So the LA Times's experiment with reader edited leader comments didn't work out quite as planned.
It turns out that when a newspaper opens its editorial pages to mass participation, anarchy ensues. At least that will be the conclusion in newsrooms around the world.
As a leader writer and blogger sitting in an old newspaper newsroom I find this episode interesting on a number of levels. First, it is worth remembering how hard it is just getting a small team of journalists to agree on a single leader line in time for first edition. Even without the inteference of malicious vandals the LA times plan would have been quite unworkable. It was a brave experiment, nonetheless.
Second, the LA Times was probably naive about levels of hostility to mainstream news media on the internet because the culture of journalism retains a myth of the grizzled hack as non-conformist crusader against The Power. We haven't got used to the fact that a lot of people see as part of The Power.
The LA Times probably thought it was inviting the internet to join it on the anti-establishment barricades. In fact it was throwing open the doors to the Winter Palace. That the mob went on the rampage is not all that surprising.
I'm sure there will be plenty more comment more insightful than mine out there. Corante and Buzzmachine are good places to start.
