all talk and no action

Newsvine is soon to hit beta. When it's up and running it'll be a news site that will allow readers to comment on posted stories (which could originate from any news outlet will be sourced from Associated Press, along with contributions from citizen journalists). The company's founder and CEO Mike Davidson explains:

"You just read an Associated Press story about the fiery riots in France on a major news site. Why shouldn't you be able to comment on it like you would on a blog entry? At Newsvine you can. Why shouldn't you be able to chat about it with whoever else happens to be reading the story at the same time? At Newsvine you can... right within the story itself. We believe in turning news into conversation, and every page on Newsvine.com is designed to do precisely that."

Davidson also makes a statement I've long supported: "At Newsvine, we feel strongly that an article's life only begins the second it is published. It is only when readers interact with it that it achieves its full impact." This idea that a news story, opinion piece or even a product review is just the beginning is one I first saw in print in the late nineties in a book called Media Rants, by Jon Katz (ISBN: 1888869127).

Katz wrote: "Columnists on the web get the first word but never the last. We are just sparks. Unlike a Washington pundit or op-ed columnist, a critic here doesn't write from a position of authority but in full view of thousands of people who often know more about the subject than the writer and who instantly -- and often publicly -- file corrections, disagreements and concerns. I used to believe that everything I committed to paper was right. I'm no longer certain about that -- a column is just my best feeling at the time, the beginning of a discussion. There is no better tonic for a writer's arrogance than interactivity." I couldn't agree more.

The Newsvine service will also support tagging, so users can tag a story with, say, "world cheese shortage", and every story tagged as such will then appear at newsvine.com/world-cheese-shortage. Additionally, stories can be rated by visitors: "There is no editor behind a desk deciding what stories are most important. You decide that. Whenever you see a story on Newsvine you think is important, simply click the 'Vote' button next to the headline and you've just increased the importance score of that story," writes Davidson. That's a system already in place at the excellent Digg.com, which has seen its traffic soar over the last six months and which recently secured $2.8 million in venture capital.

On a related note, journalism.co.uk is reporting that DailyMail.co.uk now provides a readers' comment feature on all its articles.

[via TechCrunch]

Yeah, Katz nailed it. I think writers are conversation starters rather than the be-all and end-all of a topic.

One of the things I love and dread in equal measure is when a piece hits print or web and I get comments, emails or death threats. Love, because it's nice to know you're being read and getting people's interest; dread, because you know the slightest wee error's going to be picked up. I think it makes for better journalism, personally.

So the Daily Mail's opening itself up to an army of fact-checkers, eh? What could possibly go wrong?

Yeah, Katz nailed it. I think writers are conversation starters rather than the be-all and end-all of a topic.

That prospect terrifies a lot of writers. I think the interaction makes writing a whole lot more enjoyable.

And Danny G, if you're reading this, GIVE ME MY COPY OF MEDIA RANTS BACK YOU HAVE HAD IT FOR OVER A YEAR.

So the Daily Mail's opening itself up to an army of fact-checkers, eh?

That'll be interesting. I'd only thought about loyal readers leaving comments. I guess we'll have to see what comments make it through the moderation process.