JORNALISMO NAS AMERICAS

Poynter's Joe Grimm gives three tips to journalists using Facebook as a networking tool, encouraging journalists to use the Web site for friends and use sites such as LinkedIn for business connections.

*Be cautious about your personal information, Grimm says. Putting your involvement in or views on politics, activism or religion on your profile may compromise your ability to report on or write a fair, balanced story. However, it'a OK to say that "Casa Blanca" is your favorite movie.

*Add friends to your Facebook network, not strangers. More strangers will weaken the network.

*Don't "friend" sources on your beat. Facebook can be a good way to reach sources, but your story may have implications on your sources that you cannot foresee, and you may not still want to be Facebook friends with your sources when your stories begin affecting them.

As Grimm's tips indicate, networking sites and social media like Facebook have blurred the lines of reporting ethics to many journalists. The Wall Street Journal recently implemented new, rather rigid, policies regarding social networking sites for its staffers, Kevin Roderick reports for LA Observed.

Here are some of The Journal's new guidelines:

*"Consult your editor before 'connecting' to or 'friending' any reporting contacts who may need to be treated as confidential sources. Openly 'friending' sources is akin to publicly publishing your Rolodex."

*"Let our coverage speak for itself, and don't detail how an article was reported, written or edited."

*"Don't discuss articles that haven't been published, meetings you've attended or plan to attend with staff or sources, or interviews that you've conducted."