The N&O, Duke lacrosse and blogging
Melanie Sill of the N&O promises a column on Sunday on "how traditional and nontraditional (journalistic) forms can play off each other in ways that end up improving the flow of information." Interestingly, perhaps even courageously, she's going to use the N&O's coverage of the Duke lacrosse case and Durham in Wonderland blogger K.C. Johnson's coverage of the same. (Johnson and Stuart Taylor Jr. have written a book, Until Proven Innocent, on the case.) Among other things, his coverage has taken the media and the N&O to task.
Melanie isn't one of my favorite editor bloggers, but I like her personally and professionally. She's a sharp, tough newspaper editor. I'm looking forward to her take on both "non-traditional forms" and Johnson's coverage. Her thesis, while not new, is correct.
Friday update: More from Melanie.
Sunday update: Never mind.
Comments (1)
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KC and company are far more critical of the Herald-Sun -- which seems to have obliterated the wall between editorial page and newsroom in the penny-pinching Ashley administration -- than the N&O. The N&O got a few whiffs of trouble in the case early on and followed up quite well. The Herald-Sun never got it.
The funny thing about KC's blog, though, is that the commenters had a negative effect on his writing. For a while, he was able to see shades of gray, and he realized that many people were simply caught in difficult situations. His commenters were far more extremist, and they eventually pushed him in that direction.
Posted on September 15, 2007 9:21 PM