[icernet] What journalistic ethics apply to blogging?

[Arul Selvan]

Texas-based blogger Sean-Paul Kelley, who became well known for his war weblog, The Agonist, admitted earlier this week to copying information verbatim from a Texas intelligence firm. The scandal spawned a new debate over blogging ethics and WashingtonPost.com writer, Cynthia L. Webb, asked readers to share their views on the great blogging debate. Many readers don't think Kelley's actions were a big deal, Webb writes. Some just don't see blogging as a journalistic endeavor. But bloggers across the nation are upset. Meryl Yourish, a blogger who has posted numerous messages about the Kelley incident on her Web site, says plagiarism is a big blow to the credibility of bloggers. Larry Pryor, executive editor of the Online Journalism Review at USC, agrees. "If they are going to be taken seriously, they have to follow [ethical] rules," Pryor told Webb. Paul Grabowicz, director of the new media program at UC Berkeley, told Webb that there are limits to what should be 
expected of bloggers since weblogs are online conversations and not in competition with mainstream journalism. "It is not a question of regulation or control or rules, as much as do you want people to see you as someone who is credible and to that, definitely there are some rules," Grabowicz told the Post.

Source:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A63407-2003Apr9.html