As The New York Times transforms itself into a multimedia news and information platform \u201d\u201d the printed newspaper plus a robust nytimes.com offering breaking news, blogs, interactive graphics, video and more \u201d\u201d it is struggling with a vexing problem. How does the august Times, which has long stood for dignified authority, come to terms with the fractious, democratic culture of the Internet, where readers expect to participate but sometimes do so in coarse, bullying and misinformed ways?<\/p>\n
The answer so far is cautiously, carefully and with uneven success.<\/p>\n
The issue is timely because last week, with very little notice, The Times took baby steps toward letting readers comment on its Web site about news articles and editorials, something scores of other newspapers have long permitted. On Tuesday, readers were invited to comment on a single article in Science Times and on the paper\u2019s top editorial, using a link that accompanied each. Few did because there was no promotion of the change, but as the week went on and more articles were opened to comment, participation picked up.<\/p>\n
The paper is creating a comment desk, starting with the hiring of four part-time staffers, to screen all reader submissions before posting them, an investment unheard of in today\u2019s depressed newspaper business environment. The Times has always allowed reader comments on the many blogs it publishes, with those responses screened by the newsroom staff. That experience suggests what the paper is letting itself in for.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t know how big it would become, and I didn\u2019t know how tough it would be to manage,\u201d\u009d said Jim Roberts, editor of the Web site.<\/p>\n
We have been around and around on similar issues on this blog now for years. Read it all<\/a>.<\/i> As The New York Times transforms itself into a multimedia news and information platform \u201d\u201d the printed newspaper plus a robust nytimes.com offering breaking news, blogs, interactive graphics, video and more \u201d\u201d it is struggling with a vexing problem. How…<\/span><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"