Le Monde is welcoming bloggers to set up shop under their brand name. Smart move. I don’t think there’s much question that mainstream journalists around the globe are asking, “What the hell are we going to do about the rise of citizen journalism?” Some continue to ignore the new reality, despite dwindling audience share. That’s to be expected. Others are getting their feet wet by putting reporters in a position to blog. Now, Le Monde is doing what all smart marketers do when challenged with a paradigm shift. They’re embracing the challengers and making them their own.
I find this particularly interesting in light of the legal troubles Jason Kottke is facing with Sony. Kottke, one of the most popular bloggers in the world, posted information about Sony’s “Jeopardy” game show that the owners didn’t appreciate. The lawyers called and Kottke is now taking the understandable but disgruntling position of quieting his voice. In the face of untold legal bills, it’s hard to fault him.
Kottke writes, “As an individual weblogger with relatively limited financial and legal resources, I worry about whether I can continue to post things (legal or not) that may upset large companies and result in lawsuits that they can afford and I cannot. The NY Times can risk upsetting large companies in the course of their journalistic duties because they are a large company themselves, they know their rights, and they have a dedicated legal team to deal with stuff like this.”
I wonder if Le Monde is prepared to defend the non-staff bloggers under their umbrella?
