I wish we lived in simpler times

The Internet is everywhere and it's everything these days, especially if you're like me and work in the media.

At the start of this year there was an online contest at my office. Reporters and editors alike were asked to come up with ideas that would draw more people to our website, http://www.durhamregion.com. We had to submit our ideas to our online manager and if approved, bring the idea to life and see how many 'hits' it got. The idea getting the most hits on our website would win $300.

My idea was the Daily Smile. I asked readers to send in photos of themselves or members of their families that made them smile. Simple. For doing this a random Daily Smile would be selected at the end of the month and that person would get a $50 gift card.

The response to the Daily Smile was tremendous and submissions came flooding in. I won the prize and was asked to continue the project throughout the course of the year. It's only July now but I've got Daily Smiles uploaded to the end of October. It's been a lot of work for the measly $300 I got but I enjoy the interaction with the people who send me their photos. I find myself smiling a lot as I process them and the reactions from the monthly winners is awesome. People love winning prizes.

This week a reader called our newsroom to complain the Daily Smile was nothing more than a forum for pedophiles. I'm happy he didn't call me directly but rather called our news editor who listened to him ramble on about the evils of the world. I wouldn't have been the most objective person to speak to regarding the Daily Smile. The whole intent of the project was to brighten readers' days with something as simple as a silly grin. To accuse me of creating a forum for pedophiles wouldn't have gone over well. I realize you have to have a thick skin to work in media but that would have come close to crossing the line for me.

If you've viewed the Daily Smile you will notice there are a lot of photographs of kids. The majority of the submissions come from proud moms, dads and grandparents. It's not the only place on the Internet you'll find photographs of kids. Check your own Facebook pages. Chances are if you have kids you've posted pictures of them online. Why? Because you love them and you're proud of them.

I understand there are sick individuals in the world who do unthinkable things to children. As far as I'm concerned there's no place for these people in this world. Long gone are the simpler days when kids could be kids and parents didn't have to worry about them getting abducted walking home from school. But let's not fool ourselves, pedophiles have been around since the beginning of time. They didn't just appear around 1995 when the Internet was in its infancy.

The guy who called our newsroom did so out of concern for children. I get that. What he could have done though was phrase his concern a little better and not accuse my Daily Smile of being something it is not.

Get it right, then get it up

Being a member of the media I know all too well the rush you get breaking an exclusive news story. With it comes accolades from your peers and it builds you a solid journalistic reputation with your readers.

The opposite can happen when you flub a story. Errors happen daily in newspapers across the world and every reporter who's made one knows the sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach when you open the paper and see the mistake. There in black in white is your screw-up for everyone to see. It sucks.

The Internet has made it even quicker to break an exclusive story. As a journalist you're not constrained by deadlines. As soon as your story is done it can be published by the simple click of a button. Twitter, the online micro-social media site, can make the story go viral in a matter of minutes. Such was the case this week when a Toronto Star reporter Tweeted that former Toronto Maple Leaf's coach Pat Burns had succumbed to his cancer. The only problem with his Tweet was the fact that Burns wasn't dead.

It didn't matter that the Tweet was quickly deleted once the mistake was discovered. By that time it had travelled around the globe and condolences were being posted on Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites. On other news sites it was being reported as fact before anyone had bothered to pick up a phone and confirm the information.

A former colleague of mine used to say "Get it up, then get it right." I never agreed with that method of thinking. I understand the pressures of media competition, especially in Toronto. Having worked in that city for 14 years I know how intense it is to break the news first. But before you Tweet something as a journalist you'd better know for sure it's factual, especially if it involves the death of one of the most popular Toronto Maple Leaf coaches in recent memory.

Many reporters and news organizations can be followed on Twitter and Facebook these days. I follow countless news sites and media colleagues to keep in touch with what's going on in the world. I'm a news junkie so this is what I do. I use Twitter for professional reasons and post to it in a professional manner. If I wasn't in the media I probably wouldn't have much use for the site.

Having said that, news items I post to Twitter are finished and edited. I link all of them to durhamregion.com because I want as many readers as possible to come to my site. If what we're posting to our website turns out to be consistently factually incorrect or not interesting I'd lose my followers and traffic at durhamregion.com would drop like a stone.

Reputations are tough to build in this business and they can be ruined in no time flat if you don't do your job right. Journalists shouldn't take Twitter or Facebook lightly. If you post to these sites in a professional capacity it's the same as if you were publishing a story in a newspaper. Get it right, then get it up, not the other way around.