In further defense of uncomfortable comments
April 10 cover of the Post-Dispatch's Go! magazine.
Cross-posted from The Editors Desk, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch‘s blog about the news industry and our news organization.
In early August, STLtoday.com started allowing readers to post comments on our news stories (in addition to our blogs). We’ve discussed the reasons behind that decision and how we monitor story comments before. But it bears a re-examination in the wake of one story late last week. More on that in a moment.
Increasingly, we know that the audience for news and information online is not a passive one. More and more, readers are looking to be engaged and to interact with the media that they read and watch. A survey last year by the Associated Press Managing Editors group backed up that point — although the readers split evenly (at the time) over whether comments enhanced or hurt the credibility of news sites.
“Many of us have come to recognize that the age of ‘We report it, and you read it and view it’ is over,” said Howard Finberg at the time. He is director of interactive learning at the Poynter Institute, a Florida think tank on journalism. “The audience has demanded much more.” Read more
Kurt's Tweets- Realizing how woefully out of touch I have been with this part of the county. (@ Saint Louis Bread Company) http://4sq.com/5z5Bfh
- Just had my first Gmail phone call -- with my parents -- and the quality was fantastic. Wow. http://tcrn.ch/a8GndI
- Another day, another interview. Fingers crossed. (@ Saint Louis Bread Co) http://4sq.com/avGImL
- Helping my son learn the first 20 elements on the periodic table. Disturbed by how many more elements there are since I studied this stuff.
- Giving blood. (@ St. Martin's Episcopal Church) http://4sq.com/aiWuEk