Zante wrote:
smalltech wrote:
There is a difference between responsible reporting and throwing a half-baked story to an anonymous crowd of bullies.
This has nothing to do with "facts" or journalism, rojo. It has all to do with generating views and profiting from controversy. The more controversial, the more clicks, the more money you make. This strategy works nicely when people discuss shoes. It is irresponsible when it exposes people to baseless character attacks.
The fact that one of the people affected feels obliged to respond to this gossip is not a win for free speech. It is testimony to a business model that exposes people for other people's entertainment to generate clicks.
In its current form, LRC is a business that thrives on bullying, polarizing, and the occasional sincere contribution. At least own up to it and take responsibility, but stop hiding behind "reporting" and "free speech."
what are you talking about? The article Rojo ran was respectful and neutral and LetsRun reached out to both parties for comment. That's about as good of a job as any journalist can do.
In fact my only criticism is that Rojo deleted threads at all. I get that the rules are different for a website (and frankly, there are no "rules" for journalists, only codes of honor) but you can't just sit on a story like that and cover it up. It's one thing to sit on a story and wait for the right time to release it, but it's another to attempt to cover up the news before it's published.
It becomes a rock and a hard place type thing in this scenario. Option #1 is to sit on story and let threads run free and try to ignore the obvious. Option #2 is to sit on story and delete threads. Both options result in backlash at the expense of trying to protect the story and those involved. Rojo really had no choice in this case and did the right thing, it just gets more complicated when you also run a message board.
Yes, Zante, that's exactly the point. You can compete on journalism, research, and breaking news (front page). You can also compete on bullying, gossip, and trolls (message boards). But saying that you did your job on the front page part does not release from your responsibility for the forum—especially when the two are so closely entangled as on LRC.
I completely agree that it's difficult, and you make a good point about the rock and the hard place. But we need to call out folks who make a living from creating spaces, in which people from a relatively small community are exposed to anonymous bullying. Saying "I did it right on the front page" is hypocrisy when you generate your traffic through the forum.
LRC is in the business of monetizing a "community," and I personally think it's good to remember that from time to time.