not embracing new media and the changing world.
- And what about the news outlets who took Wise’s Tweet as fact? Are they blameless in this?
That’s a lot to think about and something we should discuss on Wednesday. I’m not going to tell you what to think about this, but this incident is an excellent example of how new media and old media just can’t get along.