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Leading news organisations of the country, Bennett and Coleman & Co Ltd (BCCL) and Kasturi & Sons Ltd, released their social media diktats over the past one month and caused much debate. The policies are aimed at regulating the use of social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter by journalists on their rolls. While some called the guidelines necessary, since the medium is new and evolving, others cried hoarse over their 'restrictive' mandates.

A quick comparison with global news majors, however, reveals that Indian media houses have a lot of ground to cover. Almost all major global news agencies like Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, Reuters, and the British Broadcasting Corporation have detailed social media policies in place for the last two to three years. Also, the policies of Indian news outlets are relatively raw when it comes to how their employees can use social media to disseminate as well as gather news.

This could be due to the fact that social media is only now becoming prominent in the country, in contrast to the West. Also, there have not been many high-profile incidents where organisations have landed in serious trouble or have been embarrassed by what their employees have shared on social media.

More Indian news organisations are expected to come up with social media policies in the future, according to experts. And existing social media policies will also get significantly tightened since content posted on these sites has unforeseen legal, economic and social implications.

The managements of news organisations now understand the reach which social media has, says Mahesh Murthy, founder and CEO of digital media agency Pinstrorm. "The thought process is not restricted to the main handle of the organisation but also of the individual journalist." But, organisations can't claim a stake to the personal accounts of journalists, he adds.

The Hindu (published by Kasturi & Sons Ltd) created quite a stir when it barred its journalists from retweeting or sharing articles of rival media companies. The UK-based broadcaster, SkyNews, released a similar policy in 2012. Its latest policy for 2013-14 says, "You should never retweet any content that we would not be prepared to put on any of our platforms."

AFP encourages its journalists to have social media accounts. However, they are not allowed to tweet or share AFP content even after a delay. AP discourages employees from offering views on controversial topics because it may reflect the journalist's bias. AP also tells it staff not to 'friend' or 'like' political candidates because that may create a perception that the agency's journalists are advocates.

This may in some way curtail a journalist's ability to cultivate sources online. But the organisation is erring on the side of caution.

Murthy says one way to solve this issue is to encourage journalists to have both personal and officials accounts like the way they have email accounts. "The official one can toe the organisation's social media policy and the journalist should be free to post whatever he/she likes on the personal account." He adds if the organisation controls even the personal account, it will be more destructive than constructive since the handle will become a tool to broadcast its own stories leading to boring content. "The journalist will drop on the engagement index and the followers may leave, it will only be a loss for the organisation." And, even if a journalist chooses to make a controversial statement, till the time it is from the personal account, the organisation should not care. "That is what freedom of speech is about."

AP also discourages its employees from interacting directly with readers. "Any response we make to a reader or viewer could go public. Email, Facebook messages and Twitter direct messages may feel like private communications, but may easily find their way to blogs and political pressure groups, attorneys and others. In the case of a story or image that stirs significant controversy, the editor is likely the best person to reply, rather than the person who created the content," the policy says.

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Social media policy for journalists lags in India