The Scary side of blogging

Over at Poynter's daily blog by Jim Romenesko, the news industry's best source for news and gossip, they have the story of a memo from the editor of the Washington Times warning staffers not to blog anywhere without the paper's permission.

It's interesting that a lot of industry news is about the scary side of blogging -- such as the fear that a staffer might write something embarrassing to the news organization.

But there is little recognition of the potential power of blogging, to provide readers even more useful information than simply the news stories they see or hear. Or that MSM bloggers are finding news ways to connect with readers, or better yet people who aren't usually our readers. Or that perhaps blogging is the best avenue to attract back Internet savvy young news consumers who are so disconnected from our print products.

Just a thought.