I’ve gone back to the original Stringer report from May (http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2009/may/03/wh…) and asked for further comments to be posted here rather than there (partly in consideration of interested parties who may not want to scroll past the photo of a murder victim, as well as to present the debate on a more current webpage).
Below comment from username SDaniels appeared on the original page before I could make the request - I’ll repeat its entirety since it merits response:
SDaniels: This is a most interesting discussion, and I look forward to hearing jayallen's reply to #21. I was also wondering about the distinction between staff blogs and news. What are the criteria for staff blogs, if any? They are clearly not held to similar standards as a published news or cover story, but are they held to any standards, or are they considered to be on par with whatever--as you put it, jayallen--just some yahoo is posting as a stringer or personal blog? I appreciate your taking the time to parse out these differences :)
JAS replies: For ME, there is very little distinction between the news reports I’ve done weekly for the Reader over the past 14 years and the “staff blog” I’ve written on the site for around two years now. THIS blog entry essay is a very rare deviation – I tend to blog exactly the same as I report.
OTHER staff blogs may or may not do this – Daily Crasher contains whatever Josh Board feels like writing about, whether fact or opinion. His blog posts are no less “staff,” and certainly no less valid, than my own. He just has a different approach – he only posts text, no photos or live links. I, on the other hand, post photos, links, animations, whatever I feel best accompanies the topic at hand.
NONE of the staff blogs are edited by Reader administration. Well, not that I know of anyway. I just happen to choose to maintain a journalist’s approach and format with most of my blog posts. I’m really not much for “chatting” (hence how rare it is for me to post comments anywhere on the Reader site, other than instances where something really impresses me or – as in this instance – vexes me).
So in summation to the query “What are the criteria for staff blogs, if any?,” it’s the same as for neighborhood bloggers, and the same as for stringer posts. Don’t slander, libel, or inflame with incendiary rhetoric. That’s it. — October 27, 2009 3:10 p.m.
Stringers Are NOT Reader Reporters, plus Taylor Swift's Taylor Guitar, Local Blogger Silenced By Killers, Wavves Calls SD "Wretched," SDMA Fishwrap, Zappa, Weiland, Axl, Blackheart, Ms. Beatle, Halford, Mower, more
Response to post 35: >>"Quite frankly,if you don't know the difference betweeb news and what passes as news ala a Stringers story,you need mental help. And I don't mean YOU personally,CuddleFish. I mean EVERYONE. JAS: So I guess it goes without saying that some columns in the print edition are likewise not handled with the same journalistic guidelines and restrictions as news reporting. I would hope that anyone reading opinion/editorial/autobiographical columns ala Diary of a Diva, Crasher, etc, does not mistake that writing as news reporting. Whether they read such columns on the website or in the print edition - It's mainly just online News From Stringers which provide the points of my contention - despite the header, those posts are not necessarily news, nor are the stringers necessarily reporters. Tho some, the best of them anyway, can likely BECOME reporters, if such is their desire --- And now I must turn off the 'puter and go make some comic books (SHAMELESS PLUG - working on the Pink Floyd Experience graphic novel tonight), but I'll check back later to see if this (excellent) debate merits additional comment -- even if I've already probably posted more comments to this single page than I have to the entire website, in the two years since the Reader launched it) --- Thanks to all who've so far participated in the debate ---— October 27, 2009 5:32 p.m.
Drive-In Theaters in San Diego: Complete Illustrated History 1947 thru 2008 (45 new pics added 7-4-09!)
Thanks - the article linked above "Before it was the Gaslamp" covers most of the downtown theaters, while the "Pussycat Theater" and "Battle of the Peeps" articles cover many local theaters that showed adults-only fare. We're working on a cover feature about all of San Diego's bigscreen theaters, akin to above with detailed coverage of every such theater's history. After that, who knows? If readers respond well to Bigscreen San Diego (in progress for over a year now), I'd love to eventually chronicle the history of every motion picture screen ever to operate in the city. Even/especially obscure houses like downtown's old Tower Theatre and the elusive Gilded Cage, which I recently uncovered the only known photo of by freeze framing a fleeting still in the Chuck Norris movie A Force of One, filmed downtown in the late seventies ---— October 27, 2009 4:46 p.m.
Stringers Are NOT Reader Reporters, plus Taylor Swift's Taylor Guitar, Local Blogger Silenced By Killers, Wavves Calls SD "Wretched," SDMA Fishwrap, Zappa, Weiland, Axl, Blackheart, Ms. Beatle, Halford, Mower, more
Response to post 32: Cuddlefish, you don't clarify whether you're referring to Josh's Crasher column and his other stories in the printed edition, or whether you're referring to his blog on this site. In either event, I beg to differ - his spoken-voice stream-of-consciousness writing style is PERFECT for a column about crashing parties. You may recall the Crasher column was originally by a different writer - since Josh took it over, Crasher is far more entertaining. As for his blogs, sure, I'd like to see him learn how to provide an occasional link to stuff he refers to, or perhaps running his spelling and facts thru quick Google searches before posting. But this goes to the above discussion - a blog is not reporting. And blog standards/requirements are far more lax - I happen to think Josh's blog is always worth a looksee, and the Reader agrees or else his Daily Crasher wouldn't share the same showcase spotlight on the Reader mainpage each day as the blogs by myself, the amazing Don Bauder (a Reader MVP if ever there was one), etc.— October 27, 2009 4:08 p.m.
Stringers Are NOT Reader Reporters, plus Taylor Swift's Taylor Guitar, Local Blogger Silenced By Killers, Wavves Calls SD "Wretched," SDMA Fishwrap, Zappa, Weiland, Axl, Blackheart, Ms. Beatle, Halford, Mower, more
Response to post 23: "We keep going to the same point, jayallen, and you keep sidestepping it. "Website visitors" have little ability and less appetite to distinguish what is a "story," what is "news," what is a "staff blog," etc. The Reader appears to have left those boundaries pretty loosey-goosey. You want to posit based on what, exactly?" JAS replies: It's BECAUSE of those "loosey-goosey" boundaries that I'm clarifying here, and inviting debate. Site visitors have no way of ascertaining for themselves what I'm saying: 1) News From Stringers is NOT the same as the news reported by Reader staffers (and freelancers). 2) Neither are Reader Blogs - whether a staff blog or a neighborhood blog - to be considered news, or to be reporting. There is NO DIFFERENCE between a Neighborhood blog post and a Staff blog post, other than how the blogger chooses to present it. The rules are the same -- and those rules are FAR DIFFERENT from the rules behind the ACTUAL NEWS reported everywhere else on the Reader site. So in summation - on the Reader site, blogs and Stringer Reports SHOULD be taken as merely some individual's say-so, and they can say anything they want as long as it doesn't slander/defame/libel/incite. I'd like to see some kind of clarification on the Reader site informing site visitors of this. Meanwhile, everything ELSE on the Reader site (other than ads and neighborhood photos) IS the product of the San Diego Reader, not the general public, and thus all that material goes thru a house wringer far more complex and involved. This non-blog non-stringer content CAN be counted on as news. However debatable the merit of that news may seem to readers -- merit aside, 99 percent of it is at least pre-verified as accurate and newsworthy, by a number of well-qualified editorial staffers, long before anyone outside the Reader sees/reads it. Even someone seeing their very first story ever to appear in the print edition will find themselves jumping thru many, many more hoops to see that happen than "some yahoo" at home merely uploading a stringer report about a swimming pool or a blog post about what they ate for breakfast, and expecting a check in return ---— October 27, 2009 3:53 p.m.
Stringers Are NOT Reader Reporters, plus Taylor Swift's Taylor Guitar, Local Blogger Silenced By Killers, Wavves Calls SD "Wretched," SDMA Fishwrap, Zappa, Weiland, Axl, Blackheart, Ms. Beatle, Halford, Mower, more
Response to post 17: "Jay, there were some posts removed from a neighborhood blogger's thread that were really innocuous, and yet I've seen material that would fall into your three categories stated above, remain up forever. What is your source and working definition for "slander, libel, and incendiary rhetoric?" Are blogs held to the same standard for these three as other kinds of writing published on the site?" These are queries that only website administrators can answer. As far as I know, there is no handbook with guidelines and clarification and to what qualifies for editing/removal and what does not. I doubt such a definitive guide COULD be created. I suspect it's like that old judge's definition of "pornography," back when Nixon was trying to impose a federal ban - "I know it when I see it." Also, if someone COMPLAINS about a post, whether about the text content or an accompanying photo, that complaint may well present enough evidence as to "incendiary" nature so that website admin will then edit or remove the "offending" post." If a post (stringer or blog) doesn't immediately appear to website admin as violating site rules, and if nobody complains (with a coherent case for WHY something violates site rules), sure it's gonna stay posted ---— October 27, 2009 3:36 p.m.
Stringers Are NOT Reader Reporters, plus Taylor Swift's Taylor Guitar, Local Blogger Silenced By Killers, Wavves Calls SD "Wretched," SDMA Fishwrap, Zappa, Weiland, Axl, Blackheart, Ms. Beatle, Halford, Mower, more
I’d go a step further and posit that website visitors should thus attach no more weight, veracity, or assumption as to journalistic integrity to a staff blog as they would to a neighborhood blog, or a stringer post. The fact that Rock Around the Town usually reads more like Blurt than a blog is merely due to my own preference – I consider it an honor to have a somewhat privileged and well-read forum on the Reader mainpage, and I personally choose to present it as I would my usual reporting for the print edition. It’s just one more way I combat the aforementioned blog-ification of journalism that has caused mass confusion as to the difference between real and verified reporting, compared to “some yahoo” with a computer who just wants to be heard ---- all those yahoos screaming all over the internet tend to drown out the rare general-public website posts with actual merit ---— October 27, 2009 3:11 p.m.
Stringers Are NOT Reader Reporters, plus Taylor Swift's Taylor Guitar, Local Blogger Silenced By Killers, Wavves Calls SD "Wretched," SDMA Fishwrap, Zappa, Weiland, Axl, Blackheart, Ms. Beatle, Halford, Mower, more
I’ve gone back to the original Stringer report from May (http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2009/may/03/wh…) and asked for further comments to be posted here rather than there (partly in consideration of interested parties who may not want to scroll past the photo of a murder victim, as well as to present the debate on a more current webpage). Below comment from username SDaniels appeared on the original page before I could make the request - I’ll repeat its entirety since it merits response: SDaniels: This is a most interesting discussion, and I look forward to hearing jayallen's reply to #21. I was also wondering about the distinction between staff blogs and news. What are the criteria for staff blogs, if any? They are clearly not held to similar standards as a published news or cover story, but are they held to any standards, or are they considered to be on par with whatever--as you put it, jayallen--just some yahoo is posting as a stringer or personal blog? I appreciate your taking the time to parse out these differences :) JAS replies: For ME, there is very little distinction between the news reports I’ve done weekly for the Reader over the past 14 years and the “staff blog” I’ve written on the site for around two years now. THIS blog entry essay is a very rare deviation – I tend to blog exactly the same as I report. OTHER staff blogs may or may not do this – Daily Crasher contains whatever Josh Board feels like writing about, whether fact or opinion. His blog posts are no less “staff,” and certainly no less valid, than my own. He just has a different approach – he only posts text, no photos or live links. I, on the other hand, post photos, links, animations, whatever I feel best accompanies the topic at hand. NONE of the staff blogs are edited by Reader administration. Well, not that I know of anyway. I just happen to choose to maintain a journalist’s approach and format with most of my blog posts. I’m really not much for “chatting” (hence how rare it is for me to post comments anywhere on the Reader site, other than instances where something really impresses me or – as in this instance – vexes me). So in summation to the query “What are the criteria for staff blogs, if any?,” it’s the same as for neighborhood bloggers, and the same as for stringer posts. Don’t slander, libel, or inflame with incendiary rhetoric. That’s it.— October 27, 2009 3:10 p.m.
Stringers Are NOT Reader Reporters, plus Taylor Swift's Taylor Guitar, Local Blogger Silenced By Killers, Wavves Calls SD "Wretched," SDMA Fishwrap, Zappa, Weiland, Axl, Blackheart, Ms. Beatle, Halford, Mower, more
Response to post 2: >>If you're saying the picture caused the discussion, then fair enough. Hard to believe no one could conceive this would happen beforehand, though, and have thought out a process for handling these kind of situations. As stated in my essay, the only restrictions to Stringer AND blog posts are that they not defame, libel, or incite via incendiary statements (racial epithets and the like). SHOULD there be more restrictions? Possibly. Now that someone HAS complained about the murder victim's photo being uploaded with a Stringer post, should Reader website admin classify the photo as "incendiary" and remove it from the site, even tho it was uploaded back in May? Probably. That's their call. To be fair to website administration, tho, I wouldn't have expected them to cut the photo upon its first appearance on the site. However inappropriate it was for that stringer to post that photo, it didn't automatically seem to violate website policy. Not until complaints were raised, which - it should be pointed out - didn't happen until five months after the photo was uploaded.— October 27, 2009 2:49 p.m.
Stringers Are NOT Reader Reporters, plus Taylor Swift's Taylor Guitar, Local Blogger Silenced By Killers, Wavves Calls SD "Wretched," SDMA Fishwrap, Zappa, Weiland, Axl, Blackheart, Ms. Beatle, Halford, Mower, more
Response to post 5: >>I wouldn't like to see Stringers go away. Nor would I. The whole experiment with Neighborhood Blogs and News From Stringers is very exciting and, for the most part, successful. We're coming across some terrific stuff, AND a few writers who've availed themselves of those sections show enough potential to ultimately be the Reader's future staffers. I'd just like to see a bit more clarification between the actual news and stuff posted randomly by the general public. Which brings me back to post 1: >>...more than half of the video you see on news channels and local news is through stringers. If this is indeed true, then I'd point out that the news channel does NOT also present the videographer on camera giving a reporter-style account, unfiltered by the news organization itself. Only the images are used - the actual reporting is still done by reporters, and thus (ideally) filtered thru the rigid system of checks and balances outlined in my essay (well, except maybe for the Fox News Channel, heh heh....)— October 27, 2009 2:28 p.m.
Stringers Are NOT Reader Reporters, plus Taylor Swift's Taylor Guitar, Local Blogger Silenced By Killers, Wavves Calls SD "Wretched," SDMA Fishwrap, Zappa, Weiland, Axl, Blackheart, Ms. Beatle, Halford, Mower, more
Reply to post 3: >> Do you think the average reader is going to parse through the distinctions you write about when they come to this site? No, I don't. And that's why I feel compelled to clarify when someone assumes a stringer post is the same as a reporter's news story. It's a problem. A big one. >>I also wonder if, bsaed on your comments, the Reader isn't trying to have it both ways. Are you a serious news organization, as some of your articles seem to indicate? If only some of your work is serious, and some is in fun, and some is mixed together, then it would perhaps be in your best interest to take more care in the overlap. Just saying. I agree - the difference SHOULD be made more clear in the website presentation. Perhaps a disclaimer atop each stringer report? I do not represent or speak for the Reader - I just work here. I bring up - and possibly belabor - this stringer-vs-reporter point by way of encouraging some kind of onsite clarification. I'm talking to website administration about this and similar topics - the site is always being tweaked and improved a bit as we figure these things out.— October 27, 2009 2:07 p.m.