News used to be a one-way street.
But, once blogs became an alternate resource for people to get their news and comment freely on stories, the gate-keeper was displaced. With the recent checks and balances on news writers, our idea of credibility has changed – we don’t just take someone’s word for it. There is a counter-point to every article and each time a comment is made, a more-rounded perspective of the issue begins to develop.
As people began talking back, traditional media websites were forced the open their own articles for commentary. And, with that, the news avenue began to grow. Not up – but out.
We encourage our clients to read and participate in current news. Having multiple sources increases the article’s strength and credibility. Comments allow other sources to weigh-in, adding to it information and opinions that the author didn’t include.
Tips on how experts can use news commentary:
- Enter the stream of consciousness
- Leverage or promote resources
- Ask questions
- Veto or support a topic
- Add another layer of credibility
Online news commentary allows us to use our words to veto or support what’s happening around us. This mechanism holds those creating the news – and situations that make the news – accountable. Instead of delivering the news and telling us to deal with it, we talk back.
The many faces of commenting:
- Sounding-off
- Participating in a dialogue with those who share or oppose an opinion
- Reading comments and responding directly
- Seeking more information
- Having more information to share
Some news sites don’t offer commentary to their articles. But, lucky for us, there are ways around this. Digg the article and comment from there, or put the news story, or excerpts from the story, on a forum and start a discussion thread.
News sites that don’t allow commenting are only hurting themselves. With the fusion of news online and offline, commenting on news stories is a natural progression and newspapers should embrace it.
Go ahead. Comment on this blog entry (unless you’re trying to sell us free Viagra). You know you want to.
