There’s a minor, albeit friendly, controversy here. One of the people running for the RTDNA board has set up a Facebook page as part of his campaign. (OK, fine, it’s Chip Mahaney.) And for some reason that’s sparked an ethical, Twitter-driven debate here. (We journalists are awfully fond of making up our own ethical dilemmas.) Should a candidate for the board of a journalistic organization have Facebook friends? Does “friending” a candidate mean you’re telling people you’re going to vote for him? And what would Murrow do? For the love of GOD, what would Murrow do??? (OK, I made the last one up. But you just know it’s going to come up…)
My take: Big deal. Have a Facebook page. Political candidates do. We live our lives online in the social world, so the absence of such a page would be conspicuous. Friending a candidate means nothing more than that. Maybe it’s an implied endorsement, but so what?
