Saturday, May 5, 2007

Issues for the Digital Media Age

I have a letter in the Washington Post today, which expresses thoughts similar to those in this post from Wednesday. When I submitted my letter, the Post's editors asked if it was exclusive to the Washington Post (standard newspaper procedure) and also asked (this is the first time I've seen this) whether I'd posted it on any Internet forum, including a blog. Being the honest type that I am, I said yes, it was similar to an entry on my blog, but I hoped that wasn't disqualifying.

Well, the compromise was that the Post continued to consider my letter, and ultimately ran it, but asked me to take down my blog entry until after the letter appeared in the Post.

Was this a choice between my blogger integrity and the wider fame of the Washington Post letter column? Was I selling out by agreeing to the big MSM's demands? I don't know, but I did take the post off my blog for a couple of days and restored it just now. Flame away, blogosphere.

Look at it this way. The Washington Post considers my faithful readership -- you! -- to be such a powerful force that they're afraid to compete with it. I never knew this blog had such power.

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