Should aspiring journalists express their, perhaps controversial, opinions on WordPress and Twitter?
“It’s not a good idea,” says Press Gazette Editor Dominic Ponsford. “I am going to disagree with you here,” says Jon Bernstein, Deputy Editor of the New Statesman. Now, had this been a cartoon you’d see question marks rising above the students in the lecture hall, as these two highly regarded journalists agree to disagree.
Mr Ponsford, chair on the ‘pimp my blog’ panel debate at City University, says that he didn’t “dare to express opinions” during his first 10 years as a journalist. He recommends journalism students to take an unbiased approach to blogging as any strong political opinions could lead to difficulties finding a job. Bernstein on the other hand says: “Speak your mind, if you have something to say, go for it.”
If these students did have an opinion, they might say this is confusing.