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8/9/2019 Adventures in Blogging: Ethical Considerations
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/adventures-in-blogging-ethical-considerations 1/114
Nigel Swaby801-634-4950
A Swaby Online Mediacompany
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Originally presented«
September 2008 at
The University of Utah
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Nigel Swaby
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Fact Checking & Accuracy
Your responsibilities as a blogger
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Adventures in Blogging
Ethical considerations
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Why Focus on Accuracy?
The line between journalism and blogging
has grown very thin.
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Why Focus on Accuracy?
The line between journalism and blogging
has grown very thin.
2004 was the break out year for blogging.
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Why Focus on Accuracy?
The line between journalism and blogging
has grown very thin.
2004 was the break out year for blogging. The 2004 presidential election cycle took
blogging mainstream.
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Why Focus on Accuracy?
The line between journalism and blogging
has grown very thin.
2004 was the break out year for blogging. The 2004 presidential election cycle took
blogging mainstream.
Bloggers were issued press passes to theconventions.
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Bloggers Obtained Influence«officials said whoever gets credentials will have the same
opportunities to cover the four-day event that journalists
enjoy.
"We want to treat them just the same as other reporters,"
said Mike Liddell, the convention's director of online
communications.
"We're even planning to do a breakfast for them the first day
of the convention."
The Republican Party recently decided that it will also give
bloggers credentials for its convention later this summer.
Washington Post 07/25/2004
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Bloggers Became Recognized
Mr. Graff, 23, may be the first blogger in the short history of
the medium to be granted a daily White House pass for the
specific purpose of writing a blog, or Web log.
A White House spokesman said yesterday that he believed
Mr. Graff was the first blogger to be given credentials.
New York Times ± 03/07/2005
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Blogging Produces Results!
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Positive«F ive years of blogging has brought Jeff Ooi a measure of
notoriety. His biting posts on Malaysian politics sparked
police investigations.
A pro-government newspaper sued him for libel. A prominent
politician compared bloggers to monkeys in a lawless jungle.
In January, as Malaysia braced for national elections, a new
banner went up on his blog (www.jeffooi.com): Get a Blogger
Into Parliament. F ueled by donations and manpower, Mr. Ooi
easily defeated a ruling-party candidate to win a
parliamentary seat on Penang Island.
Christian Science Monitor ± 8-28-08
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Negative«
The federal agency insuring bank deposits learned that it can't
afford to ignore the blogs following its seizure this month of
IndyMac Bank, the largest bank failure since the 1980s.
"The blogs were a bit out of control," Sheila Bair, chairman of
the F ederal Deposit Insurance Corp., told the SanF ranciscoBusiness Times after a speech in San F rancisco this week.
That's putting it mildly. F ollowing the F DIC's takeover of
IndyMac on July 11, widely followed blogs were speculating on
bank runs on some of California's largest banks based on
nothing more than people waiting for their branch to open or large deposits moving between financial institutions.
The F DIC plans to pay closer attention to the blogosphere in the
future.
San Francisco Business Times ± 07-21-08
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With Influence Comes
Responsibility
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Freedom of Speech TrumpsJournalism Standards
Bloggers can write just about
anything without sufferingrepercussions.
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Housing Panic Blog
Regularly attackspublic figures in thereal estate industry.
Writes things like:angelo mozilo is going to jail, angelo mozilo isgreed, angelo mozilo issatan, angelo mozilomortgage fraud, henry cisneros should go to jail
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Thousands of Free Speech
Based Blogs Exist They¶re all over the world
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Thousands of Free Speech
Based Blogs Exist They¶re all over the world
They cover every topic
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Thousands of Free Speech
Based Blogs Exist They¶re all over the world
They cover every topic
They¶re cheap and easy to set up
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Thousands of Free Speech
Based Blogs Exist They¶re all over the world
They cover every topic
They¶re cheap and easy to set up
They allow anonymity
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Anonymity Will Determine
Risks Taken on a Blog
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Anonymity has itsadvantages«
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But accuracy will retaincredibility.
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Calculated Risk Blog
San FranciscoChronicle
New York Times CNN Money
Seattle PostIntelligencer
Conde Nast ±Portfolio.com
Business Spectator ± Australia
MSN Money
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Calculated Risk Blog
Who are they? Calculated Risk: a
senior executive,retired from a publiccompany, with abackground ininvesting, financeand economics.
Tanta: Tanta is aformer bank officer and mortgagelending specialistwho is currently onextended medicalleave.
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2010 Update
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2010 Update
Tanta died«
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2010 Update
Tanta died«
And outed her co-blogger.
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Calculated Risk Blog
Who are they? Calculated Risk:
Calculated Risk , was
started in early 2005 by a
retired technologyexecutive named Bill
McBride. The housing
market was soaring, but
Mr. McBride sensed that
the industry was about to peak, and he posted
articles and data that
made his case.
Tanta: Doris Dungey
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Non-anonymous Bloggers
Must«
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Non-anonymous Bloggers
Must«
Determine the purpose of their blog.
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My purpose«
Educate Develop Business
Develop Contacts
Advertising Revenue Test SEO
Create Book Content
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Accuracy is Important
Whether you¶re a blogger or a
journalist.
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Journalists Get it Wrong
Too« ³All-day loans´ ± Washington Post
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Journalists Get it Wrong
Too« Freddie Mac, for instance, no longer finances no-money-down mortgages, nor
does it continue to buy or guaranteemortgages given to people who have failedto document their finances. Fannie Mae haswithdrawn from the market for all-day loans,
which are considered risky because they
require less documentation than traditionalprime loans.
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Journalists Get it Wrong
Too« ³Steve Jobs Obituary´ ± Bloomberg
News
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Journalists Get it Wrong
Too«
My demise has been greatly
exaggerated«
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A Bloggers Approach Can
Determine the Level of Accuracy
Some cut and paste mainstream media
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A Bloggers Approach Can
Determine the Level of Accuracy
Some cut and paste mainstream media
Some cut and paste, but addcommentary or insight
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A Bloggers Approach Can
Determine the Level of Accuracy
Some cut and paste mainstream media
Some cut and paste, but addcommentary or insight
Some write original material
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Risks Bloggers Face byPublishing
Credibility
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Risks Bloggers Face byPublishing
Credibility
Libel Suits
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Risks Bloggers Face byPublishing
Credibility
Libel Suits
Inaccuracy
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Risks Bloggers Face byPublishing
Credibility
Libel Suits
Inaccuracy
Hurting Innocent People
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Bloggers Must Come Up With
Their Own Set of Ethics
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CASE STUDIES
A Practical application of ethics inreal life.
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CASE STUDYCasey Serin
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Casey Serin
A young man who tried his hand at realestate flipping, using all the wrong
methods.
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Casey Serin
A young man who tried his hand at realestate flipping, using all the wrong
methods. I was made aware of him throughHousing Panic blog and the SanFrancisco Examiner.
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Casey Serin
A young man who tried his hand at realestate flipping, using all the wrongmethods.
I was made aware of him throughHousing Panic blog and the SanFrancisco Examiner.
I contacted him directly to do aninterview from his perspective.
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Casey Serin
He didn¶t tell me he had done aninterview with USA Today.
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Casey Serin
He didn¶t tell me he had done aninterview with USA Today.
My interview series came out after hehad picked up a number of critics,Serin calls haterz.
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Casey Serin
He didn¶t tell me he had done aninterview with USA Today.
My interview series came out after hehad picked up a number of critics,Serin calls haterz.
Writing about this story relied on MSM
articles and my personal contact withhim.
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Casey Serin ± Ethical Choices
Publishing ³tips´ sent to my email
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Casey Serin ± Ethical Choices
Publishing ³tips´ sent to my email
Publishing private emails between
Casey and myself.
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Casey Serin ± Ethical Choices
Publishing ³tips´ sent to my email
Publishing private emails between Caseyand myself.
Ultimately I chose to remove his story frommy real estate blog, but I created another one«www.donthatecasey.blogspot.com
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Casey Serin ± Considerations
Recognition/Prominence
USA Today article C/net ± DHC
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2010 Update
Serin sold his popular blog for $50,000
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2010 Update
Serin sold his popular blog for $50,000
Funds went to pay debts
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2010 Update
Serin sold his popular blog for $50,000
Funds went to pay debts
His supportive wife divorced him«after he took a surprise trip to Australia
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2010 Update
Serin sold his popular blog for $50,000
Funds went to pay debts
His supportive wife divorced him«after he took a surprise trip to Australia
His own family declared bankruptcy to
avoid foreclosure on the family home
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2010 Update
Serin sold his popular blog for $50,000
Funds went to pay debts
His supportive wife divorced him«after he took a surprise trip to Australia
His own family declared bankruptcy to
avoid foreclosure on the family home Serin reappears on a consistent basis with
harebrained Internet schemes
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CASE STUDY
Zareh Tahmassebian
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Zareh Tahmassebian
A young man who tried his hand at realestate flipping and was highly
successful.
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Zareh Tahmassebian
A young man who tried his hand at realestate flipping and was highly
successful. When the bottom dropped out in Las
Vegas, he moved on to Phoenix.
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Zareh Tahmassebian
A young man who tried his hand at realestate flipping and was highly
successful. When the bottom dropped out in Las
Vegas, he moved on to Phoenix.
Profiled in Fortune magazine, I was jealous reading about him.
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Zareh Tahmassebian
I had a hard time figuring out how hedid it.
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Zareh Tahmassebian
I had a hard time figuring out how hedid it.
I wrote a piece about him usingexisting articles and public recordsconcerning his real estate relatedlicenses.
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Zareh Tahmassebian
I had a hard time figuring out how hedid it.
I wrote a piece about him usingexisting articles and public recordsconcerning his real estate relatedlicenses.
A few months later, I got a privatephone call from a burned investor.
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Zareh Tahmassebian ± Ethical
Choices Publishing unsubstantiated information
to get a ³scoop´ on the MSM.
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Zareh Tahmassebian ±
Considerations Protecting the subject from a bitter ex-
business partner.
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Zareh Tahmassebian ±
Considerations Protecting the subject from a bitter ex-
business partner.
The source didn¶t want to go after himpublicly.
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Zareh Tahmassebian ±
Considerations Protecting the subject from a bitter ex-
business partner.
The source didn¶t want to go after himpublicly.
I didn¶t have enough information to geta second source like public records for the notice of default.
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Zareh Tahmassebian ±
Considerations Eventually, the Arizona Republic
³broke´ the story.
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2010 Update
Zareh lost all his remaining homes toforeclosure.
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2010 Update
Zareh lost all his remaining homes toforeclosure.
The last I heard, he was working a lowwage call center job.
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CASE STUDY
Riverbottoms Scandal
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Riverbottoms Scandal
A mortgage fraud scheme that usedindustry insiders to defraud lenders,
individuals and Utah County of millionsof dollars.
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Riverbottoms Scandal
A mortgage fraud scheme that usedindustry insiders to defraud lenders,
individuals and Utah County of millionsof dollars.
It probably wouldn¶t made the news,except for this guy«
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Riverbottoms Scandal ±
Dave Fox
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Riverbottoms Scandal
A mortgage fraud scheme that usedindustry insiders to defraud lenders,individuals and Utah County of millionsof dollars.
It probably wouldn¶t made the news,except for Dave Fox
I covered it using MSM reports.
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Riverbottoms Scandal
When more information about thedefendants became available, I didpublic records and license searches toprovide more information.
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Riverbottoms Scandal
When more information about thedefendants became available, I didpublic records and license searches toprovide more information.
The accused ringleader made my jobeasy because he had a criminal past.
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Riverbottoms Scandal ±
Brad Kitchen
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Riverbottoms Scandal
After all the names were revealed and Ipublished a story about them, a sourceclose to the case contacted me.
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Riverbottoms Scandal
After all the names were revealed and Ipublished a story about them, a sourceclose to the case contacted me.
Through this source, I was able to getinside information about some of thedefendants.
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Riverbottoms Scandal
After all the names were revealed and Ipublished a story about them, a sourceclose to the case contacted me.
Through this source, I was able to getinside information about some of thedefendants.
An unindicted co-conspirator wasimplicated.
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Riverbottoms Scandal
Later, a potential victim of Brad Kitchencontacted me and I shared their story.
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Riverbottoms Scandal ±
Ethical Choices Publishing unsubstantiated information
to get a ³scoop´ on the MSM.
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Riverbottoms Scandal ±
Considerations Publishing information that could hurt a
real person.
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Riverbottoms Scandal ±
Considerations Publishing information that could hurt a
real person.
Not reporting information in an activelegal case.
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Riverbottoms Scandal ±
Considerations Publishing information that could hurt a
real person.
Not reporting information in an activelegal case.
Violating the ethics of my State license.
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Riverbottoms Scandal ±
Solutions After receiving a second email from a
different source, I publishedinformation about Brad Kitchen Ibelieved to be true.
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Riverbottoms Scandal ±
Solutions After receiving a second email from a
different source, I publishedinformation about Brad Kitchen Ibelieved to be true.
I published a story about the co-conspirator, but left out their name.
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Riverbottoms Scandal ±
Solutions After receiving a second email from a
different source, I publishedinformation about Brad Kitchen Ibelieved to be true.
I published a story about the co-conspirator, but left out their name.
I looked up the unindicted co-conspirator and forwarded their information to Federal prosecutors.
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2010 Update
The unindicted co-conspirator survivedthe legal system«
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2010 Update
The unindicted co-conspirator survivedthe legal system«
But lost her appraiser¶s license for lifeand was fined $25,000.
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2010 Update
The unindicted co-conspirator survivedthe legal system«
But lost her appraiser¶s license for lifeand was fined $25,000.
Except for one defendant, all chargedpleaded guilty and are now serving
Federal time and are liable for hugefines.
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Conclusions
Bloggers must come up with a
code of ethics to protect their reputations, accuracy and the
reputations of their subject matter.
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Conclusions
Always use at least two sources beforeprinting something about a real liveperson that could be damaging.
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Conclusions
Always use at least two sources beforeprinting something about a real liveperson that could be damaging.
If you¶re not sure, don¶t print a name,but still tell the story.
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Conclusions
Always use at least two sources beforeprinting something about a real liveperson that could be damaging.
If you¶re not sure, don¶t print a name,but still tell the story.
Always consider the consequences of
what you write.
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Conclusions
Always use at least two sources beforeprinting something about a real liveperson that could be damaging.
If you¶re not sure, don¶t print a name,but still tell the story.
Always consider the consequences of what you write.
Protect your sources.
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Conclusions
Always use at least two sources beforeprinting something about a real liveperson that could be damaging.
If you¶re not sure, don¶t print a name,but still tell the story.
Always consider the consequences of what you write.
Protect your sources.
Mobile and social media gives moreaccess to self-published ³journalism.´
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Nigel Swaby801-634-4950
A Swaby Online Media
company
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