Comments on: Reader Q: Blog posts going live with or without editor approval? http://beatblogging.org/2009/01/23/reader-q-blog-posts-going-live-with-or-without-editor-approval/ Pushing the practice of beat reporting Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:10:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1 By: Ann Douglas http://beatblogging.org/2009/01/23/reader-q-blog-posts-going-live-with-or-without-editor-approval/comment-page-1/#comment-2970 Ann Douglas Mon, 26 Jan 2009 14:36:19 +0000 http://beatblogging.org/?p=1663#comment-2970 I blog for two news sites: The Toronto Star's ParentCentral.ca (where this link leads) and in the lifestyle area at Yahoo! Canada. My posts at The Toronto Star go live immediately. My editor reads them eventually. If I want a second opinion about something in the piece -- could I be getting into dangerous territory here? -- I'm free to contact her at any time during the story process; or to flag the piece for her when it's in draft form or as soon as it goes live. But she told me, right from the get-go, that she had total trust in me. That hasn't just made it possible for me to blog about parenting/family items as I hear about them and as I'm inspired to write about them; it's also made me feel like a really key member of the news team. It's amazing what a little bit of trust can do for the morale. At Yahoo! Canada, they're hoping to eventually allow bloggers to post their stories without going through the editorial cue, but, at this point, that's not possible. Once I hit "submit" I lose control of my story. I can't even add an extra line of copy or correct a typo that I notice after the fact. If my editor is away (and I'm not aware of this), my story can languish in editorial limbo. During the holiday season, one of my blog posts was in post purgatory for five days. Over time, the creative process can be affected by the what happens to that post behind the scenes. I blog for two news sites: The Toronto Star’s ParentCentral.ca (where this link leads) and in the lifestyle area at Yahoo! Canada. My posts at The Toronto Star go live immediately. My editor reads them eventually. If I want a second opinion about something in the piece — could I be getting into dangerous territory here? — I’m free to contact her at any time during the story process; or to flag the piece for her when it’s in draft form or as soon as it goes live. But she told me, right from the get-go, that she had total trust in me. That hasn’t just made it possible for me to blog about parenting/family items as I hear about them and as I’m inspired to write about them; it’s also made me feel like a really key member of the news team. It’s amazing what a little bit of trust can do for the morale.

At Yahoo! Canada, they’re hoping to eventually allow bloggers to post their stories without going through the editorial cue, but, at this point, that’s not possible. Once I hit “submit” I lose control of my story. I can’t even add an extra line of copy or correct a typo that I notice after the fact. If my editor is away (and I’m not aware of this), my story can languish in editorial limbo. During the holiday season, one of my blog posts was in post purgatory for five days.

Over time, the creative process can be affected by the what happens to that post behind the scenes.

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