My editor asked me to post comments on one of the magazine’s online blogs, being sure not to mention my working for the magazine but to write in a style that suggests I’m a reader.
The internet and its associated blogs and forums have forced good journalists to voluntarily disclose their associations. But what constitutes disclosure?
This intern did not mention the name of the magazine he interned at, but he signed his name to his question. Google tells us immediately that he worked for Tennis Magazine. Does the fact that it’s so easy to find out his associations count as disclosure?
What about student newspapers? With the absolutely incestuous nature of student organizations – especially at small schools, it isn’t unheard of for a writer to also be part of student government, Greek life and various other organizations.
It simply isn’t practical, at least in a print publication, to add a writer’s associations to every story, but the magic of the internet is that it’s amazingly easy disclose things online. If your newspaper maintains a website, why not post profiles of individual writers and editors? If that’s too much effort, why not make sure that your writers have up to date Facebook profiles?
