Entrevista : Ética e certificação de sites

Por esta altura do ano costumo receber algumas perguntas de estudantes que estão a terminar trabalhos para cadeiras de Comunicação. Eu tento sempre responder o melhor que posso e  espero contribuir para o seu sucesso. Às vezes saem-me umas preciosidades, outras vezes é complicado. Esta foi 50/50.  A Marta Gonçalves Pereira é estudante do terceiro ano da Universidade Lusófona, e entrevistou-me sobre a certificação de sites, a partir da ideia apresentada por Pat Thornton. Eu na altura quando li o o post de Thornton fiquei com pena de não poder escrever um texto sobre o assunto, mas tinha as minhas dúvidas sobre uma série de coisas. Com estas respostas percebi que dúvidas eram essas e sem querer acabei por me desviar um pouco do assunto inicial, mas a Marta fez um interessante apanhado das minhas ideias no seu trabalho. Abaixo fica a transcrição completa do que lhe disse.

Segunda feira vou postar mais uma entrevista feita por outra aluna da Lusófona, essa mais centrada sobre questões éticas.

1. O que é a certificação de sites?

De acordo com a ideia de Pat Thornton, seria uma forma de destacar sites informativos que cumprissem com certas regras de qualidade e que operassem dentro de práticas correctas. Isto seria uma forma de separar o trigo do joio, os produtores dos parasitas de conteúdos informativos, e valorizá-los pela qualidade do seu trabalho. Isto é o conceito idealista. O lado complicado é a criação de um padrão que teria que ser estabelecido não sabemos por quem e aceite por todos, e consensos numa indústria que se encontra cada vez mais fragmentada é quase impossível. Além disso, um grupo de comunicação pode de repente decidir que a certificação existente não lhe convém e cria uma outra, e depois outro e assim sucessivamente. Mesmo gerida por uma entidade independente, duvido que seja uma realidade funcional.

Nós vemos que em certos produtos existe certificação – nos vinhos, por exemplo – e creio que o princípio seria basicamente o mesmo, a atribuição de garantias de qualidade a um produto por cumprir parâmetros considerados ideais.

2.Justifica-se haver um selo ético online para os sites de informação jornalística?

Justifica haver transparência nos processos jornalísticos, e online é possível ser-se mais transparente devido à natureza do meio. A pergunta deveria ser:

“justifica-se haver um selo etico online para os MEIOS de informação jornalistica?”. Porque não exigimos o mesmo aos jornais, às TVs e às rádios? A diferença está na licença que é atribuída aos meios de comunicação tradicionais, e que obriga os operadores a cumprirem com um grupo de regras, mas se podem ser sancionados por incumprimentos legais, não o são por quebrarem valores éticos ou se produzirem informação de baixa qualidade. Podem dizer que a diferença agora é que qualquer pessoa pode ter um orgão de informação online. Eu digo que antes qualquer pessoa com muito dinheiro podia ter um jornal, uma rádio ou um grupo de comunicação inteiro, esse é o ponto de quebra com o status quo estabelecido dentro do Quarto Poder.

Como o público online não é passivo como o público da televisão, por exemplo, acho que o selo não se justifica. Os próprios utilizadores é que fazem a regulação, escolhendo as fontes que mais confiam e onde se sentem mais à vontade – a informação na web tem um factor de envolvência importante. As televisões não têm selo ético e o telejornal mais visto em Portugal é provavelmente o pior deles todos, a nivel de qualidade e ética, mas é o mais visto. Não é o selo, por mais válido que seja, que vai credibilizar ou atrair mais público. A credibilidade é feita com trabalho, o público é uma questão de saber o que se diz, como, e a quem. O resto acontece por si mesmo.

3. Quais são as vantagens e desvantagens?

Vantagens: o Pat Thornton comparou esta ideia ao selo Creative Commons, o que é um excelente paralelo, ou seja, sendo uma ideia universalmente aceite, existiria forma de promover conteúdos de qualidade sob uma marca comum. Seria como uma espécie de “rede social de conteúdos” onde sabemos que o que circula dentro dessa rede obedece a padrões elevados de qualidade. Essa consensualidade criaria um nível superior de conteúdos, separado dos restantes, que seriam piores, e/ou parasitários.

Desvantagens: essa separação dava logo justificação para começarem a cobrar (mais) pelos conteúdos abrangidos pelo selo. Além disso, quem trabalha sabe que os erros acontecem e às vezes não se faz tudo como se devia. Só quem não faz nada é que nunca falha. O que aconteceria então? Haveria um sistema de controle para verificar esses erros? E seria capaz de avaliar os milhares de sites existentes? E que credibilidade teria o organismo regulador e fiscalizador? Se se pode trabalhar em crowdsourcing, até que ponto o público interviria nas decisões do organismo? E se houvesse quem não aceitasse as condições do selo e criasse um novo, concorrente? Há muitas questões funcionais que prejudicam a criação do selo.

Além disso creio que pode promover a ideia de elite e de clube fechado, o que é exactamente o que na minha web-filosofia se deve evitar.

4. Qual a sua opinião sobre a ideia do selo ético online?

Apesar de ser interessante como conceito, acho que é uma atitude defensiva por parte dos criadores de conteúdos. Acredito na autoregulação e na contribuição dos utilizadore, esses sim os verdadeiros reguladores. O mercado é demasiado competitivo para nos preocuparmos com atitudes protecionistas, é preciso é fazer o melhor que se sabe e esperar ter sucesso. Se falharmos eticamente será o nosso público (e os restantes)que nos irão pedir contas, apontar os nossos erros, e se estivermos a fazer tudo bem podemos até ganhar o respeito dos outros admitindo e corrigindo as nossas falhas. A ética serve para nos orientarmos correctamente nas nossas práticas profissionais e criarmos algo que seja socialmente valioso, neste caso, informação. Mas acho que apesar de ser uma linha de conduta profissional, de nada vale se não houver um empenho pessoal: se houver desonestidade por parte do indivíduo, duvido que não se reflicta na prática do profissional. A certificaçãoexterna é uma boa forma de incentivo mas não vem resolver nada, numa questão que é fundamental para a credibilização de uma actividade fundamental em qualquer sociedade que pretenda viver em liberdade e consciência.

No fundo, acho que é uma boa ideia, e que rapidamente seria desvirtuada por interesses externos.

#interview – Some thoughts on #Journalism for Comunicamos

busy being interviewed long distance from the comfort of home

Esta entrevista pode ser lida em Português aqui

Comunicamos is a UTAD university blog dedicated to Journalism and headed by João Simão. He’s been doing a great effort regarding online journalism, involving students in creating online journalistic contents, and developing projects  for to be journalists, but also for professionals. In his brand new wiki CCPedia he’s gathering  resources and profiles, and different views and experiences in Journalism. He sent me a few questions, and here’s my insight.

1 – What made you want to be a journalist?

I always read newspapers and thought how great was all the stir around them. My dad always worked in cafés and when i was a kid i saw the costumers discussing the news of the newspapers  in hand (usually sports), and become fascinated with what those sheets brought. With time i started to realize the role and value of journalism, especially with television. I can say that my generation is the one who saw the most historical moments live: the fall of the Berlin Wall, the release of Nelson Mandela, the first Gulf War, 9/11, etc. In fact, television showed in the news a country and a world i wasn’t aware of, and couldn’t see anywhere else. But the thought that i could watch History live was decisive, i believe that to be a good journalist you must like History and stories. Then there was always a side of social and civil responsibility that i always cared about, what makes journalism valuable is to inform society in a comprehensive way about the world around it. Who understands the map will know how to guide by it better, and like i said a few times, an enlightened and informed society will make better judgements. Maybe that’s why things are the way they are.

Besides, the image of the adventurous, travelling journalist, dealing with famous people also weighed in. But the job has been more glamorous…

2 – Which positive and negative aspects do you highlight about the job,  in Portugal and in the rest of the world?

What i really like today is that we can have all the information everywhere, and as information  producers/managers this is the most fantastic age for journalists. Of course there’s some misguidance in corporate philosophies and structures which leads them to too many mistakes, but some ships will have to sink. Unfortunately that implies human costs, and i believe there is an unjustified widespread panic about the future of journalism: i think journalists were never needed as they are today, but they must find a way to survive, and in a market dominated by big media companies, slow and resistant to change, disaster is pending. But it’s incredible how fast we can get and spread information, get in touch with people from around the world in real time and have access to stories that  before were limited by geography and speed of traditional media. This has also shattered the traditional information circuit, since the non-journalist citizen (which is a small subversion to the citizen journalist concept) can have access to the same information and broadcast it via it’s own media. This doesn’t overshadow the work of a trained professional, that can work with these elements and develop a product that otherwise alone wouldn’t be able to, and in different formats. It’s a matter of journalists re-evaluate their relationship with their audience.

The negative aspects are the same i saw 15 years ago: the laziness, the dishonesty, the  favouring, the delusion of grandure that the job brings (few journalists are really great professionals, and even fewer are great human beings, which is of more importance): i’ve seen too many journalists acting like they were the center of the attentions, actor in a real stage where in fact the stories don’t belong to them nor they have the leading role, but there are a few that mistake journalism with performing arts. The lack of independence is something scary especially in a country as samll as ours, and now and then it happens to everyone to bow to inattentive wills, but the worst is when that happens sistematically and under the cover of of a personal, political or economical agenda. There is always someone pretending to be a the paladin of truth and independence when there are personal interests involved, damaging to the audience, because they publish the truth they want and not the one they should. And nowadays who lives off plagiarism is playing with fire, it´s more difficult today to be lazy, incompetent and dishonest because the audience knows what they want, and they want the best. Unfortunately there are many companies that promote this carefree culture, and i see some brands degrading rapidly…

Other unbearable situation is the existence of newsrooms the live off the interns, three months at a time. Besides being exploitation of cheap labor, the quality of the news gets worse. The union, the professional license comission ask a lot to journalists but nothing to the corporations, and in Portugal i feel these two institutions quite useless, showing up only in corporative actions, like when defending an associate in court, which they still do. But they compromise with this situation, and their contribution for a better state of journalism in the country is ineffectual, and their efforts totally out of phase with reality.

And finally, the worst of all: i see young journalists completely out of touch with reality, with scarce knowledge in History, Portuguese, unwilling to understand what they see, without knowing who the “other” is and what drives him, without understanding the causes of the event, and obviously unable to ponder the consequences. I was dazzled by Journalism because it looked like a job for smart people, but there is a lot of intelligence missing among young journalists. But some people already told me that it’s not really as bad as i put it.

3 – How do you  see the future of journalism?

Better than many imagine. The activity has won with the new technologies, and there are more things that a well trained and prepared journalist can do inside the news machine. We’ll just have to stop thinking that the media is a pedestal or tribune, and understand that it is something that interacts, lives among and from their audience. There is so much to change and much more to invent and re-invent. But i believe it will be better, more effective an appealing. I don’t believe in the death of journalism, that must be the second oldest job in the world: people have the need to know who they are, where they are and happens in the places they move about, to understand  how the fragments that build their view on the world work together to locate themselves in it. Never this much information has been created and consumed like today. Since information is the product of journalism i only hope good things, but maybe it’s the Phoenix myth. It’s a time for adventurers and pioneers, and not all generations can brag about living in days like these.

4 – What aspects do you believe to be fundamental in Journalism teaching in Portugal?

The bad: too many courses, curricula out of touch with reality, and poor conditions. The good: it’s improving and fast.  In the first class of a Journalism course there should be someone trying to convince the students to change to something else. Like in many other professions this one implies some sort of vocation, and many are accidental tourists. Many others find their calling to be be journalists, but the selection of the students should be more demanding, and above all, realistic. But since teaching is a business of course this is impossible. But remember, you don’t need a degree to be a journalist, but those who have will surely have to be better than those who don’t.

Journalism teaching in Portugal must be re-evaluated, and there should be more investment in labs and projects inside the universities, and create company creation centers, so students can create their own jobs, as the job market is full. And above all, people must understand that beyond providing a solid knowledge base, it is more important to help students to see the world in a broader way, that is the value of the college experience.

And that’s about it. Any questions, remarks or hate mail can be dropped in the comment box below.

#Holidays are over… for now | As #férias acabaram… por agora

Work is the answer | O trabalho é a resposta

I took these last days off the interwebz to get some rest but i have to the result was an utter #fail. I got some exciting news that will probably change my life from September on. Some of you already know what it is, but i will not disclose it here at the blog until everything is settled. Sorry about that. I had some time to think about the blog though and i think it’s going to be moved to my own domain anytime during the next month. I’ll let you know then, this is just a heads-up.  I still believe in the blogging platform, and i’ll aggregate to it the other channels i use to divert some content like links and short comments, but keep on blogging some more hardcore ideas. Still, i’ll be busy until the end of the month so don’t expect much writing from me. I’ll do less, but hopefully more interesting. I’ve been reading a lot of saved and new posts that made me sure that we are already in a new phase in media, and many of the arguments of the death of this and that are a complete waste of time. If it’s good and captivates people’s minds and hearts the medium is not important. If it has quality and adds value to people’s lives, it can be profited from. And the end of the transition phase from print to digital is over, as we are witnessing new developments in the way information is presented. Now the frontier is mobile, in community  and in real time. More about that in another post. For now i recommend one thing for (young) journalists: before knowing video, coding, flash etc, you need to know how to do journalism. Without it, the technical skills are rather pointless for this job. Get the Reuters’ Handbook and have a nice summer. I’m back.

Tirei estes últimos dias de folga das internetes para descansar mas redundou tudo num tremendo #fail. Tenho algumas notícias excitantes que irão provavelmente mudar a minha vida a partir de Setembro. Alguns de vocês já sabem do que se trata,mas não vou revelar agora aqui no blog até estar tudo resolvido, desculpem-me os restantes. Apesar de tudo tive algum tempo para pensar sobre o blog e penso que vou movê-lo para o meu próprio domínio durante o próximo mês. eu aviso-vos, este é apenas um pré-aviso. Ainda acredito no blog como plataforma, e vou agregar-lhe os outros canais que uso para dirigir alguns conteúdos como links e pequenos comentários, mas  usar o blog para ideias mais fortes. Mesmo assim vou andar ocupado até ao fim do mês por isso não esperem muita escrita minha. Vou fazer menos, mas , espero eu, mais interessante. Tenho lidos muitos posts que guardei e novos que me dão a certeza de que estamos já numa nova fase dos média, e que os argumentos da morte disto e daqui são uma total perda de tempo. Se for bom e cativar as mentes e os corações das pessoas o meio não importa. Se tem qualidade e acrescenta valor à vida das pessoas, pode gerar receita. E o fim da fase de transição do impresso para o digital está no fim, assim que assistimosa novos desenvolvimentos na forma como a informação é apresentada. Agora a fronteira é móvel, em comunidade e em tempo real. Mas mais sobre isso noutro post. Para já recomendo uma coisa aos  (jovens) jornalistas: antes de saberem video, programação, flash etc, precisam de saber como fazer jornalismo. Sem isso, todas as competências técnicas são inúteis para esta profissão. Leiam o Reuters’ Handbook e tenham um bom Verão. Estou de volta.

Taking a break | Fazer uma pausa

Jonathan Viner is my favorite painter

For some time now i haven’t been doing as much work as i wanted. There are several reasons for that, but i guess in the end it all ends up in fatigue. I’ve been worried about getting funding for my MA, i’m not delivering anything new here, and some things have just stopped working. Not to say my analogic life is a mess: no job, no money, and all the small things tend to pile to Himalayan proportions. So it’s time to get some rest and put my shit together. I’m contemplating a few changes in my my life and in my work, and i need a clear mind to sort it out, something i cannot do when trying to keep up with all the stuff that’s going on and babble about it. I need a reboot. This break can last until next monday, a week or even two, it depends. Since i’m not going anywhere (i mean, travel) i’ll be checking my email and do some twittering, hopefully from a café by the beach. So you can get in touch that i’ll be looking out. See you in a couple of days.

Há já algum que não tenho trabalhado tanto como queria. Há várias razões para isso, mas acho que tudo se resume a cansaço. Tenho andado preocupado em arranjar financiamento  para uma pós-graduação, e não estou a fazer nada de novo aqui, e há coisas que deixaram de funcionar. Sem falar na minha vida analógica que está uma desgraça: sem trabalho, nem dinheiro, e as pequenas coisas ganham proporções  Himalaicas. É tempo de descansar e reagrupar. Estou a contemplar algumas mudanças na minha vida e no meu trabalho, e preciso de clareza de espírito para me orientar, algo que não consigo fazer a acompanhar tudo o que se passa e resmungar sobre isso depois. Preciso de reiniciar. Esta pausa pode demorar até próxima segunda, uma semana ou até duas. Como não vou a lado nenhum (de viagem) eu vou vendo os emails e twittar, de preferência a partir de um café na praia. Eu vou estar atento. Até daqui a uns dias.

Links for today | Links para hoje

• A lesson worth learning: 5 tips for building a successful hyperlocal site, Editor’s Weblog

The key guidelines for a hyperlocal site are reportedly as such:

1. Skilled staff is imperative- a functioning site requires the input of both content and technological minds. Contributors need to be dedicated to the cause and integrated within the larger organisation.

• Let’s Screw Up the Entire Internet to Save Newspapers, Gawker

You can copyright a news story, but you can’t copyright the news. “The news” just means “things that happen in the world.” What would it mean, in practice, to make it illegal to paraphrase a copyrighted news story? Summing up, for example, political events, or a sports controversy, or even a fashion trend, could be interpreted as paraphrasing copyrighted material. So let’s ban talking about anything. And banning links will help us make our references even more obscure, by making it impossible for anyone to refer to source materials! Good idea, Posner. This gross oversimplification makes you look none too freedom-loving!

• Multimedia apps for journalists, Adam Westbrook for Innovative Interactivity

A small blog article about two months ago proved to be one of the most successful in the five years I’ve been blogging. It listed a dozen or so free applications available on the internet to help multimedia journalists create great pieces.

Well a revision is well overdue; there’s a few of the old ones, which I’ve really enjoyed using, plus many new ones. As always this isn’t a comprehensive list, but these are ones which, to have in your arsenal, give you great potential as a multimedia journalist.

• A free-lance prototype: multimedia and entrepreneurial, OJR

The University of Virginia prepared Jason Motlagh very well for his career has a free-lance foreign correspondent.

When he applied to take a journalism elective course, he was rejected because he wasn’t an English major. When he applied for a job as food columnist at the school paper, he was also rejected.

But Motlagh persisted, and eventually won a spot on the school paper as travel columnist. His specialty: Travel to fascinating world spots on very low budgets.

Voila. Today Motlagh has five years of free-lance foreign  correspondence under his belt and, in many respects, he is the prototype for the journalist of the future: a free-lancing, multimedia correspondent who knows how to market his work and live on a tight budget.

• Is Outlawing Links A Way To Save Newspapers?, Sean P.Aune

For those of you unfamiliar with the theory of linking and how it works, it’s a fairly simple concept.  Take me linking the word “TechCrunch” above.  I chose to link to the actual story Ms. Schonfeld wrote, so now when this post is published he will receive a notice called a “trackback” that allows him to know that I referenced his article in my post.  This will also be used by search engines to see how relevant his post is and how much credence they should give it.  The more links a site or story receives, the more importance a search engine puts on it, and the more chance of people searching on the appropriate terms will see it.

Essentially, links are the life’s blood of blogging.

• Rupert Murdoch’s War On Bloggers Explodes,  American Blog

John Hartigan is full of shit. Bloggers have gone to jail for their work, and to protect their sources, in North Korea, Iran, Egypt, the list of countries persecuting bloggers grows longer by the week. And the CEO of Australia’s biggest news corporation doesn’t know this?

The jailing of bloggers for speaking too much truth is obviously not the kind of news that John Hartigan, a Rupert Murdoch CEO, is interested in. How could he not know about those jailing and prosecutions.