The Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas recently released two digital books in Spanish, "Ethical Guidelines for Online Journalism," originally published in English by the Poynter Institute, and "10 Best Practices for Social Media," by James Hohmann and the American Society of News Editors. The Spanish versions were translated and introduced by Colombian journalist Guillermo Franco. Both e-books are available for free download as PDFs in the Knight Center Digital Library.

Do journalists need rules to guide their use of social media? How can journalists balance professional and personal lives on social media? What are the implications of friending or following someone on a social network? These are just a few of the questions addressed in the "Ethical Guidelines for Online Journalism." The book also addresses ethical dilemmas regarding user-generated content, and how to make corrections to published articles online, among others.

"This document is a good contribution to the discussion," Guillermo Franco writes in the introduction.

"The document was originally published in 2006-2007 but it was intended to be continually updated. Its layout (principles, protocols, questions) provides the framework for a discussion," Franco adds. Social media issues are covered in the second of the two books.

"These two books we're now releasing in Spanish had a great impact when they were originally released in the United States and they deal with themes and challenges that are still not completely solved in the important process of adapting journalism to the new media ecosystem," said professor Rosental Calmon Alves, founder and director of the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas.

"I think we're making an important contribution to the debate on these topics by publishing these two versions in Spanish by Guillermo Franco, one of the most distinguished specialists in Latin American digital journalism. Both contain important experiences, valuable recommendations and other topics that warrant further discussion," professor Alves said.

Referring to the "10 Best Practices for Social Media," Franco said it contains some problematic suggestions that, while they need not be applied universally, serves as an excellent jumping off point for discussing how to best address the region's unique challenges.

"I say 'discussion' because I believe the guidelines for social media and codes of ethics should come from dialogue and consensus, not imposition. Surely, the worst thing an organization could do is blindly copy these guidelines without recognizing the context in which they operate," Franco said.

Guillermo Franco, author of "How to write for the web," has more than 20 years experience in journalism, dedicating the last 10 years to digital journalism. Franco has spent the largest part of the his career with the Colombian newspaper El Tiempo and its website, ElTiempo.com, the most visited site in the Andean country. From 2000 to 2008, Franco was the managing editor for new media content for El Tiempo and editor-in-chief for ElTiempo.com He currently works as a consultant, writer and teacher.

"Ethical Guidelines for Online Journalism" and "10 Best Practices for Social Media" are, respectively, the ninth and tenth e-books published by the Knight Center. All the of the publications are available online for free in the Knight Center's Digital Library. E-books are published in English, Spanish and Portuguese with over 200,000 downloads. These resources are read and shared by thousands of journalists, students and professors across the Western Hemisphere.

"We're very thankful that the American Society of Newspaper Editors and the Poynter Institute allowed us to translate their work in Spanish. And to Guillermo Franco, who initiated this project," professor Alves said.

The Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas was created in 2002 by Professor Rosental Alves at the University of Texas at Austin School of Journalism. It was funded with a generous donation from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The Center also receives contributions from other donors, including the Open Society Foundations and The University of Texas at Austin. The Center's main goal is to help journalists in Latin American and the Caribbean improve the quality of journalism in their countries.