Rx for Post ombudsman: Mail filters–and maybe an omblog
In tomorrow’s Washington Post, ombudsman Deborah Howell understandably complains about electronic astroturf, as I’d call it–e-mail prompted by lobbyists. I hope the Post will assign a bright young techie to set up e-mail filtering for her so the rest of the world can get through to her with more spontaneous opinions. Yes, the need for a powerful and flexible mail filter is painfully obvious to most readers of the TeleBlog. This is yet another indication of the gap between Net-oriented people and the besieged media. Significantly, the Post in many ways is far ahead of the pack, as shown by its use of a Technorati service to pick up the blogosphere’s comments on various articles. What’s happening at a typical paper? Meanwhile, perhaps with a good filter, Ms. Howell can find a little time to do an NYT-like omblog and get in the spirit of things. She’s new as an ombudsman, so I’ll reserve judgment right now and wish her luck. (Updated at 6 a.m., Nov. 13.)
Related: Post profile of Google, including references to its competition with more established media for ad dollars. Disclosure/reminder: I own a little slice of Google stock, and Google links are a major source of readers for the TeleBlog. At the same time I’m aware of of the importance of the big media as a way to help balance out big government and, yes, other big corporations, Google included.
Futher update: There’s concern that the e-astroturf might not be immediately identiable and that the wrong people might be filtered out. My reply: There’s a good chance that keywords will give the astroturfers away. At any rate, you needn’t automatically delete astroturfed topics You can merely can filter ‘em into special boxes within the e-mail program, so these topics won’t drown out the others.
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