CBC Blogging Policy Redux

You may remember the CBC Blogging Policy that wasn't actually their Blogging Policy a few months back. Well it's back and this time it is once again their blogging policy. Ok, it's not exactly the same, the language has been softened a bit, and there is even a nod to the CBC Blogging Mainfesto but - it appears to me anyway, that the core of the policy is the same and it raises troubling questions.

First things first, it still requires journalists to have their supervisor's permission to maintain a personal blog, or to post a comment on someone else's "blog or Facebook" - I have no idea why Facebook was singled out given that there are dozens, if not hundreds of other possible places to 'leave a comment'. This to me is similar (in today's digital world) to attempting to regulate private conversation. Who is going to enforce it? Who is going to monitor the vastness of cyberspace? How can anyone have any expectation of uniform enforcement? It also says

"If you are identifying yourself as a CBC/Radio-Canada employee in the course of such activities (e.g.: posting on your own blog or on a third party’s), you should not advocate for a group or a cause, or express partisan political opinion. You should also avoid subjects that could bring CBC/Radio-Canada into disrepute. Similarly, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to include a disclaimer to the effect of: “the views expressed here are my own and not those of CBC/Radio-Canada.”

Personally I think that the days of 'unbiased' journalism are a myth. Everyone who knows the truth about Santa knows that everyone, journalists and jurists included, has bias'. Personally I subscribe to the school that says: "I can handle that fact, just let me know what those bias' are." I'd like to read personal blogs by journalists. I'd like to know what they really think about issues and people - that way when I'm reading/watching/listening to one of their reports I can decide if they, given their bias, are being fair. Keeping their bias a secret does not remove the bias, it merely creates an illusion of it. And it is worth noting that this policy does not apply only to journalists, but to everyone who works for the CBC.

This policy also does not address anonymity, so - the message that: If you are going to say something negative, done use your real name remains. Wouldn't it be better if people were somewhat honest but restrained by using their real identities?

Overall I'd have to say that this policy is dangerous. The internet is a huge part of the lives of most people under 40-45. This policy does not, in any way, recognize the realities of how people use the internet. It is a policy that everyone, at some point, will violate and so creates a situation where anyone, at their manager's (or their manager's manager's digression, or their ... etc.,) can be punished, at any point. Everything that everyone said about the policy the last time it was announced, still holds with the new one.