I like to think of myself as a thoughtful blogger, not some stream-o-consciousness blatherer who’s trying to fill some column inches.
And so, a couple of things I’ve seen recently — one in the “mainstream” media and one on a local blog — got me thinking about the issue of blogging and ethics.
The first thing was an Election-Day story (thanks for the nice photo, fellas) by Tony Botello on Hearne Christopher’s KC Confidential blog.
Tony — the baron of KC bloggers — raised the issue of blogging ethics as it related to my significant financial contributions ($3,000) to Mike Burke’s mayoral campaign while I was also writing about the race. (Shockingly, I wrote some very positive pieces about Mike.)
Tony wrote: And while Fitzpatrick repeatedly criticizes mainstream media like The Star for deviating from old-school journalistic standards, in the case of his support of Burke he’s gone native with his biases like an untrained blogger.
(Not sure I completely understand that sentence, but I guess I get the drift.)
The second thing that arrested my attention was a story in today’s Kansas City Star about a liberal blogger named Ian Murphy who was able to get Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker on the phone by pretending to be Kansas billionaire industrialist David Koch.
Now, that rankles me because this fellow Murphy is giving us bloggers a bad name…making us look like unethical lowlifes.
So, I started looking around to see if there was any code of ethics for bloggers. Shockingly, (am I overusing the word?), I couldn’t find one. No code of ethics…How can this be?
Most newspapers, including The Star, have extensive codes of ethics, but apparently the blogging version has slipped through the cracks. Upon reflection (like I said, that’s my deal), I thought I could leave a legacy to the medium by fashioning a “Blogger’s Code of Ethics.”
This morning, then (I move very fast), I appointed a 10-member, blue-ribbon Code of Ethics Blogging Panel (COEBP — pronounced co-eb), and gave them five hours to come up with a draft.
This afternoon, minutes before deadline, the draft landed on my desk with a resounding thud.
I took one look and was flabbergasted: The panel did such a good job that, without any editing, I accepted it Chapter and Verse. Extending profuse gratitude, I sent the panel off to Mike’s Tavern with a blank, JimmyCsays check.
And now, with no further ado, here is the Blogger’s Code of Ethics (BCE — pronounced bitchy), a Ten Commandments, of sorts, for bloggers.
1) Obey the law.
2) Never misrepresent thyself.
3) If thy skin is thin, find another passtime.
4) When writing ill of others, remember the backboard effect.
5) When contributing more than $1,000 to a political candidate, don’t tell thy spouse.
6) Disclose thy political contributions to thy readers. (I do!)
7) When writing about a former employer, remember they was thy meal ticket.
8) If someone calls the police because they don’t like what you’re doing or how you’re doing it, be sure to get the investigating officer’s name so you can put it in thy story.
9) If you accept bribes, limit them to no more than you can eat or drink in a single, 24-hour cycle.
10) Have fun & express thyself.
Cheers, everyone!
JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC 
I have 3 basic rules that all others seem to spring from:
1) Blog as if my real name was on the work. (For security, I use a “nom de net”)
2) Remember everything on the Internet is: a) accessible to all b) forever!
3) When in doubt, credit and link to material you use as part of a post that you did not create.
Those are goofy fun. Crowley’s famous quote (in the spirit that it was meant) usually suffices for me.
p.s. I disremember just now the term for false comparisons, but…if she is still inking poorly constructed and ill-reasoned screeds based on her many biases, lil’ Antonia and ethics have nothing in common.
This doesn’t really apply to any of the commandments, but since Hearne apparently isn’t going to say, could you explain why you have stopped posting over there?
Harwood — Commandment No. 11 is “Ask and ye shall receive.”
…I had a nice run of several months with Hearne, who has a unique flair and whose success in blogging I admire. We both benefited from the collaboration. I got the value of his experience in blogging and the additional exposure that his site brought. He got the value of my reporting and editing skills.
In the end, though, I decided that most of my stories were not a good fit for his site, which tilts heavily toward sports and entertainment. Also, I did not want to dilute my “brand.” I want my identity to be JimmyCsays, not JimmyCsays and quasi-staff member for KC Confidential.
Hearne wasn’t happy with my decision and fought hard, but unsuccessfully, to convince me to continue giving him the right to reprint my material on a post-by-post basis. In parting, I left open the possibility of us collaborating on certain stories in the future.
You remember, I’m sure, when Jason Whitlock went “on vacation” for several months. Hearne and I milked it for all it was worth. Well, high drama undoubtedly will spew form the doors of 18th and Grand in the future, and there is no better combination than Hearne Christopher Jr., former Star columnist, and James C. Fitzpatrick, former Star reporter and assignment editor, to ferret it out.
Thanks, Jim. One correction. You invited me to use your stories on a case by case basis rather than submitting them to me prior to your publishing them as you had been.
I have yet to make such a request. Think I told you that KCC would cover your writing in the same manner we do other local media.
OK, wild man!
From the outside looking in, I find that any rules for bloggers would be a waste of time. Most of the crackheads who post blogs (present company excluded) just need some place to rant and couldn’t carry on a fluid conversation on a subject if their lives depended on it. Check any sports blog for an example. HAPPY BIRTHDAY OLD TIMER!!!
Thanks, Gus. My Medicare card is ready to start getting punched tomorrow, March 1. First doctor’s appt. under my new, govt’s-got-my back umbrella is Wednesday.