Media self-regulation mechanisms in the online world
Are press councils accepting complaints about journalistic material produced in another country? Compared to the old model of the print press, it is difficult to trace the origin of online information. Press councils therefore usually accept complaints about online content no matter where it has been produced under the condition that the Web site hosting the content is registered within the respective country. Should press councils deal with journalistic material posted on Facebook, Twitter or Youtube? If material on Facebook or Youtube is derived from a news site, the complaint should be directed toward the Website that published the editorial content first. However, a rising issue is that more and more journalists use social media to promote and share their work while also using it for private communication. The line between the journalism and private spheres is being erased and that creates
The Netherlands Press Council rules on the use of Twitter by a journalist RvdJ 2011/38: Kamperman et al. vs. Vorkink Vorkink, a journalist, used his private twitter account to post the following message: “Panic old leadership research team firework disaster. Detective Kamperman attempts to mislead media. Follow news RTV Oost.” In this case, the press council accepted a complaint regarding the tweet. The press council found that the journalist acted in his journalistic capacity and not as private individual. The council also took into account that the journalist’s Twitter profile mentioned that he was an investigative journalist at RTV Oost. His profile also contained a link to the site of RTV Oost and in the aforementioned tweet - sent shortly after the broadcast of 30 November 2010 – he repeatedly referred to the reports of RTV Oost on this issue. Posting the offending tweet should therefore be regarded as an act of the defendant in the exercise of his journalistic profession and therefore can fall under the jurisdiction of the press council. In addition, the name of one of the complainant was mentioned in the tweet and associated with improper practices without solid basis. Although the press council welcomed that the journalist apologized to the complainant and made his messages unreadable, the press council considered that Vorkink acted unethically by spreading the tweets and thus that the complaint was well founded. Source: Press Council of the Netherlands, http://www.rvdj.nl/
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