May 3, 2012
Journalists hurt themselves by behaving unprofessionally
Steve Buttry at Digital First Media has issued a reminder that journalists should be professional at all times — even on Twitter. It’s something that bears repeating, but there are still some fine lines I’ve seen crossed.
The trouble comes with journalists who show their sense of humour, which is fine, but display a sense of humour that makes them look more obnoxious than anything else. I’m not sure how you get around this. If someone is irritating in real life, they’ll come across that way on Twitter as well. To make things worse, they often have such an inflated sense of self-worth that they don’t realize they are actually held in low esteem by their peers.
These people need guidance from their supervisors, but all too often the people in charge aren’t aware of what’s going on. And the rest of us don’t feel it’s our place to “tell” on the offender. In the end, though, people like this will find that they have ruined their own reputation, and that career opportunities will be diminished.