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The trend toward corporate control of blogging

The New York Times ran a feature entitled “The Role of the Delete Key in Blog.” (on a side note, isn’t the grammar strange in the title of the article?) Apparently, newspapers such as the Sacramento Bee are starting to screen posts on its contributors’ web sites. Daniel Weintraub, one of the Bee’s best columnists, is such a victim.

I’m against the screening of weblogs by editors. Weblogs are the heart of the grassroots newsmedia. Let’s keep it that way. I’m also against “corporate blogs,” such as the Sacramento Bee’s tactic of making columnist blogs. Weblogs should be free of corporate sponsorship and corporate control. I’m not against blog text ads (e.g. Dive Into Mark, Daring Fireball). However, I am against corporate blog sponsorship and hosting. Once you have an editor looking over your shoulder, you can’t write your full opinion. Instead, you have to cater to your readers and your editor. This to me sounds much like a newspaper or magazine. That’s not a blog. Blogs aren’t limited by censorship.

Frankly, I’m pissed off at the trend blogging is following. The majority of blog users are signing up for subscription services. These services will inevitably put restrictions on what you can and cannot post, though I doubt they will ever be very strict. However, these inevitable restrictions will be censorship, be it miniscule. I have mixed feeling about AOL’s introduction of blogging for its subscribers. I’m partly for the move because it will greatly expand the weblogging community but then again, these blogs will be hosted on AOL servers and subject to AOL’s regulations. Such is the case with LiveJournal and Xanga.

Another disturbing trend among weblogs is that many people publish nothing but stream of consciousness articles. I’m all for speaking your mind and laying down your thoughts but weblogs are never going to be perceived by the public at large as a reputable news service if most of the bloggers out there write an entire article using one period. I can understand occasional spelling and grammar errors — I make them all the time here on my site. However, write something that is legible to others. Otherwise, what’s the point? Nobody’s going to end up reading nonsensical drivel.

It pains me to see corporate America trying to make money off the blog. I’m really not sure what to think of Weblogs, Inc., the new service that allows freelance journalists to connect and partner up. Essentially this service aims to create blog networks that will generate revenue. I don’t agree with the site that traditional journalism is “broken.” Journalism isn’t broken at all! Magazine subscriptions aren’t in the decline; the majority of people still get their news from television and print media conglomerates. No, weblogs are just different from traditional journalism. They’re different because it’s an underground movement that isn’t about making money. Weblogging is about letting out your opinion, unabashed, free of censorship.

Weblogs, Inc. is traditional journalism in digital format with contributing freelance authors. A real example of collaborative, new wave journalism is The Morning News. This site follows the ideals of Weblogs, Inc. in that it is a site driven by freelance journalists. However, it doesn’t seek to make a profit. Instead, it’s just there to report the news. All The Morning News asks for in return is an appreciative donation. That’s real blogging, not corporate blogging.