Logo

Blogging too Risky for Hearst-Argyle’s Fred Young

Apr 25, 2006  •  Post A Comment

Blogging is far too risky for a TV station to venture into, said Fred Young, senior VP of news at Hearst-Argyle during an afternoon session on the future of news at the National Association of Broadcasters Convention. “Blogging is wonderful, but it scares me,” he said. “We have a responsibility to do it right, to do it accurate, to make sure it’s correct. The beneficiaries of the bloggers, whether we leave them on our stations or our sites, because those are extensions of our stations, will be the lawyers. There are things said in blogs that aren’t always correct.”

Consumers accept that blogs to some degree aren’t as accountable as hard news, said Marissa Mayer, VP of search products and user experience at Google. “You do need to call out what would be a news source and what would be coming from a blog. The expectations are different.”

But blogs need more accountability, said Dan Rather, former “CBS Evening News” anchor who was also a panelist. “I have no difficulty with blogs as long as it’s labeled as such, like an op-ed piece or a letter to the editor. At its best, it can be a useful edition, but I am concerned about accountability.”