Wednesday, January 19, 2005

Ali, the former Iraq the Model blogger quoted in Sarah Boxer's NYT article, responds at his new site: "The article was, despite Ms Boxer's kindness, a bad piece of journalism. I had around 45 minutes long phone call with the reporter about my journey with Iraq the Model, my new site, the elections, the general situation here in Baghdad but she (or the paper) seems to have a certain agenda and managed to change the whole issue into a very silly gossip (going as far as quoting trolls!) that is way beneath any respectable paper and certainly beneath me so I won't give it more attention but lesson learned and I won't make the mistake of talking to anyone from the NY times again." (Thanks to Michael in SC for the tip.) 6:27:17 PM    comment []

Kevin Drum: "School districts are free to stop teaching science if they want, but if they do teach it, they have to teach Darwinism just as much as they have to teach Newtonian mechanics, Boyle's law, and the theory of relativity." Instapundit agrees. 3:36:43 PM    comment []

Poynter's Bill Mitchell interviews John Robinson about the N&R's online initiative. JR says he learned from local bloggers -- pay attention, that's a pro admitting he can learn from bloggers -- and that "Eventually, I think every reporter on staff will have a blog." More JR: "(W)hen you can say 'Yes' to readers, then, by all means, open up the gate!" And: "Business plan? We don't need no stinkin' business plan! We're a bunch of journalists doing this, and we're approaching it that way." Mitchell: "What's different about the News & Record approach is the extent to which the paper is discussing its plans before any conclusions have been reached, exposing its internal decision-making to competitors and customers alike." Read the whole thing. 3:19:26 PM    comment []

Part Deux of my podcast interview at Audio Activism. Part one is here. 3:09:21 PM    comment []

I had an interesting conversation about weblogs this morning with some folks from Moses Cone Health System. Companies and other organizations are recognizing the power of distributed publishing on the web. The big healthcare system is just considering blogs, but I wouldn't be surprised to see them move ahead and learn by doing on chosen initiatives. The folks I met with all got it. Doug Allred does public relations, Dawn Martin does internal communications, and Tommye Morrison does website development. Lightbulbs were lighting over heads, including mine, as we talked about internal and external uses of blogs at the 7,400-employee system. Newsletters. Media relations. Patient education. Departmental hubs. And so on. These folks are pros, they grasped the potential problems quickly, too. Blogging is contagious, and it's breaking out all over Greensboro. 1:08:33 PM    comment []

Scott Rosenberg: "The notion that a link is an endorsement is something that died a slow death in the mid and late '90s, as people who actually spent their working lives on the Web -- as opposed to the editors who ran newsrooms and still didn't know what an URL was -- came to understand that an editorial link (one chosen by a writer rather than paid for as part of a business relationship) can be a reference, a courtesy, a footnote, a means of documentation, but that it is not an endorsement." UPDATE: Ooops, meant to juxtapose Scott's statement with a contrary point of view from Atrios (thanks to commenter Paul for reminding me). Atrios: "You Link It, You Own It" "...the less something you link to has the stamp of official authority, the more you've taken responsibility for it...In other words, the less likely it is that anyone would have heard about something without my bringing it to their attention, the more I've taken the responsibility for verifying the information." 12:45:52 PM    comment []

Greensboro blog Meetup tonight at 7, Green Bean on S. Elm. Greensboro101 editorial meeting tonight at 6, open to all, same venue. 8:49:23 AM    comment []

David Wharton has two interesting reports on smart growth. The first is about a young couple who can't find an amenable place to live in Greensboro. The second, an account of a talk by an EPA official who says market forces will drive smart growth. Town square idea: the N&R should just link the second article from its website... 8:40:19 AM    comment []

The News & Record runs an email from Nick Sowers, a Marine from Greensboro who survived an ambush in Iraq. Sowers describes an attack of proportions and sophistication unlike anything he's seen. The paper links to the blog of Patrick Eakes, who originally posted this email and who maintains a separate blog for another friend posted to Iraq. At his own blog, N&R editor John Robinson credits Eakes with beating the big paper to the story. Questions for the BloJoCred crowd: Is the ambush story more credible now that it's appeared on the front page of a daily newspaper? Do the details of the ambush bring into question the credibility of more upbeat reports about the situation in Iraq? Does the link from a daily paper enhance the credibility of Patrick's blog? Was the original email from Sowers journalism? Robinson says of the interplay between onsite observers (Sowers), bloggers, and the established press that "the contrails of our jets are intersecting." Is a new kind of credible journalism to be found at this intersection? 8:22:17 AM    comment []

A national blog conference in Nashville, May 5-7. I seem to be involved. No complaints that this is another lib-skewing blogfest, unless a bunch of y'all show up to keep me company. More here. Says G'boro is in SC. Well, no. 7:47:20 AM    comment []

Rebecca MacKinnon's FAQ on the BloJoCredCon. 7:44:21 AM    comment []