Are Journalists human?

It seems like a silly question. Of course journalists are human. But should they be allowed to act like humans? I read an article posted by the New York Times just a few days ago. The author, Mathew Ingram, was critiquing a new standard for journalists by the American Society of News Editors. In a nut shell, journalists should refrain from social networking. This could mean anything from twitter to Facebook and even Myspace (which is still around I am told).

There have been cases of news editors and reporters losing their jobs over something they tweeted. Does anyone remember the video of President Obama calling Kanye West a jackass after he interrupted Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech at the VMA awards? That video was hilarious – it was such a real moment from the President but we only know about it because Terry Moran, a former White House Correspondant who worked for ABC tweeted it. The network immediately apologized for its employee’s careless behavior.

Apparently, Moran should have apologized for being human. If I were in the same room as the President and heard him say that, I would of course go and tell all my friends and family. It was funny. That’s exactly what this guy did, he also jut told all of his followers on Twitter. Apparently this is bad? Are we as journalists not allowed to separate our social lives from our professional lives? Maybe not, when so many headlines and stories are broken over social media networks (take, for example, the killing of Bin Laden). As a journalist trying to stay on the ball, you would be open to these social media, find your sources and get updated regularly on what’s going on.

So where does that leave a personal life? Or opinions? As journalists, are we working 24-7? Is there never a break? I guess you could answer this question by saying keep a journal; a blog could work too but still people can access your blog. Personally, I think it’s all a little over the top. Journalists are trained to report the facts. That doesn’t mean we don’t have opinions, we just tend to not let them show in our stories. But having something to say on an issue shouldn’t get you fired from your job. Being a social person shouldn’t be a bad thing. I am very perplexed by this whole issue to be honest. I agreed to be a journalist but I didn’t agree to give up my life. Or have feelings, opinions and emotions.

What if being a human being is what makes me a better writer? What if crying with the mom whose son has brain cancer, helps me write a better story? I am not a brick wall. I don’t think journalists should be. We should care about what we are writing about, have passion, have motivation and cry a little if you need to. This isn’t George Orwell’s 1984 – yet anyway. We are still allowed to be people and express ourselves.