Do you read the comment thread on your articles and columns? Sometimes, when a piece gets lots of social media attention, it’s hard not to. It’s even been suggested that depending on the tone of a comment thread, readers opinions can change. Comments are content, too. I’m don’t belong to any commenter community on any site, but I do read the threads on some of my favorite news sites. Sometimes they can be useful or just funny, and sometimes, they make me lose my faith in humanity.

In a recent essay, Jeff Jarvis sets out to define the troll. By using Aaron James’ Assholes:  A Theory as a jumping point, Jarvis defines the troll as a specific, if not just web-based, animal. The troll is out for blood. Your blood. And responding to them only makes them happy.

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This week, there are two very confusing threads of news running through my feeds. The first is the sequester. The other, the elections in Italy.

Navigating politics is like navigating a murky swamp. Unless you’ve been there before, you’re bound to make a mis-step or get lost in the mess.

Luckily, I used to live in Italy and so I can walk myself through the hype and conjecture that runs rampant in the Italian press and straight to the hard news. I also speak American political theater, so I manage just the same with the sequester.

But it’s not easy territory to navigate. Both events have me thinking about how news, especially layered, complex news like budget plans and Italy’s electoral process, get lost in translation, especially through social media and the constant linking to sources as news breaks. Analysis in both cases is lacking as up-to-the-minute updating takes over.

No More Question Marks

If you aren’t mildly confused about the sequester, good for you. Many outlets have focused coverage on breaking it down for readers, but that only does so much good. Other outlets and their columnists seem caught up in the churning out of updates. It’s like trying to follow a 7th grader recounting a drama from the playground. Some writers don’t even seem to be  searching for real facts, or readily accessible plans, opting instead to simply join the peanut gallery. Adult supervision, indeed.

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The past few months have been a rocky one for sponsored online content or “advertorials.” Between the Atlantic‘s Scientology dust-up and increasing paid content on websites like Buzzfeed and various outlets within the Gawkwer network, publishers are pushing boundaries and blurring the line between editorial and advertisement.

It’s a sticky subject, for sure, and the centerpiece of a Social Media Week debate in Buzzfeed’s Flatiron District office between Editor-in-Chief Ben Smith and conservative blogger and The Dist Andrew Sullivan. To describe the debate as a blood bath is even a little bit of an understatement, as the two personalities clashed vehemently over the advertorial’s place online — and the effect it has on journalism at large. Here’s a quote from the debate moderator, the Atlantic‘s Derek Thompson, from his write-up of the event: Read more

Social Media Week has officially kicked off and this morning in New York, Brian Stelter and David Carr, of the New York Times sat down to discuss how they use social media in their reporting.

You may remember the two from the documentary Page One, in which David Carr plays the digital adaptor and Stelter, the digital native as the Times struggles to make paywalls and the online world work for them. They make a good team on the media pages of the Times and on-stage. Between their sense of humor and of gravitas about how to practice journalism in the digital age, they offer a unique perspective.

You can watch the panel discussion here, but there were two major themes.

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I’m all a-Twitter for tonight’s State of the Union address. Already, #SOTU is trending as media outlets and organizations prep for the big event. And, already, everyone is bemoaning, or planning drinking games, for the speech.

If you’re a cynic, it’s just more political theater. But if you, like me, are a political junkie, the State of the Union night is one whole awards season wrapped into an hour on C-Span. Provided Anonymous doesn’t hack the whole thing.

Like the Grammy’s or the Superbowl, I can’t wait to watch the event with the Twitter-verse. I won’t be sitting in a newsroom, but I’ll be trolling the #SOTU feed for my favorite journo friends’ take line-for-line.

I have a few favorites for tonight. Read more