‘Free the Bee blogger!’

Kevin R. in LA Observed asks: Has Sacramento Bee political blogger Daniel Weintraub been reined in? The Bee’s ombudsman reported yesterday that Weintraub’s blog will now be subjected to the editing filter, after complaints from the Legislature’s Latino Caucus.

I worked at the Bee for 11 years (I left in ’97, before Weintraub got there) and I’m in agreement with Kevin’s bottom line:

He’s their opinion columnist, and his blog — by design — is more analysis and personality than it is factual reporting. Some readers may accept his insights as truth, but many don’t. It’s informative anyway. The point of a blog is personal insights, and as Kaus points out, if the Bee wants to broaden the spectrum of takes, it can add more bloggers. …

I’m pro editor and have yet to meet the journalist, myself included, who wouldn’t benefit from a good collaborative editor. Even so, I think the Bee erred. Spontaneity may be overrated in some bloggers hands — I prefer thought-out posts — but quickness to break or react to news is part of why Weintraub and the Bee have drawn so much positive attention.

I also tend to side with Mickey Kaus on this:

Even if the Bee’s move is just for show–to placate the Latino caucus with a procedural reform–and even if the editors involved have privately assured Weintraub they won’t change a thing, it will have an inevitable degrading effect on Weintraub’s blog. The whole point of blogging is that you get someone’s take right now, when it can make a difference. What if Weintraub has a good idea at 7:30 P.M. and the editors have gone home? By the time they come back in the next day to “review” his idea, history may have moved on–the idea will be stale, even if it might have actually made a difference if it had been posted in time. … But I actually doubt the editorial approval process will be completely benign. Read the ombudsman’s pompous report (“no newspaper should publish an analysis without an editor’s review”) and you can see an edge-dulling, anti-controversialist mindset at work that is inimical to sound and well-established blogging practices. … As long as nobody’s libeled, why not publish analyses without an editor’s review? … If Weintraub’s too much of an anti-liberal blogger, add a liberal blogger! Don’t supress them both under a smothering blanket of bureaucratic timidity!

Over at Condor Blog, David Jensen had a lot on this yesterday. Instapundit, Hewitt (who had it first), Simon and Matt Welch are among those who have also weighed in.

As for me, I blogged about the overall topic last winter: Should newspaper bloggers be subjected to the editing filter? Short answer: After-the-fact copy editing and reviewing content for libel is fine, but this kind of pre-publication editing review tamps down the very thing that makes blogging special.

JD Lasica, founder of Inside Social Media, is also a fiction author and the co-founder of the cruise discovery engine Cruiseable. See his About page, contact JD or follow him on Twitter.