THE LEGACY'S SOCIAL MEDIA POLICY

Social networking sites, such as Facebook, MySpace, Instagram and Twitter have become an integral part of everyday life for millions of people around the world. As The Legacy grows to serve the audience well beyond the publishing, social media is becoming an increasingly important aspect of our interaction and our transparency with our audience and with a variety of communities. Properly used, social networking sites can also be very valuable news gathering and reporting tools and can speed research and extend a reporter’s contacts, and we encourage our journalists to take advantage of them.

The line between private and public activity has been blurred by these tools, which is why we are providing guidance now. Information from your Facebook page, your blog entries, and your tweets – even if you intend them to be personal messages to your friends or family – can be easily circulated beyond your intended audience. This content, therefore, represents you and The Legacy to the outside world as much as a published story does. As in all of your reporting, the Code of Ethics should guide you in your use of social media. You should read and be sure you understand the Code.

What follows are some basic but important guidelines to help you as you deal with the changing world of gathering and reporting news, and to provide additional guidance on specific issues. These guidelines apply to every member of The Legacy (both current and aluminus).

1. First and foremost – you should do nothing that could undermine your credibility with the public, damage The Legacy's standing as an impartial source of news, or otherwise jeopardize The Legacy’s reputation.

2. Recognize that everything you write or receive on a social media site is public. Anyone with access to the web can get access to your activity on social media sites. And regardless of how careful you are in trying to keep them separate, in your online activity, your professional life and your personal life overlap.

3. Use the highest level of privacy tools available to control access to your personal activity when appropriate, but don’t let that make you complacent. It’s just not that hard for someone to hack those tools and make public what you thought was private.

3. You should conduct yourself in social media forums with an eye to how your behavior or comments might appear if we were called upon to defend them as a news publication media. In other words, don’t behave any differently online than you would in any other public setting.

4. While we strongly encourage linking The Legacy social networks, you may not repost The Legacy COPYRIGHTED material or link your PERSONAL BLOG to The Legacy's social networks without prior permission. For example, it's NOT o.k. to link from your blog to the The Legacy site, and you should not copy the full text or audio/video onto a personal site or Web page. You may accomplish this through The Legacy Online/Web Editor or widgets that The Legacy provides to the public under the same terms of use as apply to anyone else.

5. Remember that the terms of service of a social media site apply to what you post and gather on that site. The terms might allow for material that you post to be used in a different way than you intended. Additionally, law enforcement officials may be able to obtain by subpoena anything you post or gather on a site without your consent — or perhaps even your knowledge.

Remember the same ethics rules as apply offline also apply to information gathered online.

6. Journalism should be conducted in the open, regardless of the platform. Just as you would do if you were working offline, you should identify yourself as an The Legacy journalist when you are working online. If you are acting as The Legacy journalist, you must not use a pseudonym or misrepresent who you are. If you are acting in a personal capacity, you may use a screen name if that is allowed by the relevant forum.

7. You should always explain to anyone who provides you information online how you intend to use the information you are gathering.

8. When possible, clarify and confirm any information you collect online by later interviewing your online sources by phone or in person.

9. While widely disseminated and reported, material gathered online can be just as inaccurate or untrustworthy as some material collected or received in more traditional ways. As always, consider and verify the source.

10. Content gathered online is subject to the same attribution rules as other content.

11. Socia Media communities have their own culture, etiquette, and norms, and be respectful of them.

12. And a final caution – when in doubt, consult with your editor.

Social media is a very dynamic ecosystem so don’t be surprised if we continue to revise or elaborate on our guidelines at a later date. In the meantime, we welcome your feedback.

Most Important, we want to encourage you to use social media approaches in your journalism but we need to make sure that you are fully aware of the risks — especially those that threaten our hard-earned reputation for independence and freedom from bias or our brand.

WILSON MUCHIRI-Online/web Editor (2016)