Robles did agree with UNITY News on other issues:
I do not however believe that it makes any sense to spend three days training people on social media, and then issue a policy saying that these new tools can be used everywhere except in our own board meetings. That’s nothing short of ridiculous and sends a terrible message. The rich irony of the student who was told not to tweet the board meeting turning around and tweeting nine mistakes that were damaging to the South Florida chapter is not lost on us. But we stand behind the student’s right to live-tweet the board meeting.
Much has changed for NAHJ in the week since the incident. On August 4, board elections brought in a new president, Hugo Balta, who made sure that NAHJ’s live tweeting policy was on the agenda of his first meeting as president that same day. (Salcedo did not run.) After about 45 minutes of discussion, Balta told CJR, the board voted 6-5 to repeal the live tweeting ban. He personally was in favor of lifting the ban. “I first get all of my news and information through my smartphone,” he said. A board that wants to ban one of the most popular forms of spreading information these days, Balta added, “does not realize that people do not consume news and information the way they used to. Not just 15 years ago, but three to five years ago.”
To demonstrate, Balta took to social media to announce the ban repeal, announcing it from his personal Twitter account.
And Khan, the student who kicked off the furor that led to the policy change, said she learned more than she expected from her work at UNITY. “Everything I learned in my classes I actually experienced in real life,” she said.
I'm disappointed that CJR's Storify of my chapter tweets neglected to include the tweet where I reached out to the student asking her to talk to discuss the issue with her personally. The storify gives the impression that it is a full accounting of our conversation, and it is not.
The story also goes to great lengths to expose NAHJ's internal disagreements but fails to discuss the critical broader issue of how news organizations handle their errors in the age of social media. That's the issue that has yet to be resolved, and it's the news CJR missed.
Frances Robles
#1 Posted by Frances Robles, CJR on Tue 7 Aug 2012 at 05:31 PM
Sara Morrison reports "Salcedo did not respond to interview requests." For the record, I never received a request from her to comment.
#2 Posted by Michele Salcedo, CJR on Wed 8 Aug 2012 at 05:37 AM
Ms. Salcedo,
I sent an email to the yahoo.com address listed on NAHJ.org on Monday, August 6, at 10:51 am. Subject was "From Columbia Journalism Review," and it was sent from my Gmail account.
Maybe check your spam folder? I'd be happy to re-send and touch base with you.
Sara
#3 Posted by Sara Morrison, CJR on Wed 8 Aug 2012 at 11:05 AM
Why is the NABJ not party of UNITY?
#4 Posted by Curious, CJR on Wed 8 Aug 2012 at 07:28 PM
NABJ pulled out of UNITY in April 2011. Richard Prince at Maynard Institute wrote about it the time: http://mije.org/richardprince/nabj-pulls-out-unity.
#5 Posted by Sara Morrison, CJR on Wed 8 Aug 2012 at 07:41 PM