What could be wrong with signing this pledge in exchange for the opportunity to post at Dan Gillmor’s Bayosphere?
I agree to be accurate, complete, fair and transparent in my postings on Bayosphere. I will operate with integrity.
I work in the community interest.
I report and produce news explaining the facts as fairly, thoroughly, accurately and openly as I can.
- Fair: I’m always listening to and taking account of other viewpoints;
- Thorough: I learn as much as I can in the time I have, and point to original sources when possible;
- Accurate: I get it right, checking my facts, correcting errors
promptly and incorporating new information I learn from the community;- Open: I explain my biases and conflicts, where appropriate.
I
may also provide reviews (such as a critique of a movie or book) and
commentary with a point of view based on facts, but I will have no
significant financial or otherwise direct connection (membership,
affiliation, close relationship, etc.) with an interested party.If I do have such connections, I’ll disclose them prominently, and my work may be labeled and/or categorized appropriately.
I agree, as an active member of this community, to help uphold the
integrity of this pledge by challenging and reporting inappropriate
postings or abuse.
Briefly, I see nothing wrong with it and it seems to be well thought out, comprehensive, and fair. If you want to work here, Dan seems to be saying, then these are the rules. A benefit accruing to Bayosphere is that readers will know that community intends generally to take the high road.
So what’s my beef?
I often write with passion, attempting to engage my reader through the use of all manner of contrivance. I write with conviction, and I write from the heart. I think I can be truthful and produce meaningful work without being fair, without being accurate, without being complete. Does Dick Cheney deserve a level playing field? If I came across facts related to the use of slave labor by the Bechtel Corporation, would my pledge constrain me to also report that they sponsor a little league team or three?
I have in front of me the 2024 edition of the AP Stylebook. On page 77 I am informed that "Dripolator" is a trademark for a brand of drip coffee maker. This leads me to question whether "Melitta" will also be mentioned. Pause a moment while I look it up… by golly, "Melitta" seems to have been omitted. How thorough is that? If you can’t trust the AP Stylebook to deliver thorough and well researched even-handed material, then who can you trust? Or should that be whom? Did Norm Goldstein sign a pledge? Does anybody else think he may have blown it by including one trademarked coffee brewing system and ignoring another? These are the little things that taking the pledge will lead one to think about, and frankly I just don’t have the time.
I think Dan’s pledge is well intentioned and will help him control a positive outcome for Bayosphere. If I had Bay Area news to contribute with any regularity, I’d probably sign the pledge. I’m also the kind of guy who casually agrees to the terms and conditions of downloaded software licenses ("click here if you want to use what we’re selling you.") That’s an ethical lapse on my part all the way around, of course. I shouldn’t agree to terms and conditions I have no intention of reading, and I shouldn’t project an entry into the Bayosphere without agreeing in my heart to conform.
But just as I’ll be less likely to freelance an article for Details than I will for Mother Jones, I’m unlikely to be the quality of regular contributor that Dan would like to see at Bayosphere, so this is all academic really.
With the pledge, Dan has set a tone, established boundaries and guidelines for the benefit of contributors and readers alike. Writers with something to contribute will conform to the guidelines. I’ll leave it to someone else to fisk-it-funny. But if I refuse to say the pledge of allegiance (and I generally do), then why would I sign a pledge relating to what are essentially format guidelines?
Bayosphere is Dan’s enterprise and he can call for a pledge if he wants to. But I think I could make an argument that a person can be honest and true and break most of the implicit rules associated with the Bayosphere Pledge.
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