Indian minister Shashi Tharoor isn’t the only one getting into trouble with his Twitter updates.
Indian-born journalist Raju Narisetti too is.
The former editor of the business daily Mint, now a managing editor at The Washington Post looking after features and its website, has fallen foul of the paper’s ombudsman Andrew Alexander for his tweets about the US health care debate and an age limit on politicians (he is in favour of both).
Result: Narisetti made a decision to stop tweeting and shut down his Twitter account.
“He now realises that his tweets, although intended for a private audience of about 90 friends and associates, were unwise.”
One more result: The Post issued new guidelines for its employees on social media which, net-net, said it was problematic for an editor to be seen to have an opinion, in case it gave “ammunition” to those who believe the Post to be biased.
Read the full story: Clipping the wings of journo tweeters
Also read: ‘Good journalists, poor journalism, zero standards’
IJR 
Since when did it become necessary for editors NOT to air opinions? In fact, the traditional rule is that the editor is AN OPINION LEADER. Covering a news item without bias is not the same thing as not having an opinion. Washington Post has lost it. Avoiding bias and conflict of interest should not be confused with not having opinions. Some of the finest editors have had had strong opinions, among them M.J. Akbar, Swaminathan Aiyer and Vinod Mehta.