The power point presentation given to a class at the University of Utah in September, 2008. The topic is fact checking and accuracy and I shared my code of ethics for blogging.

1. Nigel Swaby

2. Fact Checking & Accuracy Your responsibilities as a blogger

4. Bloggers Obtained Influence … officials said whoever gets credentials will have the same opportunities to cover the four-day event that journalists enjoy. "We want to treat them just the same as other reporters," said Mike Liddell, the convention's director of online communications. "We're even planning to do a breakfast for them the first day of the convention." The Republican Party recently decided that it will also give bloggers credentials for its convention later this summer. Washington Post 07/25/2004

5. Bloggers Became Recognized Mr. Graff, 23, may be the first blogger in the short history of the medium to be granted a daily White House pass for the specific purpose of writing a blog, or Web log. A White House spokesman said yesterday that he believed Mr. Graff was the first blogger to be given credentials. New York Times – 03/07/2005

6. Blogging Produces Results!

7. Positive… Five years of blogging has brought Jeff Ooi a measure of notoriety. His biting posts on Malaysian politics sparked police investigations. A pro-government newspaper sued him for libel. A prominent politician compared bloggers to monkeys in a lawless jungle. In January, as Malaysia braced for national elections, a new banner went up on his blog (www.jeffooi.com): Get a Blogger Into Parliament. Fueled by donations and manpower, Mr. Ooi easily defeated a ruling-party candidate to win a parliamentary seat on Penang Island. Christian Science Monitor – 8-28-08

8. Negative… The federal agency insuring bank deposits learned that it can't afford to ignore the blogs following its seizure this month of IndyMac Bank, the largest bank failure since the 1980s. "The blogs were a bit out of control," Sheila Bair, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., told the San Francisco Business Times after a speech in San Francisco this week. That's putting it mildly. Following the FDIC's takeover of IndyMac on July 11, widely followed blogs were speculating on bank runs on some of California's largest banks based on nothing more than people waiting for their branch to open or large deposits moving between financial institutions. The FDIC plans to pay closer attention to the blogosphere in the future. San Francisco Business Times – 07-21-08

9. With Influence Comes Responsibility

10. Freedom of Speech Trumps Journalism Standards Bloggers can write just about anything without suffering repercussions.

16. Anonymity Will Determine Risks Taken on a Blog

17. Anonymity has its advantages…

18. But accuracy will retain credibility.

21. Non-anonymous Bloggers Must…

22. Non-anonymous Bloggers Must… Determine the purpose of their blog.

24. Accuracy is Important Whether you’re a blogger or a journalist.

36. Bloggers Must Come Up With Their Own Set of Ethics

37. CASE STUDIES A Practical application of ethics in real life.

38. CASE STUDY Casey Serin

50. CASE STUDY Zareh Tahmassebian

62. CASE STUDY Riverbottoms Scandal

65. Riverbottoms Scandal – Dave Fox

69. Riverbottoms Scandal – Brad Kitchen

81. Conclusions Bloggers must come up with a code of ethics to protect their reputations, accuracy and the reputations of their subject matter.

86. Nigel Swaby [email_address]