Saturday, July 9, 2011

SMMM* The Star Wrestles with The Comment Bear

     Like many other newspapers, The Anniston Star has been trying in recent years to tame a demon of their own making.    

    As I've written more than once on this blog, the industry invited the worst of Talk Radio into their front yard when they started allowing their "readers" to leave comments anonymously after each online story. And like the radio version, the commentators took advantage of their secrecy to spread racism, hateful mean and mean-spirited trash. On the papers own property! By invitation!

    Now The Star and others have stopped accepting those comments, and have adopted a Facebook program to tame the Wild-West street corner trash-talking.

     As far as I'm concerned, people who complain that their right to free-speech is somehow being violated are free to go start their own damn newspaper.

    

[*This unusual Saturday Morning Media Memo (SMMM) is a creature of necessity. There were already four topics competing for space in tomorow's regular Monday MMM.]

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