Blog : Piece Of Technology

NYTimes joins the list of mainstream publications like Businessweek, Guardian in launching blogs as part of their overall online presence. The New York Times is launching several blogsas part of its new Red Carpet entertainment awards site and, in that context, Deputy Managing Editor Jonathan Landman sent a memo to the staff about The New York Times approach to blogging, writing therein,"A blog is nothing more than a piece of technology... We’ll use the technology our way."

laobserved has published the full memo. Excerpts :
It’s worth spending a little time thinking about blogs, and about ourselves. Blogs make some newspaper people nuts; they’re partisan, the thinking goes, and unfair and mean-spirited and sloppy about facts. Newspapers make some bloggers nuts; they think we’re dull and slow and pompous and jealous guardians of unearned “authority.” It’s a pretty dopey argument. Indeed, some blogs are lousy. So are some newspapers. Some blogs reject journalism. Some practice it. The point is, a blog is nothing more than a piece of technology. It allows people to compile thoughts, connect with others and interact quickly with readers. People can use it any way they want to. It has no inherent ethical or moral quality, though it does have its own special power. As I see it, years back newspapers said almost similar things about launching online initiatives - clearly while a monetizing mechanism is still not clear, the reach of the blogsosphere would exceed that of the newspaper media in the days to come.