Recurring topics in the social media policies of mainstream media

In recent years mainstream media from all over the world have been regulating the behaviour of their journalists as far as reliance on social media is concerned, fearing these new forms of communication might damage the credibility of their institutions. Those who have not yet done so are now facing this unstoppable challenge with concern and have begun to outline guidelines for their social media policies. In order to outline the design of these new policies, this article presents recurring topics in social policies and guidelines by leading media such as The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Reuters, BBC, NPR, AP, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Guardian, and also the ASNE. To identify them, a qualitative content analysis of 22 of these policies has been conducted.