Do bloggers need a code of ethics?: Kurt Nimmo discusses the question. Apparently someone (a journalist?) sent him one, and he rejected it. One could comment that a code of ethics is for people who dont have any. But if bloggers were to have one, we probably couldnt do better than derive it from the 'five filters' in Chomsky's 'Manufacturing Consent'.

Rule no.1: Ownership: Own your own blog, keep it small, and make sure it is not motivated by profit, but by a desire to understand and contribute to the world. Anything large, merged, or profit oriented is discredited.

Rule no.2: Advertising: Accept no paid advertising. Any outlet which accepts paid advertising is not a source of information but a tool to sell market segments to advertisers. It has and can have no credibility.

Rule no.3: Sources: Do not regard official sources as anything other than hostile disinformation. Do not attend press conferences or accept press releases. Do not establish or seek to establish relationships with powerful figures. Instead, all of this is the prime material for relentless critical analysis.

Rule no.4: Flak: Reject with contempt criticism emanating from such sources. If you stick to rules 1,2 & 3, they will have no power anyway.

Rule no.5: Ideology: Automatically disbelieve official state ideology, whether war on communism, war on capitalism, war on terrorism or whatever. Its just a plot to regiment and mobilise the population on behalf of elite interests anyway.

One of the features of the Bush administration is that while it has led to a general awakening, there is a misunderstanding that it is all new and horrible instead of merely a further development of longstanding tendencies.

Do bloggers need a code of ethics?: Kurt Nimmo discusses the question. Apparently someone (a journalist?) sent him one, and he rejected it. One could comment that a code of ethics is for people who dont have any. But if bloggers were to have one, we probably couldnt do better than derive it from the 'five filters' in Chomsky's 'Manufacturing Consent'.

Rule no.1: Ownership: Own your own blog, keep it small, and make sure it is not motivated by profit, but by a desire to understand and contribute to the world. Anything large, merged, or profit oriented is discredited.

Rule no.2: Advertising: Accept no paid advertising. Any outlet which accepts paid advertising is not a source of information but a tool to sell market segments to advertisers. It has and can have no credibility.

Rule no.3: Sources: Do not regard official sources as anything other than hostile disinformation. Do not attend press conferences or accept press releases. Do not establish or seek to establish relationships with powerful figures. Instead, all of this is the prime material for relentless critical analysis.

Rule no.4: Flak: Reject with contempt criticism emanating from such sources. If you stick to rules 1,2 & 3, they will have no power anyway.

Rule no.5: Ideology: Automatically disbelieve official state ideology, whether war on communism, war on capitalism, war on terrorism or whatever. Its just a plot to regiment and mobilise the population on behalf of elite interests anyway.

One of the features of the Bush administration is that while it has led to a general awakening, there is a misunderstanding that it is all new and horrible instead of merely a further development of longstanding tendencies.