They’re watching your edits

I caught this on Cyberjournalist: Some folks have set up a site called NewsSniffer to monitor the editing of comments and stories on the BBCNews site.

The site “aims to monitor corporate news organisations to uncover bias.” I’d count on this interesting idea spreading to other news sites if I were you.

The site also tracks story revisions and highlights them. If you made a dumb typo, NewsSniffer will call you out on it.

The online producers who work at the BBC may need to re-evaluate their procedures for moderating comments now that they’re under the microscope. How are comments moderated at your news organization? Is there a thought-out set of policies, or does it rely on the judgment of the moderator at the time? Is it done by a staff member or a third party?

If sites like NewsSniffer pop up everywhere, will it have a positive or negative effect on news site message boards?

Author: Danny Sanchez

Danny Sanchez is the Audience Development Manager at Tribune's Sun-Sentinel.com and OrlandoSentinel.com. Danny has been with Tribune since 2005 in a variety of editorial, digital and product development roles in Hartford, Orlando and Fort Lauderdale. He has also previously worked in the newsrooms of the Tampa Bay Times and The Miami Herald. View all posts by Danny Sanchez