Tod posted a list of official CBC blogs today, and in exploring the list I came across the CBC’s New Brunswick election blog.
The latest post was particularly interesting to me, as it discussed why CBC policy forbids anonymous posting on its blogs. I was not aware of this policy.
My anonymous brethren in New Brunswick have been shut out of the discussion on the CBC blog and aren’t too happy about it. One has decided to allow anonymous postings to CBC articles on his own blog. As a public service. Ahem.
The guy who runs the NB blog, Jacques Poitras, defends himself by quoting from the CBC’s Journalistic Standards and Practices and sums it up thusly: “What we have here is a collision of a new medium with few rules, and an existing, traditional media organization with its guidelines and policies.”
He’s right, but not in the way he thinks he is.
Let’s face it: invoking the JSP in this debate is just a way of telling his audience to go away and leave him alone. The truth is that Jacques, or his boss, don’t understand the medium and are afraid of what these people will say. The JSP is not a good document for blogs. This is one of the reasons we wrote the CBC Blogging Manifesto.
If this is CBC policy, why am I allowed to post anonymously on Inside the CBC? One of the most frequent posters there is Batman, for God’s sake. The most anonymous of them all.
I realize than anonymity frightens some people. They think it’s cowardly. That’s all right. But look at the comments on the NB election blog. Lynn MacDonald from Fredericton? Who the hell is that?
It’s me, that’s who. I just made it up on the spot. I made up an e-mail address too, but they never checked that. Sounds like a rational young woman. Turns out she’s an American real estate agent. Who knew?
The sad thing is that if I tried to post on the NB election blog as Ouimet I would’ve been rejected for being “anonymous.” Yet Ouimet has a years’ worth of writing here, pages and pages of stuff and from reading it you can get a good grasp of who I am and where I’m coming from.
Same for Spinks. And Atlanticblogger.
Not so for Lynn MacDonald.
She’s the real coward.
Aug 31 12:40 pm addendum:
In fine CBC flinching style, Lynn MacDonald’s comment has been removed, and the whole discussion closed down. Poitras says his blog is not the place to discuss CBC policy. But I would point out that he brought it up in the first place, with his post titled “Why we need your name.”
Interestingly, no one from the CBC ever wrote Lynn MacDonald at lynnmacdonald55@hotmail.com to see if she was real or fake, and Mr. Poitras had no problem with posting her opinions when she agreed with him.
~O
Aug 31 7:55 pm addendum:
“Michael Noones” and “Steve Smith” out themselves.
~O
10 Comments
OK,let’s see if I get this….
Ouimet/Lynn is an evil management person in, of all places, Toronto and is criticizing CBC policy.
The journalist, who a year ago at this time was locked-out by evil management, is in NB and is defending, or hiding behind, CBC policy this year.
Who says this place is crazy. It’s simply insane and quite entertaining.
No problem, Spinks. I guess I had to expect they would delete it, although shutting down the conversation is not only dumb, but makes CBC journalism look bad.
Now that I read his blog a little, I realize that he is a journalist, apparently working alone. He’s obviously new to blogging, and is handling a lot of things at the same time here.
I might be inclined to cut him some slack, but if he is going to start a blog on the taxpayer’s dime, I would hope that he would do it right and not give bullshit excuses when cornered on something he knows nothing about.
They wouldn’t send me out there to cover the NB election. The CBC shouldn’t let journalists be bloggers without a clear, sane policy on blogging.
Except that every one should have a couple of “real” email addresses of various ages and genders on
hotmail, yahoo etc. for uses such
as this, if they ever use the sendmail verification mode.
Lynn’s post is gone. Sorry “Lynn”. I let the cat out of the proverbial bag and CBC removed it. Hope you were telling the truth or the real Lynn Macdonald is going to be mad. LOL, which just goes to show how bizarre their poicy is. Still, the point has been made. Good job.
Obviously Jacques has consumed the kool-aid. Maybe he’s angling for a position in Stursberg’s office where truth and reality are what you want it to be on that given day.
It’s just another example of the dumbing down of the CBC. Let’s all wave little red, I mean blue books.
Did they delete “Lynn”s post?!
“Lynn”, awesome job in showing how archaic CBC’s policy really is. Thanks for the support.
Wow, that guy sure did make the whole blog concept a little less cool with his rules.
He might as well have come out and said “The CBC is antiquated.” (not my opinion, but that’s the way he writes “an existing traditional media organization with its guidelines and policies”.
Ah, guidelines and policies. Helping slackers and those afraid of change have something to hide behind.
oh, you’re a bad girl, er boy, er girl….whatever, you’re just bad….now don’t go and change on us.
now you gonna delete my comment ’cause i’m anonymous? ’cause Lynn agrees with the policy…
maybe i should just call myself Robin…that batman dude is kinda cute….
Batman isn’t anonymous… he’s a freakin’ superhero! He’s been on TV and everything. You know, with his, er, life partner Robin?
;-)
Tod