SMCQ: Accuracy in Blogging

@davegray: we’are all #journalists now & we’re all accountable 4 understanding media & using it responsibly.

I’m happy to report SMC readers have standards! Responding with a resounding wave of ‘yeses,’ in answer to our question of the week regarding the responsibility of bloggers to get their facts right, online media participants proved their commitment both to quality information as well as deep thinking about the nature of influence and the oft-malleable definition of ‘integrity.’ Do check the original post for a lively comment thread. Below is a summary of some of our favorite responses throughout the blogosphere.

SMC Board Member and former print journalist Kimberly Regator wrote a compelling post on the top at her Regator Blog.

“Regardless of your topic or where you fall on the highbrow/lowbrow scale, I believe that someone creating a publication for public consumption—and that includes blogs—should make decisions with their readers’ best interests in mind. That is the key,” she writes, comparing her former fact-checking process at magazines and how this process applies to the  blogosphere, she offers up some invaluable tips on writing it right.

Likewise, Kenneth at The Letter Two concurred with Kimberly about taking cues from journalists…but threw in a word of caution:

“Bloggers should have journalistic integrity and offer up some sound truth with supporting evidence to back up. …. Regardless of whether they have evidence, research, or other data to back up their claims and no matter what the content is, if you read what they write, take it with a grain of salt. It doesn’t matter what the topic or who it is. You are your own person and bloggers should just give you different perspectives.”

And a bit more from the Twitterverse:

@johnrhopkins: Bloggers and anyone who portrays themselves as providing the facts do have a responsibility to get them right. TheOnion gets a pass

randalltodd: @robvallejos Yes. Bloggers should be responsible to the facts. Those that are not fact-based should be dumped in the compost bin.