LA Times to reporters: no blogs without permission
by Duncan
July 16, 2005
The LA Times has issued new ethics guidelines to staff that include restrictive orders in regards to the freedom of employees to establish blogs.
The new guidelines, part of a number of new restrictions placed on staff, state that blogs create “potential quandaries for staff members who want to express themselves through that medium.”
According to SFGate, approval to LA Times staff will only be given when “the blog meets the paper’s journalistic standards”.
Is this the same LA Times which opened up its editorials to the world through “wikitorials”, to which anyone could contribute? I recall they had to close them down pretty sharpish when the nutcases out there got to work. Well, learning by experience is good, but overegging the pudding maybe is a bit over the top.
Someone from the L.A. Times interviewed me about my upcoming article in REALTOR Magazine on blogging, but there was no story. Considering they’ve always pooh-poohed blogs, I’m not surprised. This new policy is no surprise, either. It’s not hard to tell the difference between a pro-blog ‘paper and an anti-blog one.
Rob Barrett, GM of LATimes.com, is a friend of mine and definitely very pro-blogging. As a blogger and evangelist of citizens’ media, I’m damned glad that he’s in the position he is. I can’t say that the print side of the organisation shares Rob’s views, because I’ve never discussed it with him, but it wouldn’t surprise me if they don’t.
I’m looking to contact JR Moehringer via email. I knew his father. Can you help? DJPorto