Monday, January 10, 2005

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There is still a lot missing, but I'm happy. Yes, I am. It looks like I can cross yet another few problems off my list. Unfortunately, I still have a list. But the Radio Userland folks, specifically Lawrence Lee, have worked out most of the major kinks. Personal links, RSS, archives...now I do believe everything will happen. Again. For the very first time. (Where did that come from: "together again for the very first time."? That and "a new idea is an antigen" have been driving me crazy for several years. And no, that's not why. I was like this before. 6:02:56 PM

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You mean we have to act like grownups here too? The Poynter Institute, a school for journalists, future journalists, and teachers of journalists, publishes several online columns each day, the most popular of which has got to be Jim Romenesko's Romenesko, a combination of journalism watchdog and gossip columnist. Reading Romenesko is probably the first thing most reporters do in the morning. But that's not why I called you all here today. Poynter's Steve Outing proposes that bloggers learn what we professional editors, writers and reporters already should know--standards, be they stylistic, graphic or ethical, not only protect the subjects of our jabs and stabs, but also protect the First Amendment (especially in this climate of...what? Germany in the early Thirties?) and the blogger herself. Given the current administration's, um, ambivalence to the the First Amendment, we (bloggers and journalists alike) need all the protection we can get. Outing refers to CyberJournalist.net's model Bloggers' Code of Ethics, based on the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics for the Weblog World. After all, we bloggers have no backup, no large corporations and their expensive lawyers will represent us should one of our topics sue us for libel. (I love the idea of reducing a human litigant to a non-tangible.) Even more disturbing, in these days of more government interference, is the fact that there is no precedent yet for giving First Amendment rights to bloggers in the first place. Top First Amendment lawyer Floyd Abrams believes that reporter-bloggers should be able to use the same shield laws that protect journalists. Outing's chiastic flipside: What Journalists Can Learn from Bloggers. While you're at it, check out Polish Your Jewels, an excellent lesson in making every word work. 10:47:48 AM