Editors’ Code of Practice

This is the newspaper and periodical industry’s Code of Practice. It is framed and revised by the Editors’ Code Committee made up of independent editors of national, regional and local newspapers and magazines. The Press Complaints Commission, which has a majority of lay members, is charged with enforcing the Code, using it to adjudicate complaints. It was ratified by the PCC on the 1 August 2007. Clauses marked* are covered by exceptions relating to the public interest.

The CodeAll members of the press have a duty to maintain the highest professional standards. The Code, which includes this preamble and the public interest exceptions below, sets the benchmark for those ethical standards, protecting both the rights of the individual and the public's right to know. It is the cornerstone of the system of self regulation to which the industry has made a binding commitment.

It is essential that an agreed code be honoured not only to the letter but in the full spirit. It should not be interpreted so narrowly as to compromise its commitment to respect the rights of the individual, nor so broadly that it constitutes an unnecessary interference with freedom of expression or prevents publication in the public interest.It is the responsibility of editors and publishers to apply the Code to editorial material in both printed and online versions of publications. They should take care to ensure it is observed rigorously by all editorial staff and external contributors, including non-journalists.Editors should co-operate swiftly with the PCC in the resolution of complaints. Any publication judged to have breached the Code must print the adjudication in full and with due prominence, including headline reference to the PCC.

The code of conduct deals with the following sixteen subcategories

1. Accuracy

2. Opportunity to reply

3. Privacy

4. Harassment Privacy

5. Intrusion into grief or shock

6. Children

7. Children in sex cases

8. Hospitals

9. Reporting of Crime

10. Clandestine devices and subterfuge

11. Victims of sexual assault

12 Discrimination

13. Financial journalism

14. Confidential sources

15. Witness payments in criminal trials

16. Payment to criminals


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HTML Tutorial

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnBBuIu10NU

The following 'html tutorial,' posted on YouTube under the category of 'How to & DIY' in essence has been created to “aid all the newbies like myself be able to use HTML effectively.”

Well even if you do happen to look past the fact that it is a completely unethical tutorial deemed rather repulsive to most of us is the content of the tutorial. Rather than a step by step manual about HTML, it seems like a prolonged defused attempt to bore the life of those who are trying to learn the intrinsic worth of mastering the HTLM system.

Facebook: Love it or loathe it?

Social networking is evolving, sprouting, budding, developing, moving... Well whatever you may wish to call it, it’s like chalk and cheese of how it was just a decade ago. First Friendster, then it was MySpace; now Facebook seems to be the heart of every other conversation on the Internet.

Facebook is currently the 7th most visited website in the world, has nearly 40 million viewers and as a nation we are spending 233 million hours scouring the site every month. Yes to the undoubted growth and the hype, but one sits and ponders: what's in it for journalism?

Facebook has in due course become a leading social networking incentive. What journalist does not have a network of sources? What Facebook enables us to do is make it easy to expand this network and to send and receive messages to and from an entire network. Indeed social networks have been key to journalists forever.

As a response to cost-cutting measures or perhaps as a salacious tactic journalists have become increasingly attentive to this invaluable this social networking tool. According to recent news not only have newspapers cobbled together accounts, particularly involving crime stories, from data contained on the parties' profiles on social networking sites. But have decided to take the world of Facebook Journalism to another level. The BBC's Newsnight program has created two Facebook groups to gather contacts for reporters and to build closer viewer relations. Stories such as “Giuliani's daughter 'backs Obama”, Huntley tries to off himself, Cop killer Facebook group lands teen in trouble, Shoplifters busted on Facebook, elucidate just how much impact facebook has had on Journalism.

Facebook can also be credited for the way in which it has brought journalists together. The NUJ (National Union of Journalists) group on Facebook has 912 members whilst Journalism.co.uk has 1,202. Additionally, a group titled ‘Journalists and Facebook’ that discusses this so called ‘Facebook Journalism’ has proved immensely popular with those discussing their experiences.

What’s more it could also prove to be a very useful tool for writers and editors alike, looking to connect with fellow workers they do not yet know. It seems that some news organizations are working to apply the power of social networking (a phenomenon that group member Robin Sloan called "social context") to the distribution of news content. In its recent Web site redesign, USA Today included a feature that enables each reader to build a personal page, track news stories, aggregate comments and invite people as friends. The Minneapolis Star Tribune launched vita.mn, an arts and entertainment Web site that depends on the so-called audience for most of its content. The Mail & Guardian in South Africa took its content to Facebook when it launched a "headlines" application last week. (Poynter Online's Amy Gahran wrote about this and other Facebook news applications Wednesday.)

Another mindbogging reality is the impact that this phenomenon has had on student protests and activists. It has been reported that a viral campaign that spiraled through the social networking site has forced HSBC into a humiliating U-turn over its decision to scrap interest-free overdrafts for university graduates. The pressure group launched by the National Union of Students (NUS) and titled "Stop the Great HSBC Graduate Rip-off!!!" had amassed almost 7,000 members since its creation in mid-July, and its founder, NUS Vice President for Education Wes Streeting, credited the collective online protest forcing HSBC to back down.

There can be no doubt that using Facebook made the world of difference to our
campaign,” he said in a statement.

Undoubtedly Facebook has been a hit, but is it just the greatest and latest in a continuing evolution of social networking Web sites in which the previous incarnation is quickly forgotten? It's hard to say, but with the continuous release of new Facebook applications it seems like Facebook's role in our online lives can continue to evolve as well. Love it or loathe it, it doesn't look like Facebook is going anywhere soon.