Interesting stuff I saw online, Mar. 30 to Apr. 20
Here’s some of the stuff I thought was interesting while stomping through the Internet from Mar. 30 through Apr. 20:
- Chicago Tribune: Newspapers try to maintain civil, intelligent conversations with readers – News organizations increasingly are trying to figure out how to maintain conversations with readers while keeping the discourse civil and thoughtful. The reality is, love it or not, if readers aren't allowed to chat on your Web site, they'll simply go somewhere else to do it.
- Listening to the Dot-Comments – washingtonpost.com – Doug Feaver, "writing in defense of the anonymous, unmoderated, often appallingly inaccurate, sometimes profane, frequently off point and occasionally racist reader comments that washingtonpost.com allows to be published at the end of articles and blogs." It's a wonderful column.
- Leading your staff into the Twitterverse « Transforming the Gaz – Steve Buttry's beginner's list for journo-Twitterers: "This is the tip sheet I will suggest that editors read after the seminar. While this is geared for top newsroom leaders, some of the advice should be helpful to any journalists who are not experienced with Twitter."
- 10,000 Words' Landmark moments in citizen journalism – 10,000 Words: "Depending on whom you ask, citizen journalism is either pushing journalism forward or is unaccountable vigilantism. Either way, it is shaping the way we consume our news….The following is a timeline of events in which ordinary citizens shaped the news, followed by an analog description of each landmark moment."
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
Interesting stuff I saw online, Jan. 27 to Jan. 31
Here’s some of the stuff I thought was interesting while stomping through the Internet from Jan. 27 through Jan. 31:
- Angela Foster: As the recession grows, publications serving Britain's ethnic communities are more relevant than ever – An item that I'll put in our Post-Dispatch blog, A Conversation about Race: "So is there still a need for the black press? Yes. There are still many issues affecting the black community that do not get covered in many mainstream papers – for instance, the disproportionate number of black people in mental health institutions and the high school exclusion rates for black boys." [via the Guardian]
- Editing comments does not make you legally liable | BeatBlogging.Org – This falsehood must stop now. It’s been used — knowingly and unknowingly — by news organizations for years as justification not to allow user comments. [via journalism.uk.org]
- Nieman Reports Article: When Journalists Blog: How It Changes What They Do – "In generating story ideas, blogging journalists don’t need someone to tell them who the readers are and what they want: They already know, because the readers are on their blogs, telling them who they are and what they’re curious about. In this new blogging relationship, editors are the middlemen being cut out." [via Journerdism]
- 10 Steps To Protect The Admin Area In WordPress – Smashing Magazine: "The administration area of a Web application is a favorite target of hackers and thus particularly well protected. The same goes for WordPress: when creating a blog, the system creates an administrative user with a perfectly secure password and blocks public access to the settings area with a log-in page."
- Getting Crisis Communications Right: Miracle on the Hudson – Brief but interesting post: "A crisis is one of the trickiest things that companies, organizations and municipalities can be forced to deal with. That is why the majority has such a hard time doing it right. Why is that?" [via @VandiverGroup on Twitter]
Starting ‘A Conversation about Race’
This weekend, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch started a blog called ‘A Conversation about Race.’ I thought it was something we needed to begin and I didn’t want to dilly-dally, with Barack Obama’s inauguration looming.
The idea had been rolling around in my head for a long time. It really gained steam for me after we started story comments and I watched the surprising level of intolerance that was spewed out from time to time. It seemed clear that the discussion about race needed a forum.
I’m pretty pleased with the start to the blog and the quality of the comments we’ve gotten on it so far. Knock on wood, right? We’re only three days into it. 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