Chirping on the Internet

photo from The National Post

I was also thinking of blogger responsibility after reading the interview with Craig Silverman. I figured that since specialist blogs who act as their own editors are popping up everywhere, wouldn't correcting mistakes be made that much more easily? Especially considering that many of the slips are being highlighted in their own comment section. After all, if modifying our entries can "help us forge a stronger bond with the public and with our sources" as Silverman explains, shouldn't taking advantage of this feedback option be at the top of every news affiliates agenda? After reading the Business Week article posted by Mark about news sites censoring their reader comments, I realized that keeping track of reader feed back can be as important to protecting your credibility and reputation as accurately writing a story or blog entry.

You don't want to be accused of censorship. One of the things I appreciate the most about internet news is the ability to interact with it and other readers. Entire online communities can grow out of a news story or topic of interest, so promoting discussion and debate should only help a sites growth. Unfortunately, many people are unable to be reasonable on the internet and can digress into flaming or abuse. This kind of behavior, though surely impossible to extinguish on the web, must be curtailed by any site that wishes to be considered valuable. The CBC has recently been accused of allowing racist content on their website due to a lack of comment editing. I'm convinced that this was only allowed because of a lack of staff or automatic review, but I think it is evidence enough of why bloggers should scan comments left by readers. Could casual readers or possible employers take you seriously if you let slander against a people go on for pages on your blog? How about ad spamming? It looks pretty unprofessional.

I believe it is a bloggers responsibility to have a reply option, as we are all entitled to the freedom of speech. It is also their responsibility to make sure that responses are not harmful, and should seriously run an approval process. Allow for opposition to voice themselves, but respectfully. After all, if it's so simple to offer a correction, it would be just as easy to offer a rebuttal.