Saturday, May 07, 2011

UK To Regulate Reporter's Twitter Feeds. And This Blogger Shows Them Where To Start...

Why do we fear big government in the United Sates?  Because the beast must be fed.  And in Great Britain, the beast is now feeding on...Twitter feeds.  Not just anybody's, though.  Not yet.  For the moment, they are simply regulating the feeds of...their media:

Reporter and newspaper Twitter feeds are expected to brought under the regulation of the Press Complaints Commission later this year, the first time the body has sought to consolidate social media messages under its remit.

The PCC believes that some postings on Twitter are, in effect part of a "newspaper's editorial product", writings that its code of practice would otherwise cover if the same text appeared in print or on a newspaper website.
 An online working group of the PCC has already recommended that the body undertake a "remit extension", the formal mechanism by which the self-regulatory body takes on a new area of responsibility, after consulting with the newspaper industry as to how Twitter regulation can be implemented.


Because big governments are full of" self-regulatory bodies taking on  new areas of responsibility".  Which invariably result in taking away your responsibilities, which is just a nice way of them relieving you of certain freedoms and assigning them to themselves.
 
Now I wonder if the BBC's reporters will also fall under this regulatory net?  Or will the government turn a blind eye to its personal, taxpayer-financed propaganda outlet?
 
Because if you are ever going to regulate a Twitter feed, well...meet BBC'er Richard Lemming, tweeting under the appropriate handle dickdotcom:
 



What? Regulating the Twitter account of a media employee who echos liberal viewpoints is not what the PCC had in mind?  Then who, or what type of content, where they planning on regulating?
 
Oh, wait.  Don't tell me, I can guess where this is going...

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