As the popularity of Twitter has increased among the journalistic community, many reporters, editors and bloggers have begun to include a new sentence at the end of their 160-character bio: “RTs are not endorsements.”

This would hopefully cover journalists and the publications they wrote for in instances where remarks made by reporters on the microblogging platform did not align with the viewpoints of their employers.

This approach was not thorough enough for the Associated Press, which instituted a new social media policy for their staff in November 2011.

“ReTweets, like Tweets, should not be written in a way that looks like you’re expressing a personal opinion on the issues of the day,” the guidelines read. “A reTweet with no comment of your own can easily be seen as a sign of approval of what you’re relaying.”

As a student journalist looking to enter the field soon, I was concerned about this policy, especially from an institution whose name is included in the title of a work many refer to as the bible of the industry. The fighters for freedom of speech were seeing their own rights limited in an attempt to remove all bias.

This mentality has even filtered into Towson University’s policies for student social media use, including blogs created for classroom use and the webpages the Towson Tiger server hosts.

“Towson University is not liable or responsible for the content of any student assignments, regardless of where they are posted,” according to a liability statement on many of the syllabi students are required to read in the department of mass communication.

This removal of responsibility, while understandable in a University setting constantly under threat of legal fire, ignores the idea of free speech on the Web instead of actively arming against it, a practice recently picked up by the football department.

But the fear of libel, plagiarism, hate speech and other harmful use of words shouldn’t stop online communication any more than it should deter spoken word.
It is necessary to have a forum of discussion not only about controversial current events, but as a way for young adults to broaden their global reach and come to their own conclusions based on a flood of information and opinions.

Our staff is not an exception to this idea. While on Towerlight business, editors, reporters, photographers, videographers and all staff members represent The Towerlight, as well as themselves, as para-professionals.

But in terms of their social media accounts, having their name printed in The Towerlight staff box does not alter their right to freedom of speech.

The opinions expressed in Tweets and reTweets of Towerlight staff members, as well as posts on their Facebook profiles or fan pages, personal blogs, and other social media platforms, reflect only their thoughts and beliefs, even when related to content hosted on The Towerlight’s website.

We aim not to facilitate or restrict social media use, but encourage the generation of positive discussion in a marketplace of ideas.