AIBU to wonder about journalism etiquette?

[WidowWadman]

So my sister who lives in another country like the rest of my family (I moved away) is a journo in a local paper and has a column to write.

Today my mother mentioned to me in passing how she's used a couple of my facebook statuses about my children for her columns.

AIBU to think she should have shared her fee with me at least asked/mentioned that she's using them? My mum isn't even on facebook, so she only knew the stories from having read them in the local rag.

If she asked I wouldn't mind or stop her - I just find it a bit impolite not to ask, but just not sure whether that's just her being her, or whether that's standard procedure.

I don't think stories about other people's children written without their permission would be regarded as particularly ethical.

I think it would have been polite for her to ask! Whether she was a journo or not she is your sister and she is using you as inspiration for something she is working on! sounds cheeky not to ask really, good job you are not upset by it!

She's lucky you're not more upset about her using your personal life as her fodder for her newspaper.

Hide all your statuses from her apart from a select few, especially written just for her eyes and the lolz

FB is a common journalistic resource these days, so she wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary or unethical. Look at it this way: The FB statuses were already in the public domain by virtue of having been published online. All she did was bring them to a wider audience.

Unless the FB statuses were somehow controversial, I think YABU. But fair play for asking.

I think that journalists using Facebook statuses to inform or inspire a piece is fine, but your sister should be making you aware that that is what she's doing because that's a family matter. It is a bit off to use your own sister's life without even mentioning it just out of politeness to a family member.

I doubt it even occurred to her.

And I'll say again, by virtue of having been published on FB it's no longer a family or private matter.

You can't have your privacy cake and then eat it in public.

YABU I'm afraid. You wrote it online, ie published it, so fair enough. Look at all the journalists whose work you enjoy and wonder where they got it and then you'll see. It doesn't affect you or your children adversely in any way so get on with it.

Journalism has reached new heights of laziness and confirmation bias these days. I'm looking forward to next weekend's features on the number of childless women in their late thirties/ forties and the piece about grandparents looking after gc whilst both parents work and resenting it.

OP said the journo relative is in another country (I'm guessing US), and so we have no idea of the state of journalism there.

There are on-going issues affecting British journalism, but using FB for research isn't 'lazy'. (OTOH using stuff from Wikipedia, without giving it a thorough checking first, is!). The internet is a great research tool, and it would be a brave or insane journalist who tried to do without it in this day and age.

Not sure about your 'conformation bias' point, perhaps you could expand?

• Confirmation, not conformation

Charity, i agree with you if it's a Public status, but what if OP has limited her posts visibility to friends and family only? In my view, that would give her a reasonable expectation of privacy.

Journalist with ethics. Good one.

I'm not so concerned about the privacy bit, as indeed I have put it online myself (albeit my FB statuses are only visible to friends and family, and all friends I know personally). They were funny little things my kids came out with, and nothing hugely personal.

I'm just a bit miffed that she lifted them without even mentioning it to me.

Defriend her. If she asks why, you can take great pleasure in telling her and watching her squirm.

TheFallenNinja - please don't generalise - your attitude is narrowminded and insulting to the many thousands of journalists who work very hard to be fair and balanced and often work in shitty and dangerous situtions to file stories and reports that often enable light to be shed on horrendous situations. Yep, in this case it is just a piece of fluff journalism and perhaps the reporter should have thought twice about using her relative's FB status as a filler for her column - but your comments are distasteful and sweeping.

Please tell me she writes for the Daily Mail.

Is it Liz "Postcards from the Exmoor Bronx" Jones??

OP, you are quite right - it is unethical and she should have asked you first.

That's not journalism, though.

That's not journalism, though.

Did she name you or your children? if not and she lives in another county then I really don't think it's that big a deal.

As for her 'fee' if local papers in that country pay the same as they do in the Uk then she's prob earning less than the average McDonalds worker or, quite possibly, doing it for nothing.

If I was using Facebook statuses from my sister, I'd tell her. But I'm not that kind of hack.

Ninja, don't tar all journalists with the same brush.

It's insulting to those who work hard for their copy to be unbiased, truthful and balanced.

And I wish my job was as easy and uncomplicated as using Facebook statuses.

Thanks for the opinions. I don't think I would defriend her. She's my sister and I love her. Not even sure whether to speak to her to be honest, cause I don't want a pointless fight. Just wondered whether I was oversensitive. It's not only that she's not asked me beforehand, but she's not mentioned it after either - so that I would see that and what she's written about my family.