World of Difference

For Article: Why are Web and Print STILL So Separate?
Posted by Jane Abao 3/26/2008 11:49:40 PM

True, there is a world of difference between web and print especially as regards decisions. Web publications are fast, changing and not permanent unlike the other. When you have to submit articles for approval in the first, I guess you may only submit the URL, not the hard copy. In web, you may have to edit your posting anytime, reinforce your arguments here and there later as you deem fit, and add or delete what you may have overlooked.

Requiring a writer to submit hard copy for online posting means chopping off guarded opportunities for the writer to edit his copy at a later time. It also implies that once something is submitted to somebody who has to do some approval, the responsibility for the post falls now on that person approving, which is never true for as long as the writer has the byline.

It is a reality that those in management who check writers' work do not fully know the intricacies involved in web work as different from print work. Have you ever been involved in so-called web war? You'll know what I mean from experience.

Accountability, not Credit

For Article: Let Bylines be Bygone?
Posted by Jane Abao 8/23/2007 11:15:09 PM

Why bygone? I agree with some others that bylines are about accountability and not about credit. Bylines are what readers look for. They stand for author responsibility. When a writer’s name is attached to what he or she has written, he or she is in fact saying I stand by what I wrote, that what I have written here are true to the best of my knowledge. If the article has been written in collaboration, fine. The names of all the reporters should be found there. I would not recommend for multiple author bylines [to include editor, photographer, proofreader, staff, and the like. This is stupid!] unless an event was covered simultaneously but viewed from many angles.