google news comments

a web 2.0 innovation, a public sociology opportunity, or both?

google news now invites people cited in news stories to comment directly upon them. this strikes me as an intriguing idea, though i bet it scares the bejeebers out of journalists. i rarely feel that i've been misquoted or radically misinterpreted in the media, but often have the sense that i can add something constructive to articles in which i'm quoted.

i gave a short interview with the chicago tribune yesterday about a harassment case, then found the following invitation (reprinted below) in today's inbox. the exclusivity bugs me a little, since i could envision this sort of discussion getting a bit inbred. does it make sense to invite the putative experts in a field to work up quick n' dirty op-eds as comments? most of us lack the time or inclination to craft careful opinion pieces or to publish letters to the editor about articles that use or misuse our work. this google news forum might offer an easier and more direct route to public commentary.

Hello Dr. Uggen,

We here at Google News noticed that you were in the news recently, in some articles about the sexual harassment case filed by Anucha Browne Sanders against Knicks coach Isaiah Thomas. We want to hear from you about the story, so we created a feature that will link your response to the story with coverage of the story we've collected. Not just anyone can comment, only you and other people mentioned in the story.

Here is the coverage that we have collected of the story so far from all over the Internet: http://news.google.com/?ncl=1120475339&hl=en

To provide us with a comment, all you have to do is reply to this e-mail with your statement. We will not edit your response and there is no deadline. However, the sooner you provide your comment, the more likely it will become prominent on Google News with the day's other top news stories.

When responding with your comment, please be sure to include:
* Your preferred name and title / organization for attribution.
* A title for your comment.
* A link to a bio for you or your organization.
* Some information on how we may verify your identity.
* Please read the license agreement at the bottom of this email. By replying affirmatively with a comment, you are agreeing to the license grant.

In the future, you don't need to wait for our invitation to comment on stories. If you want to comment on a different story that mentions you or your organization, please respond to this message ... with the information requested above, along with a link to the news article that mentions you or your organization.

Questions before you comment?

We have a lot more information about what Commentary is and how it works: http://www.google.com/support/news/bin/topic.py?topic=12285

Want to see what a posted comment looks like? Check out our list of
recent comments here: http://news.google.com/news?q=source%3Agoogle_news&scoring=d&btpr=1
...
Thank you for helping us make the news more broad and informative!