Media practitioners should be regulated by social media protocol - experts

In view of the rise of the social media era, media practitioners should be regulated by a protocol so that they can engage with the new media platform.

Editor for Asia Pacific News Center of Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) Deborah Steele said employees of media companies should know how to use the social media in a way that it would not affect their respective companies.

"As for us, we have our own social media protocol for all ABC employees to help us maintain and enrich our reputation and relevance while taking advantage of the best of what social media offers," she said.

She was speaking at a session entitled 'Journalism, Ethics and Social Media' at the three-day Asia Media Summit (AMS) 2015 here, beginning Tuesday.

Steele said the protocol included that employees did not mix any professional issue with their personal matters.

"We ask our employees not to undermine their (media social) effectiveness at work and not disclose any confidential information obtained through work," she added.

Meanwhile, Barrister and Law Commissioner of Northern Ireland, Dr Venkat Iyer said regulations on media practitioners could either be inappropriate and unworkable than the voluntary regulations or self-regulatory.

"However, the issue is that voluntary regulation faces challenges when it comes to enforcement on persons using the social media platform," he said.

Iyer believes that the connection between law and ethics was important for media practitioners upon engaging the social media platform.

"What is legal is not necessarily ethical to be practised in society," he noted.

Malaysia hosts the 12th AMS 2015 themed 'Transforming Broadcasting in the Social Media Era' with the involvement of 500 media practitioners from around the world sharing their knowledge on broadcast journalism.