Who is responsible for posting and editing content on tv.ku.edu? Who qualifies as an online producer or online editor? Do we have online editors for our web site? If we don't have online editors then should we have them?
"I don't think we know," answers the first two questions and "not really" and "yes" answer the other two. I think in order to avoid the legal ramifications of posting something on our web site that is libelous, defamatory or just plain embarrassing we need to answer those questions better.
It's not as though the tv.ku.edu staff has never asked those questions. Recently, to the humiliation of a fellow student, all of the above questions were brought to our attention. We discussed what had happened and Uncle Rick told us that it's a big no-no to joke around on a live system. What we didn't discuss, a least not to my recollection, was who's really in charge of tv.ku.edu and how to deal with editorial issue, seemed seemed to me to be at the heart of the matter.
I believe that if somebody, although I'm not sure who, doesn't clarify who can create posts, what content they could post and who would edit posts, then, the next time something slips past us, we could really be in trouble and be left pointing a lot of fingers.
For example, today during my MMN shift I copy edited teases on the Flash page and stories that the online producer had posted the night before. As I looked through the copy and made corrections, it was obvious that I was the only editor who, besides Staci who had originally noticed the mistakes and the person who made the errors, had looked the story over. It occurred to me then how much we post that dosen't get at least glanced at by a second set of eyes. It also occurred to me that from now on maybe I should consider myself an online editor as well. Would that be accurate, if I'm really only editing my own work and occasionally someone else's?
To be fair, just about all of the content that is currently posted on our web site comes from KUJH scripts, which for the most part have been edited; so, it's not as though there should be any egregious errors. And because our web site has been in operation for only several months and there aren't a lot of pages or places to post something that would go unnoticed, this isn't a crisis issue; but, it is something we should think about.
The quick and easy solution to avoiding editorial problems is to create online editor positions. The hard part is figuring out who would be willing to do and capable of doing this -- just what every student wants: More work to do and more responsibilities. But I think the need for online editors will start to become even greater as online producers begin to create more content that is original.
And, if we do decide to put someone in charge of editing content before it appears on the web site, then Joe Marren's article, The Craft of Online Editing, would be a must read.
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