New York Times editor Dean Baquet advises employees to relax on Twitter

New York Times wants its employees to reduce their Twitter usage, according to a memo sent Thursday from executive editor Dean Baquet to all employees.

“For some time, I’ve heard serious concerns from colleagues in the newsroom about the challenges that Twitter presents,” Baquet’s note began, which was obtained and reviewed by The Daily Beast. “We can rely too much on Twitter as a reporting or feedback tool — which is especially harmful to our journalism when our feed becomes a feedback booth. We can over-focus on how Twitter will react to our work, at the expense of our mission and independence. We may make unreasonable responses that damage our journalistic reputation. And for too many of you, your experience of Twitter is shaped by harassment and assault. “

The memo, first reported by Insider’s Steven Perlberg, continues: “Clearly we need to re-establish our stance on Twitter towards the newsroom. So we’re making some changes.”

Among the social media policy changes, Baquet announced that “maintaining a presence on Twitter and other social media is now completely optional for Times journalists.” . He writes that many employees want to “stay away” from tweeting, and that the article will “encourage you to significantly reduce the time you spend on the platform.”

Baquet has also announced an internal support team Times journalists fall victim to threats and harassment on social media. “We take these attacks extremely seriously, and we know how this abuse affects a colleague’s health, sense of security, and ability to get work done.”

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That policy is ostensibly a response to criticism from reporters, especially in the past Times notes Taylor Lorenz, on its handling of reporting of online harassment and social media use of journalists.

The Times the editor also tries to warn against “tweets or subpages that attack, criticize, or undermine the work of your colleagues.” with our social media guidelines. “

Social media policy changes occur when Times journalists told The Daily Beast that the newspaper’s managers recently changed their attitude towards Twitter, arguably the most popular app for journalists wanting to share their work, capture attention from other publications and interact directly with their readers — or their fiercest critics.

“Twitter is not our editor” is a phrase currently being used by members on the headlines, multiple employees told Beast. Other employees lamented that Twitter had become less useful to reporters as it had “gradually sunk” into what is usually just a “disgusting crowd…flying crowd”.