For over five years, I’ve been gathering my writings online into the blog Orient Lodge. When I moved to Woodbridge, I started writing about what is going on in town and over the past year, the Woodbridge section of my blog has grown considerably. Yet recently, I received a request that planted the seeds for creating the Woodbridge Citizen. A fellow townsperson asked if she could write an article for my blog about Woodbridge. She pointed out that she was an experienced journalist and that she had valuable insights about what was going on in town beyond what I knew of. Orient Lodge has always been specifically for my writing, but I recognized that she had a point, so I have created The Woodbridge Citizen.

In December, I attended one board meeting in town where a board member offered his opinion to me, starting off with “from one citizen to another” and ending “and you can put that in your blog”. It seems like this is a good tag line for the Woodbridge Citizen. It is intended to be from one citizen to another and to be shared online.

Another person has suggested that the focus should be on Woodbridge residents. It is the residents of Woodbridge that get to vote in local elections. One of the most important goals of the Woodbridge Citizen is to help residents become more informed voters. I struggled with whether the site should be called the Woodbridge Resident. However, I think it is important for the people of Woodbridge to hear the voices of people who are not necessarily residents. Employees that work in Woodbridge should be able to have a voice here. People who have moved out of Woodbridge, but still have family here should have a voice. So, the focus is on providing better information to the residents of Woodbridge, but any citizen of our great country that has some sort of stake in Woodbridge should have the opportunity to make their voice heard.

With that, the initial policy of the Woodbridge Citizen is that for people to write on this site, they must fully identify themselves. This matches requirements for speaking at town meetings and is also based on the Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics.

Identify sources whenever feasible. The public is entitled to as much information as possible on sources' reliability.
Always question sources’ motives before promising anonymity. Clarify conditions attached to any promise made in exchange for information. Keep promises.

There are cases where anonymity is necessary, especially in a small town. However, the goal is to keep the unsourced information to a minimum. There is a section on the Contact page where anonymous tips can be provided, and tips will be looked into and written about if appropriate. People wishing to publish their articles on the Woodbridge Citizen are encourage to register, providing full information.

I encourage anyone who considers writing for the Woodbridge Citizen to read through the SPJ Code of Ethics. While I hope that there will be a great volunteer citizen journalism effort here, I hope that it will also be as professional and ethical as possible. I also encourage people who are interested in writing for the Woodbridge Citizen to be acquainted with the basics of laws about online media. There is a great online course about online media law provided for free by News University made possible by the Media Bloggers Association, the Citizen Media Law Project, which is jointly affiliated with Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society and the Center for Citizen Media, the City University of New York's Graduate School of Journalism and Baruch College, and Media/Professional Insurance.

The goal of this is not to try and recreate traditional journalism online. Writers do not have to write in the AP style. In fact, a more breezy and personal approach is encouraged. Likewise, instead of feigning false objectivity, writers are encouraged to make their opinions known. At the same time, this should be done in civilly as possible. Opinions should be backed up with facts supporting the opinions and they should be expressed without unnecessary vulgarity or personal attacks.

The goal of the Woodbridge Citizen is also to promote a diversity of opinion, so it is my hope that those with opinions different from my own will write articles for the Woodbridge Citizen. For more information on how to get involved, please use the Contact form.

I look forward to an exciting future for the Woodbridge Citizen.

(Cross posted at the Woodbridge Citizen.)