LA Times laat haar lezers corrigeren

De Los Angeles Times start binnenkort een gedurft experiment: ze laat haar lezers de gepubliceerde artikelen corrigeren, op de manier zoals een Wiki werkt:

“Watch next week for the introduction of ‘wikitorials’ ? an online feature that will empower you to rewrite Los Angeles Times editorials.”

In de editor’s note van 12 juni staat nog meer interessants, zoals bijvoorbeeld:

“‘Thinking Out Loud’ is an experiment in making up our minds in public. Starting with two national issues, immigration and traffic, that are especially important to us in Southern California, we will devote space in all of our precincts ? editorials, Op-Eds, the Sunday Opinion section (and watch out for a redesign and name change there!) and our website ? to exploring aspects and alternate views of these subjects. We don’t have a solution, and there may not be a good one. But that is no excuse for failing to come up with the best one. We hope this process will help us do it.”

En zijn voormalige collega Chris Anderson schrijft erover:

“Kinsley’s plan seems to draw heavily from blog-culture conventions. Examples include:

• A human (ie, non-institutional, non-bossy) voice, ranging from the editor’s note itself to A SoCal Life, which is meant to be personal reflections on LA living.
• Publicly acknowledging internal disagreement.
• Encouraging audience participation (wikitorials).
• Links to comment elsewhere, in the form of critiques of other newspaper op-eds.
• A willingness to offer incomplete thinking, acknowledged as such, on the hope that the public exercise will result in a better exploration of the issues.”