Rights & Responsibilities
I hope I'm not alone in thinking this is very sad.
People power backfires for LA Times
It was, as the LA Times itself admitted, always a bit of a nutty idea. When the highly respected US newspaper announced last Friday that it was allowing readers to add their thoughts to online editorials, many in the media predicted disaster. Sure enough, the paper has abandoned the experiment - dubbed "wikitorial" - within days of its launch after readers flooded the site with obscene language and pictures.
The trouble began on Friday, when the LA Times posted an editorial on its website urging a better-defined plan to withdraw troops from Iraq and invited readers to add their thoughts. Within hours one user had managed to change the headline on several pages to read "Fuck USA". Editors scrambled to remove the offensive headline, but lost some readers' comments at the same time. But the number of "inappropriate" posts soon began to overwhelm the editors' ability to monitor the site and on Sunday they decided to remove the feature.
Yesterday the paper thanked readers who had logged on "in the right spirit" but said the feature would stay offline indefinitely while it looked at what happened and how to fix it.
It was imaginative and brave of the LA Times to attempt to open their editorials up to anyone. It was shallow (and yet predictable) that so many people could be no more constructive than say fuck and try to 'shock' with rude pictures and mindless abuse. What should have been a new forum for open debate has been lost.
The best and the worst thing about the internet is the freedom it allows anyone to publish anything. It brings out the best in the best of us and the worst in the worst of us. But it is the one platform we have which is uncensored, unabridged and unrestricted. There are many who want this to end and call for greater restrictions to be placed on web content. This sort of juvenile behaviour gives them more ammunition for their campaign. The few must not be allowed to prevail over the many.
People power backfires for LA Times
It was, as the LA Times itself admitted, always a bit of a nutty idea. When the highly respected US newspaper announced last Friday that it was allowing readers to add their thoughts to online editorials, many in the media predicted disaster. Sure enough, the paper has abandoned the experiment - dubbed "wikitorial" - within days of its launch after readers flooded the site with obscene language and pictures.
The trouble began on Friday, when the LA Times posted an editorial on its website urging a better-defined plan to withdraw troops from Iraq and invited readers to add their thoughts. Within hours one user had managed to change the headline on several pages to read "Fuck USA". Editors scrambled to remove the offensive headline, but lost some readers' comments at the same time. But the number of "inappropriate" posts soon began to overwhelm the editors' ability to monitor the site and on Sunday they decided to remove the feature.
Yesterday the paper thanked readers who had logged on "in the right spirit" but said the feature would stay offline indefinitely while it looked at what happened and how to fix it.
It was imaginative and brave of the LA Times to attempt to open their editorials up to anyone. It was shallow (and yet predictable) that so many people could be no more constructive than say fuck and try to 'shock' with rude pictures and mindless abuse. What should have been a new forum for open debate has been lost.
The best and the worst thing about the internet is the freedom it allows anyone to publish anything. It brings out the best in the best of us and the worst in the worst of us. But it is the one platform we have which is uncensored, unabridged and unrestricted. There are many who want this to end and call for greater restrictions to be placed on web content. This sort of juvenile behaviour gives them more ammunition for their campaign. The few must not be allowed to prevail over the many.
posted by phylos @ 19:27
2 Comments:
I am thinking of that police song:
"They say the meek shall inherit the earth"
Life of Brian...
You hear that? Blessed are the Greek.
The Greek?
Mmm. Well, apparently, he's going to inherit the earth
Did anyone catch his name?
Oh, it's the meek! Blessed are the meek! Oh, that's nice, isn't it? I'm glad they're getting something, 'cause they have a hell of a time
Post a Comment
<< Home