Blogger reaction to the new CBC blogging guidelines
Reaction on the new personal blogging guidelines is beginning to come in from CBC employees and fans who also maintain personal blogs.
I will be adhering to it in every way, shape and form. I especially appreciate that they reference the CBC Blogging Manifesto in a positive way.
Though not perfect, it is an eminently more sensible document. The tone is cautiously encouraging, and the bulk of it explains how existing policies — journalistic, IT and HR — affect what you do online. Though I don’t know of any bloggers who were consulted this time or last, the change in tone certainly reflects the lively conversation that evolved last time around. I recognize a few bits of the text.
It appears to me anyway, that the core of the policy is the same and it raises troubling questions…. 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.
Ouimet hasn’t weighed in yet. Maybe she secretly wrote the document?… 
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I do not believe anyone’s personal blog should be approved by their place of work, but it would be appropriate to put a disclaimer saying that their opinions do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the CBC. Anything more than a disclaimer is unnecessary.
PS: No, I have not read and may or may not accept this web site’s Comments Policy. I simply don’t have time to read the policy. Ridiculous.
Justin Beach is an employee of the CBC? I didn’t know that.
A personal blog does not have to be approved by the CBC.
If you write a book, it does not have to be approved by the CBC.
A letter to the editor does not have to be approved by the CBC.
But if you splash CBC logos all over your page, and present yourself primarily as a CBC employee, that may have to be approved by the CBC.
Is that simple enough?
Trying to bait Ouimet into writing for this blog is not surprising. She’s smart and experienced and probably the best of all the bloggers.
But where is “the guru”, Tod Maffin, on all of this?
Waiting to see what others have to say before weighing in?
CBC management needs to learn the subtle art of context. A personal blog is a personal blog and does not EVER represent the person’s workplace. If you can’t tell that a personal blog is personal, you’re way too dumb to run a national corporation.
I’m encouraging everyone with a blog to include the words “The views expressed here are not my own, but those of CBC/Radio-Canada” in their next post. Ideally, it should be in a post about something really personal, like the tree in the neighbour’s yard or the hat you’re knitting.
Megan where is your blog anyway?
Tod how come I can’t just click her name anymore?
Allan…oh nevermind
Hi Justin,
My blog’s at stevemegan.blogspot.com. I often write about media and journalism issues, but there’s a lot of other stuff, too (including a healthy dose of tongue-in-cheek David Hasselhoff worship).