Thursday, August 3: Read the second post in this series: Don’t Plagiarize!
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This is the first post in a series called “How to Avoid a Blogosphere Scandal.”
The advice can apply to anyone at anytime, but the primary audience is bloggers.
In my short blogging career, I’ve discovered that the more critical and on-point you are about what’s going on in the world, the more detractors will try to dig up dirt on you, “out” you, or hunt for shortcomings, secrets, contradictions, and hypocrisy. People who don’t like you or what you have to say will always look for ways to trip you up. Don’t give them the satisfaction.
Disclosure
Most professions have rules or guidelines about disclosing conflicts or potential conflicts of interest. For example, the preamble to the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics states:
The duty of the journalist is to further those ends by seeking truth and providing a fair and comprehensive account of events and issues. Conscientious journalists from all media and specialties strive to serve the public with thoroughness and honesty. Professional integrity is the cornerstone of a journalist’s credibility.
While we may question mainstream media’s truth-seeking ability or whether they truly strive to provide a “fair” account of events, I believe that in general, most journalists recognize that with a free press comes responsibility. The press serves as a check on government. Part of its duty is to make sure we the people know what’s going on. While I trust the media in theory to tell me the truth, I know that no human is truly objective. As long as I know the source of information is left-leaning, for example, I can make judgments about the fairness (or unfairness) of the coverage, even though events may be factual.
According to SPJ, “Journalists should be free of obligation to any interest other than the public’s right to know.” That means reporters should disclose potential conflicts that interfere with the “right to know.” Whether or not bloggers consider themselves journalists, we should be under a similar obligation. Bloggers pride themselves on being transparent. That doesn’t mean we’re obligated to tell all our business. It means that we’re obligated to let readers know if we’re being paid to blog about a certain topic or person.
Friday, August 4: This post is closed. Resume the discussion at 
I write about race a lot because I feel I have something important and different to say than what’s currently coming from the airwaves, print and online media, black church pulpits, college campuses, and all the rest. 
If I had my laptop with me, I’d live-blog 
Reverend Grant Storm (pictured left with Ward Connerly) is a minister and activist in New Orleans who believes, like all Bible-believing Christians, that man is dead in his sins and needs spiritual cleansing. Without addressing spiritual poverty, there’s little point talking about “morality.” Without God, what is morality? Whose morality is it? Storm, Peterson, and I believe that people are responsible for their own behavior but agree that government dependency makes it easier for people to give in to their sin nature. 
