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S. Camille Broadway.
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Examples of site policies

Setting policies about Web content is the easiest way to keep out of the minefield of ethical concerns. First it guides each reporter the same way through sticky situations on the Web. Second, it demonstrates to the reader that someone in the organization is thinking about what's going online before it has been thrown on a page. It's a contract with users that the Web site is providing the most credible information it can.

Not every online news provider posts its editorial policy but those that do have several common concerns:

• Disclosure: More and more news Web sites are owned by other news outlets or by businesses with other, often more commercial, interests in the Web. Being up front about these entanglements lets readers judge potential biases for themselves.
• Advertisements: Advertisements should be displayed in a way that they are not confused with content. Special advertising sections should be prominently marked as such.
• Corrections: News organizations need to set policies about corrections. Unlike a newspaper, corrections can often be corrected before many readers have accessed the page. Unfortunately, this ability to change things seamlessly also may encourage news sites not to post corrections. In addition to changing the original content, some sites post corrections in another section of the site. Other news organizations mark each story that has been corrected.
• Linking: Because a news site can link to both other sources and to advertisers, a clear linking policy is helpful to readers to tell them when or if the linking has been paid for and how the site intends to deal with potentially offensives links from news stories. For example, if the story is about the abortion debate, what is the Web site's policy about linking to anti-abortion sites with potentially disturbing pictures of fetuses? If the news site is reviewing software, what is the Web site's policy about linking to the software manufacturer?
• Privacy: Reading the newspaper, listening to the radio and watching television are fairly anonymous activities, not so with reading news online. Because of technology like "cookies," Web sites can track information about users. Policies need to state what type of information is being collected, how it is being collected and who will see and use the information.

Here are examples of online policies:

• CNET policies
• ZDnet.com privacy statement
• TheStreet.com disclosure policy
• American Society of Magazine Editors new media guide