Publishers tip-toe into blogging sand box

In today’s Christian Science Monitor, Randy Dotinga takes a balanced look at the likelyhood that traditional publishers will successfully piggyback the p2p communications avalanche (aka blogging/IM/forums/wikis) by inviting plain old folks inside the curtain wall of corporate publishing.

This development raises profound questions about the news biz and its evolution – from what role a newspaper should play in its community (opinion leader versus discussion facilitator) to what “professional” standards should apply to nonprofessionals. Will editors accustomed to tight control ever adjust to the free-wheeling world of the Internet? Will online users view tradition-bound newspapers as anything but clueless has-beens? And finally, will the online world ultimately boost the industry’s sagging fortunes?

I’m quoted saying that bloggers are, by their nature, likely to make “comments that offend one constituency or another.” That’s a blogger’s peril and her charm.