Over the past few years, social networks have become an extremely powerful tool for every journalist, whether it’s here in the United States or elsewhere across the world. But social networks like Twitter and Facebook aren’t just a venue for sharing links or live-tweeting breaking news events, as great as that is — it’s also about the engagement one can have with readers and other fellow journalist. Knowing this, The Times of India has recently implemented a new policy that requires its journalism employees to hand over Twitter and Facebook passwords, as it looks to gain control of what they can and cannot post on their social accounts.
The company shall be the owner of the access passwords, username and associated email address for the User Account, which shall be used by you on behalf of the Company to make posts. Company retains administration rights of the User Account, which shall be made accessible to the Company on demand. It is understood that sharing of such details of the User Account shall be an integral part of your contract with the Company and shall also be necessary for processing any settlement related to termination of such Contract.
According the report from Quartz, the new contract implemented by Benner, Coleman and Company Ltd., also known as The Times Group and publisher of The Times of India, also demands access even after an employee leaves the company. “The company may upload news or other material on the company User Account through any means, including automated upload streams, at its sole discretion, notwithstanding any termination of your contract with the company,” reads another excerpt from the document. What’s more, Quartz says that reporters who have raised concerns over the situation have been told that this “will be addressed in due course” — which, as you can imagine, doesn’t sound promising at all.
Filed under: Internet, Alt
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Via: Fast Company
Source: Quartz