Zombie Journalism

Would newspaper editors be likely to eliminate anonymous commenting from their websites if they knew how much it would bring down page views?

If news websites were to get rid of anonymous comments, we may be eliminating the opinions of some very valuable (and young) readers.

For better or worse, the people who comment on news websites do represent part of the readership we claim to serve. So should we as a news organization and conversation hub be trying to suppress their opinions?

We as an industry like to collectively wring our hands about the toxicity of online comment boards, but if we really want to improve the quality of on-site discussion we need to be willing to get involved in our sites in a hands-on manner. No amount of filters, comment-detecting robots and user-end moderation will replace the presence of a dutiful moderator.

When Reuters released its new social media policy last week, their competition had to be salivating. The wire service stipulates that its reporters are not to use Twitter to break news – and thus are digging their own grave.

The furlough – a company cost-cutting measure previously associated with the manufacturing sector – now embraced by those of us working in paragraph factories around the nation.
In the last year, my husband and I have had three separate weeklong furloughs (perhaps it wasn’t so wise to marry a journalist after all). These furloughs are, we’re [...]

The court case of Anthony Kirkland is showing us that while Twitter and live blogs and all that are great tools for enhancing the way readers get news, it’s tough to replace the know-how of an experienced beat reporter.

Cincinnati Enquirer editor Tom Callinan has a column in Sunday’s paper (online now) about the Enquirer’s evolving First in Print initiative.
He also gives a shout-out to ZJ and its commenters. Check it out.

I wrote first last week about my employer, The Cincinnati Enquirer, experimenting with a print-only strategy for certain stories to boost Sunday single-copy sales.
Not long afterward, I was in a meeting where we decided on the next course of this ever-evolving experiment – and came up with a conclusion web readers should find a bit [...]