I would have loved to have been in the audience at this panel this panel discussion blogged about over at B. Rox. The title of which was “Online user comments and its impact on news coverage, news Web sites and freedom of speech.”
My basic argument hasn’t been against the inclusion of comments on mainstream media blogs, it is against anonymous comments on mainstream blogs. When I was at a weekly paper in San Diego, we wouldn’t allow any anonymous letters to the editor to be printed in the paper. We wouldn’t even allow anonymous sources to be cited in stories. With stories comments essentially being adrenalized letters to the editor, similar rules should be established by the papers to see that there is a name and a real person applied to each comment.
The papers have to find a way to make people responsible for what they put on the sites. I don’t mean responsibility in that the paper can track down readers who make offensive comments, but so anyone who makes a comment will have their name attached to it and take ownership of it.
Part of what makes a person willing or unwilling to spew their drivel is how it (and they) will be viewed by their peers. Society’s norms are influenced by the society on the individual. If the individual in this case is simply NolaEastboy75 and he owns no other responsibility for his statements other than that pseudonym, why should he care weather his words offend or hurt people? He bears no responsibility toward them. If it’s a father or son who is saying them, it doesn’t matter because it’s a few digits on a computer screen.
I have also asked that the paper monitor their comments more closely, as the “deleted after 3-5 minutes” time period reference in Bart’s post is 3-5 minutes too long. Family members of victims could very well have seen it in that time. I wrote a few weeks back about a man who had finished mowing his grass on the West Bank and was electrocuted leaning against a metal building. Many of the comments following the story on Nola.com made references to it being a “shocking” story in callous references to the man’s death. Did the comments vanish after 3 – 5 minutes? Nope. They are still up there three weeks later.
I’m not sure how the big papers are going to go about doing it but if they wish to maintain their integrity and standards, something papers have over many (but certainly not all) blogs, then they need to find a way to become something more than an avenue for anonymnous racists to burn crosses on before the new millennium’s white sheets become user names like GrandDragon65 or xpureBreed72x. I suppose I have a lot of problems with Nola.com, but their providing racists with an avenue to spread hatred is probably my biggest.
Perhaps all comments should be made through audio or video? Perhaps people should pay $5 a year for accounts and include a profile page with their picture?
Consider this, however. One of my favorite bloggers is someone who calls herself “Annoyed Librarian” Much of her writing consists of poking at the stupid… cultish, even… hyper-happy world of “Library 2.0” literature.
Here’s a sample of her writing wherein she treats the subject of blogging “psuedonymously”.
The humorless morons who produce said literature, are aware of her writing and if, they were aware of her identity, would almost certainly attack her personally and professionally in retaliation for her aggressive criticism. Doesn’t this person have a right to express her opinion without subjecting herself to these petty recriminations?
No.
BTW,
Oh lord.. brace yourself. Comments are open below this one.
You are correct sir! From that story…
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The Projects are eventually coming down, as they are nationwide, and then New Orleans will be my city, not chocolate.
This is just a fake concession. You cannot stop the inevitable.
Gentrify New Orleans.
Posted by 34zip on 09/19/07 at 2:31PM
Why is this happening? Because the ignorant people who lived in these places are so afraid of actually having to get out and work and earn a place to live that they are protesting the closures of the housing developments. In the process, they are blocking the demolition and redevelopment of these areas with their endless protesting, marches, sit-ins. Heaven forbid should these cesspools be torn down and single family residences be constructed similar to Fischer and St. Thomas where they might actually have to pay more than $75/month.
Posted by live42day on 09/19/07 at 2:44PM
“The move is part of an effort to restore 3,000 apartments of traditional public housing in the city to please national leaders who criticized HANO ”
Yeah, great…the two azzholes Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton start threatening lawsuits, and HANO backs down like a bunch of wussy cowards…figures…give the city back to the criminals and hands-out gimmies….just what we need to be spending our tax dollars on…this city is doomed. These projects should have been torn down pre-K, much less post-K….what’s the matter, project-dwellers? Can’t get enough handouts in Houston and Atlanta? Those cities making you work for your living? Yeah, come back here…u can sit on your porches drinking 40’s reaping in the tax dollars for nothing…..we’ll pay for you to have a roof over your head!!!
Posted by craig2cso on 09/19/07 at 2:17PM
And, with such sage rants, a blog is born.
I agree in principal that anonymous comment are problematic.
Anonymous news sources are more problematic. They get the imprimatur of the publisher because they are published under the papers masthead and byline.
Anonymous comment is however a protected expression of free speech.
We need to give readers a little credit to tell the difference between the publishers content and unedited public comments.
The Main Stream Media could also use a relaity check.