Earlier this evening, the world of social media went into uproar, partly due to this:
I’m told #SkyNews have stopped their journos retweeting information/tweets from journalists or people not working for Sky. Must be wrong??
— Kevin Bakhurst(@kevinbakhurst) February 7, 2012
It turns out that is strictly speaking the case. The Guardian story lays out the basics of the new policy:
An email to staff on Tuesday laid out new social media guidelines for Sky News employees, including a contentious ban on retweeting rival “journalists or people on Twitter”.
The new guidelines also warn Sky News journalists to “stick to your own beat” and not to tweet about non-work subjects from their professional accounts.
It goes on to explain that they should always pass breaking news lines to the news desk rather than twitter in the first instance, and that reporters must not tweet when it is not their story.
The email, as quoted in the Guardian story, also reads:
“Where a story has been Tweeted by a Sky News journalist who is assigned to the story it is fine, desirable in fact, that it is retweeted by other Sky News staff.
“Do not retweet information posted by other journalists or people on Twitter. Such information could be wrong and has not been through the Sky News editorial process.”
This in effect places a ban on Retweeting, or RTing, breaking news lines or updates on a developing story as they come into the news desk. The RTing of news sources has been going on for a long time, ever since the advent of Twitter. It is more a customary Twitter thing – rather than copy the tweet, attribute it to the correct person.
This is not a new thing, really, as it was reported in early 2010 that Sky News were installing the programme Tweetdeck to all journalists computers, allowing newsgathering via Twitter to happen with greater ease.
However, as Interhacktives looked at, and was well documented, random retweeting of various news lines can have a detrimental effect. We said:
Because people like Field Producer (Neal Mann from Sky News) and Paul Lewis from the Guardian were tweeting what was verified and known, it is also important to follow these and not to spread false rumours, which very quickly get picked up and spread as assumed fact by the vast majority of the public.
They were, in effect, not Retweeting everything, but checking out sources and making sure that what was going out on a Sky News branded channel, as well as the Guardian, and being sent to everyone with a twitter account following them, was accurate. The many people retweeting random lines saying somethings happened were not helpful, and if Sky News did that, then mass panic is the most likely explanation, and following that, very serious sanctions and no doubt a Leveson-esque inquiry into broadcasters.
They did not, however, as they knew what was going to happen if they did just RT various people, not even sources.
However, Sky, and many other journalists, do retweet other journalists with good stories, or major figures in politics, sport, celebrity, or just mainstream figures and people with good, provocative, or funny opinions on things. They do it sparingly, and most of the time the reporters then deal with the flack of someone who doesn’t agree with the opinion thinking it’s an endorsement (it’s not.) I can’t help but think that does go through the reporters head when they click Retweet – they are going to spend at least five minutes fielding angry tweets.
There is a place for Retweeting, and there is a place for knowledge, and there is a place for keeping silent. The ban on Retweeting people from outside of Sky News is a bit over the top and unnecessary. Ok, all it means is that they have to spend precious minutes confirming it for themselves, or wait for an official Sky source to tell them. Or, Sky could have their branding on a tweet saying the same line, albeit quoting another source. If it’s a trustworthy source, and it’s a twitter line, it doesn’t really matter. Everyone tweets the same line on breaking news – that’s the tedious but fun bit. It’s what extra the reporter can get into the story that goes on air that matters (i.e, his main job. Twitter is still a part of his job in the digital world.)
(Also, the reporters may also tweet the same line, but with “sky sources say…” in place of RT)
Unless, of course, you’re Fieldproducer, and digital news is your job. In which case the most prolific tweeter in UK news, who even spawned his own hashtag tonight, has been limited in how he can do his job.
#savefieldproducer may be OTT, but it is important. I can see both sides – the value of letting the channel reporter the story first, and making it harder for competitors, is great financial and business sense. However, the impact on the Tweeting public, millions of them, is big, as the plurality is lost in Sky News tweets.
I hope they reconsider it. I would be interested to hear what everyone else thinks as to the ban? Is it good, bad, or do you not care? Should journalists retweet from competitors, or stick to the company? Is it more serious?
Let me know..
**I nearly attributed the original tweet to @joshhalliday, but it does seem @kevinbakhurst tweeted it first.Â
** This was written by @andrewstuart. You can follow him on Twitter, and praise or rant at him there. He may RT you, if you’re nice.