By Don Worthington
The Fayetteville Observer
Published 10/21/2007
Excerpt:
Blog postings and reader comments are posted immediately without going
through any editing filter. The Observer provides a way for users to report
comments they feel are out of line and steps in if necessary, sometimes called a
free-market approach to community dialogue.
Having political debate online using the free-market approach is “messy,”
said Bob Steele, an ethics and values scholar at the Poynter Institute for media
studies.
Blogs can have greater impact than newspapers because posts are
instantaneous, information is passed along rapidly and writers can comment
anonymously, Steele said.
“You still need values — accuracy, fairness, respect, civility,” Steele said.
“They are subjective in some ways, but they are the values we can aspire to.”
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