Why some journalists have more freedom than others when it comes to sharing views on Twitter

A few weeks ago I read (in print media, ironically) that Twitter was going to close all of its many dormant accounts. That, I knew, meant me, as I hadn’t tweeted anything in five years. So with some help from millennial colleagues, I relaunched myself on social media. I am still getting the hang of it.

We at The Independent are required to state that views expressed in Twitter are ours (as opposed to The Independent’s), which I think is wise, all things considered, and suits both sides, within bounds. Yet now there are calls for journalists or political journalists or media presenters (it varies) to be asked not to do the political or party political stuff.

All of this is problematic. Political reporters should certainly lay off; and for the rest of us, it would be odd if The Independent put up with hate speech or incitement to terror among its staff and contributors. But what about, say, calling Boris Johnson a liar? Or getting involved in the trans rights debate? Or making fun of the Labour leadership contest?

It seems to me that broadcast and print/digital political journalists (ie reporters, not commentators) ought to keep away from such things for obvious reasons, and would even be well advised – you can’t really do more than this – not to cast a vote in any political election. Like civil servants, they should be bound by certain ethics.

The rest of us, though, should be allowed our interactions, and I am certainly enjoying my time on Twitter. I have, though, been accused by colleagues of catfishing, because my “byline” pic is so old. In fact, it is a great newspaper tradition to use absurdly out of date mug shots of their hacks (though I’ve no idea why). Besides, I had no idea Twitter was a dating app as well. If I had, maybe I’d have also kept some of my dafter opinions about politics and Leicester City Football Club to myself. The catfishing doesn’t seem to have worked anyway.

Yours,

Sean O’Grady

Associate editor