The Washington Post is at the centre in the latest hiccup on the road to a new media age, with the controversial closing of comments at one of its blogs.
(Jay Rosen has a fine piece on this. You can also find cogent commentary from Andrew Cline, Terry Heaton, Steve Yelvington, Fine Young Journalist, and Paul Mallasch.)
A lot of pixels have been spilled over the issue, which indicates the passion about the issue of conversation in media (and the passion of the intensely partisan atmosphere in the U.S.).
In the heat of the current debate it’s easy to see such dustups as steps backwards, but I’m not sure that’s the right way to look at them.
What’s happened at the Post (and what happened earlier with the LA Times quickly-abandonded editorial wiki and with comments at the early-adoptor Ventura County Star) are healthy, as far as I can see. The mark the continuing evolution of a more open, responsive, transparent media. It’s inevitable that as part of the process a few nasty, brutish beings will briefly flourish and then be weeded out.
TAGS: JOURNALISM, WASHINGTON POST, COMMENTS, TRANSPARENCY
