Internet has changed newspapers...but for the good?

It's been awhile since The Gazette began its foray into the world of the Internet. While some "old-timers" in the newspaper business feel the World Wide Web spells the end of newspapers, I view it as another service we can provide to our readers and advertisers.

For instance, advertising determines how many pages the newspaper is each day - paper, ink, delivery, newsroom salaries, etc. all cost money. That means a lot of news and information we receive from the Associated Press wire service, for example, no matter how interesting, simply cannot find its way into the print version of the newspaper. With the Internet site - www.ourtownsnews.com - we can now include much of that information for our readers to browse through WHEN THEY WANT/NEED it - at work, in the morning or at night.

The same goes with photos. The Gazette staff takes lots of photos at events, but only a handful make it to print. The website offers us the opportunity to expose our readers to more of those photos.

There are a couple of debates currently going on in the newspaper industry when it comes to the Internet. The first is do newspapers allow free surfing, or do you need to be a paid subscriber to the newspaper in order to view the web content? So far, The Gazette is leaning toward free surfing to expose more residents to our product and eventually our great advertisers. More and more newspapers who started out demanding paid subscriptions in order to surf the product online are going this route.

The second issue is "blogging," where readers are allowed to post comments about stories.

While some newspaper editors argue this is a great tool to involve readers, having read some of the blogs on area newspapers' websites on stories, I'm not so sure that's a good thing.

Because of liability issues and to give ideas and comments more credence, newspapers have traditionally required "letters to the editor" to be signed along with ways to confirm the author penned the letter. Why then, should we allow anonymous blog postings on our website? Why should we let someone hide behind a keyboard and computer screen and spread false, vicious and sometimes slanderous information? If you're man or woman enough to make a statement about someone or something, be man or woman enough to put your REAL name, address and phone number. If you're so sure of what you are saying is fact and the truth, you have nothing to fear...right?

Some blogs become mean, nasty attacks and hearsay about individuals. I think people blog in the heat of the moment without thinking of the consequences, or, trying to be humorous, actually cause emotional pain to others.

To me, if a newspaper is going to allow its readers to make comments anonymously, the staff should have to monitor and delete such libelous blogs 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Otherwise ANYONE with a computer could post ANYTHING about ANYONE - whether the information is true or not!

Some editors argue by deleting some blogs, it amounts to censorship. They spout things like the Constitution, the right to free speech, etc. Yes, we are guaranteed free speech by our founding fathers, but with that should come responsibility and consequences for falsehoods, lies, innuendo, rumor-spreading and slanderous attacks. Besides, newspaper editors practice censorship to a degree everyday when they decide what gets printed in the paper and what they feel they don't have the room to publish.

The Internet is a valuable tool of communication. Newspapers should embrace it as such. But, like anything of value, there comes with it power and with power comes responsibility and consequences. We - newspapers and readers - must remember that as we move forward with this new media.

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Brian Liskai is the editor of The Bellevue Gazette. He can be reached at news@gazettepublishingco.com