One Edward Wasserman writing in the Miami Herald argues,” We need online rules:”
As traditional news outfits migrate online to become dot-coms, one of their biggest headaches is how to adapt to the sprawling new frontier of public comment.
In the pre-Internet world of TV and newspapers, public comment wasn’t a problem. Broadcast news didn’t have any — aside from the weekly guest spot, usually some hapless civic association president reading from a prompter and staring terrified into the camera. Papers had their letters pages, but allowed only enough space for a few dozen a week, and they were generally written with care and were easy to prune for taste and diction.
[…]
To say there should be rules, that communicants should be admonished to strive for honesty and civility and respect, is not to justify elitism. It’s not even to prescribe the rules. But it’s to acknowledge that rules are needed, and to kick off the process of writing them
To which I will not say, Who we Paleface? There is only one rule. If you don’t like what I write, don’t read it. (h/t: Kate Michelman et al).
Hat Tip: Allah Pundit, Hot Air.
