I would vote for the latter considering the majority of news sites still subscribe to the notion that the Web’s unlimited amount of space means “pack as much content on the page as possible.” Mix in a lack of usability and total disregard for the customer, and you have the ingredients for the standard newspaper Web site.

No, I’m not trying to be mean, I’m just stating the facts. And I hope this column will do the same.

Audiences are no longer passive. They want to contribute their opinions, complaints, questions, insights, and praise into the news story itself.

Looking for more glamor and glitz is the old way that is now discredited.

The blogospheric values of transparency, interactivity, and user-generated content must be worked into the new journalism, or it’s just business as usual with new tools.

I also wanted to specifically mention the MSNBC.com video you linked to. That was great for me personally. I was raised Jewish and it was great to see what these journalists had done to show a people who, like Jews, were persecuted with the intent of extinction. I have no idea how the Kurds would react to me. I’d like to think after all they’d been through, they would be kind enough to accept that I’m a fellow human being and that I accept them as such.

It is material like this that affirms why I’m in the business — to bring an understanding of what is happening in our community, whether that’s locally or in the wider global community.

Thanks for what you’ve provided here.

Second worst thing is lack of comments, or shoving the reader input off to some forum that most users don’t know or care much about.

Blogs are more widely used and understood than forums. Forums, having good qualities, are not suitable to daily editorial postings, but to larger, less time sensitive issues.

Blogs enable readers to comment right below the post itself. This keeps the reader input connected more closely to the specific editorial content of an article. Often, readers are more interested in how other readers respond to an article than the actual article itself, which may not be unique.

Blogs have established the new web norms. Journalists and web developers who wish to succeed will assess and incorporate blog functionalities in a manner similar to how the blogs do them.

This site sets a good example. You even have “Edit” for comments of registered users. That is way cool, innovative, and unique. Some sites, like Digg, allow you to edit a comment or posting, but only in a short time duration.

Printer friendly version is also extremely smart. I wish I could have that on my Blogger blog, and “Subscribe to Comments” and “Recent Comments”. Very important features for any dynamic content/comments enabled site.