La restrittiva "policy" (pdf) imposta dal New York Times a i suoi blogger fa effettivamente un po' ridere, ma dimostra le difficoltà di avere blog all'interno delle testate editoriali che, pur essendo prodotti "polifonici", alla fine devono avere una "voce" riconoscibile (e la "voce" del NYT riseva le opinioni alla pagine delle views).
But the strangest part of the memo is the passage explaining the difference between "personal tone and voice and unqualified personal opinion." The latter is acceptable in opinion blogs, and in the opinion pages in general, but in news blogs and news-page columns opinions must be backed up with reporting and/or hedged with alternative points of view. "So a blog or news column has to give readers the arguments and factual information that led to the writer's conclusion -- enough argument and fact on both or all sides of the issue to enable the reader to decide whether to agree or disagree. This is a fundamentally different requirement that does not apply to editorial or Op-Ed columns."
Mixed Media (Portfolio)