Journalism Ethics 101 - Because apparently some of you were never taught the basic ethics of free speech; why censorship is a Really Bad Thing; and why even if you have the freedom to say something, you are not free from the consequences of saying that thing.

Free Speech: Yes, legally free speech only protects you from government censorship. The problem is that free speech does need to be protected outside that as well, otherwise self-appointed censors might actually take it to a government level.

You may think we're protected against that, but it's just words in writing that we all agree to live by. If a political party got strong enough and were unscrupulous enough, they could do away with it.

That's why ALL OF US need to believe in free speech with our whole hearts.

That is no joke. We are the literal front line against the restriction of information & ideas. Yes, even if we are uncomfortable with whatever thing it is. Even if we think the thing romanticizes bad things. Why?

Because if we don't let all ideas & concepts flow we could be plunged into ignorance.

It's happened throughout history, & it's happening even now:
-The Catholic Church did it for centuries.
-The Nazis did it and erased untold numbers of works.
-China's trying to do it now.

So yes, publish Lolita and Twilight and Harry Potter and even the most uncomfortable fanfiction.

Otherwise we actively permit the censorship of ideas, and if we're not careful someone will keep going until we are no longer allowed to have any ideas at all.

Here's the beauty of freedom of speech and freedom of choice though: You don't have to read whatever you don't want to read.

You don't have to read Lolita or Twilight or someone's fanfic that hits all your triggers. The ideas just have to be allowed to flow freely.

Ideas can flow without taking up any space rent-free in your brain. Lovely, isn't it?

And if you should ever need those ideas in the future, they're there! Because they continue to be allowed to exist and you are allowed to find them.

THAT is freedom of speech, kids.

Now onto the consequences of free speech.

Aha! You say, here's where people are not protected! We can criticize the things they published all we want!

And yes, you can. That is allowed. BUT you must be aware of how and when it becomes harmful.

This is something that we cover a LOT in journalism ethics because with a large publication like a newspaper (or another kind of large media), the things that are written or said there can have very dire consequences.

TW: suicide, murder

I'm talking about people committing suicide or killing other people because a news publication publicly revealed sensitive information.

This is why publications and law enforcement agencies do things like not mention a minor's or a victim's name.

And when you suspect you might be in a situation where what you publish could cause someone to do harm, you need to stop and think about it. You need to weigh the consequences. Will it really be worth it to publish this? Do you need to warn anyone to protect themselves?

Because that blood could be on your hands if you don't. And that, I think we all would agree, is something you need to think about before hitting the publish button.

How does this relate back to fanfiction?

It doesn't. Not really. Fanfiction, even RPF, isn't about real things happening to real people because it's fiction. And most people have the ability to tell the difference between what's acceptable in fiction vs. in real life.

However it does relate to the flow of ideas. Specifically in the greater community of fandom, which is very much a large bubble with many bubbles inside of it.

It's this bubbling that amplifies negativity when it happens, & that is where the consequences of free speech comes in

Every negative tweet (post, whatever) you send out has the power to really hurt someone. And because we don't necessarily all know each other well, we don't know how every person will react to our negativity, whether they have the power to say "fuck this noise" and ignore it.

Every negative tweet (post, whatever) you want to send out into the world, you should be thinking about whether that tweet's really worth it, how much it's going to hurt someone. Are your tweets going to amount to bullying? Are your tweets going to cause harm?

If the answer might be yes, even a little bit, you should reconsider. All that pain will be on your hands if you press send. The question is really "Will that pain do any good?"

The answer within fandom is usually no.

tw: child abuse mention, suicide mention

In journalism ethics classes, the answers are case by case, but the one I remember clearly is this: if a priest is committing child abuse, and threatens suicide if you print, then you still need to print it. It helps the children.

tw: suicide mention

But if you're writing an article & a subject is threatening suicide & there's no one it helps, then why print it? Is there any other way to write about it without making someone want to die?

Yeah, it might just be a bluff, but if it's not, is it worth it?

This is the thing I ask myself every time I have a negative thought I want to tweet.

I've stopped myself from tweeting a lot of stuff. I'm glad I did. I DON'T regret 100% of the tweets I didn't post.

tw: pedophilia, racism

Something important: Why are you defending pedophilia in fic, but you're against racism in fic?

It's simple: racism in fiction hurts real people deeply, & it's easy to absorb or copy.

Pedophilia in fiction won't change people's attitudes toward it irl.

tw: pedophilia

That's it. That's literally all it is.

We can tell that pedophilia in fiction is not real and that it's not hurting any actual children.

So unless an author turns out to be hurting real children, we let the idea flow through.

Thanks for coming to the worst TED talk ever, and please stop limiting free speech and bullying people.