C H R I S PA S HEDITORS
houldweshoreupthebreachinonlineetiquette
withthecarcassofjournalisticethics?
Wordswrittentohurtforalltoseeonlinecando
significantdamage.Inadvertising,allcanbetargets
butearlycareerpeoplearemostvulnerable to troll-
ing,a nastyformofbullying.
Thesegutblowstomental
healthareoftenlaunched
for cheap laughs orto be
spitefulfrombehinda shield
ofanonymity.
Thisbilecanbenefitplat-
formswith onlinevisitors,
whosenumberstranslateto
higherpricesforadvertising.
Butthedebatehasbecome
fuzzy,perhapsdistractedby
thehurtcaused,placingthe
issueofanonymityaheadof
thequestionablecontentitself.
Andtheindustrymusttake
responsibility.Manypublicly
abhorthecommentsbutsup-
port,eithercommerciallyor
via social media,the plat-
formsallowingsuchvitriol.
John“Steady”Steedman
atWPPAUNZhasadmirably
takentheleadtoputa stop
tovileattacksandhopefully
positioningtheindustryasa showcaseforbehav-
iourintheonlineworld.
Steedmandescribes,ina letterprintedinfullin
AdNewslastyear,anonymouscommentsasthe
“cowardpunches”ofpublicdebate.
Butwhyis thecommentoutthereinthefirstplace?
Wouldn’tit bebettertoblockpersonalattacksanddeny
themtheoxygenofbeingattachedtoadindustrynews?
AdNews screens comments using editorial
judgement. Abuse is rejected. Waff le is suppressed.Congratulationsaccepted.Constructivereviewwel-
comed.Criticismchecked.Insightsought.Andanon-
ymouscommentis okayif a validpointis made.
Therecanbegoodreasonsforsomeonenotwant-
ing their name public.Perhapstheyarereporting
wrongdoingand thatcould
damagejobprospects.
Thequalityofthecomment
is theissueratherthanwhether
it is madeanonymouslyornot.
Ifeveryoneagreednotto
publishanonymouscomment,
thenthef lowofvitriolwould
likelyshrink.Butthatwould
risklosingimportantpointsin
a debateorinformationthat
canonlybegivenanonymously
ortoprotecta whistleblower.
Traditionallytheopinion
pagesofnewspapershad(and
stilldo)commentfromthose
whodon’twanttheirnames
used.Theeditorensuresthe
commentsarerelevant,based
onfactandthattheycontrib-
utetoa debate.
Thisis partoftheeditorial
process—asetofrulesto
ensurereadersgetwhatthey
arepromised.
Thesamerulesapplytoalleditorial.A reportmust
befair,accurateandrelevant.ThisappliesatAdNews
andgoesforcomment,analysisandopinion.
And sometimes anonymous comments are
neededtoensurebalanceina storyortosothatthe
readergetsa fullerpictureofwhatishappening.
Someexecutivesquietlytoldme,whenvisitingtheir
offices,thattheirjuniorstafflikeonlinetrolling.
TowhichI reply,thatinmyworldview, journalism
ethics doesn’t allow such abuse.Once more, dear friends, into the sewer
Editor’s Letter http://www.adnews.com.au|March 2020^7