1:42
Interview Transcript
Question: The Huffington Post has positioned itself as the voice of the left…
Arianna Huffington: I don’t actually agree with that because I don’t see it as-- I don’t see it as Right versus Left. I don’t see us-- I mean, it obviously has a progressive viewpoint, there’s no question about that. But at the same time, half our traffic is coming from non-politics and half our traffic is coming from our other ___________________, you know, media, business, entertainment, living, and so as a result, people are coming to the Huffington Post who are not necessarily progressive, who don’t necessarily share our point of view, but who discover us, and discover our point of view. And I am very excited about that because I never wanted just to talk to the choir, just to talk to the people who agree with us. I want to sort of expand our reach and expose many more people to our viewpoint.
Question: What is the intention of the Huffington Post?
Arianna Huffington: Our intention is to continue growing in the direction of being an internet newspaper, and that’s why we’ve added the new verticles and we’re going to be adding more, including sports, international and green and books.
Question: Would you sell it?
Arianna Huffington: We haven’t thought about that now, and right now, we’re very excited about plowing more money into expanding it.
Arianna Huffington on Building a Blog
Co-Founder & Editor-in-Chief, The Huffington Post
Arianna Huffington on building one of the most popular blogs on the web.
May 21, 2008 | In Media & Internet
Discuss
Mary Coyote on May 23, 2008, 8:25 PM
Arianna's Huffington Post is a THUGGISH Jungle
http://www.bigthink.com/media-the-press/10722
She speaks of 'VIGOROUS DISCUSSION' yet will NOT ALLOW it on her blog, Huffington Post. A place where most days each comment must be vetted by a thuggish censor before it appears, rendering conversation impossible, as this process can take hours, sometimes most of the day. Then again the site is plagued with technical problems and spyware so added layers of censors only cause more problems. On the days that the vetting system is broken, conversation flows freely and it feels like the good-old-days at Huffy. (or perhaps I only have this experience when I log in as a new user)
She says that %u201Cpeople discover us (e.g: her POV),%u201D and she is concerned about %u201Cexposing many more people to our viewpoint.%u201D And this is the NUT of the problem at Huffy: that Arianna is NOT concerned with an exchange of ideas; that she is not interested in cultivating fresh viewpoints; that she does not want to encourage discussions………………..SHE DOES NOT WANT A SALON, but 'an Internet newspaper' where her POV is enforced.
During the first two and a half years of Huffington's existence the site was a SALON where even the radical right and far-left voices were heard. This of course created issues where more progressive bloggers made it their raison d'être to spar with the extremists. But now even progressive voices such as Coyote's are purged censored and banned because we are not suitably 'discovering …. our viewpoint;' that is failing to discover the POV of Arianna's thuggish censors.
And that is the NUT of Arianna's problem: that she sees her site as a NEWSPAPER, an Internet newspaper, rather than a SALON, or a blog. A salon is where ideas are exchanged shared and allowed to grow. A blog where the audience's voices are valued.
On the other hand, a newspaper is a one-way-delivery of the publishers prejudices. Some newspapers have been adding Internet comment opportunities in order to adjust to readership lost to the Internet, but they tend to see consumer comments as irrelevant, as if only professionals can write articles, blog and make a newspaper.
Arianna had an opportunity to change this
to create a blog for the peoplebut instead of valuing the ALMOST MILLION WORDS I HAVE BLOGGED ON HER SITE FOR FREE, she values only paid bloggers. ( I know how many words blogged as I keep a bloglog)Where I call myself a blogger, she calls me a commenter. And she wants us to restrict our comments to short CHAT format; the posting of ideas not-directly-on-topic are reason for banishment.
Her site is one of horrific technical problems; excessive censorship; purging of posts that do not reflect her POV; or are deemed off-topic; and where all posts past and present may be purged for minor infractions. It is just like any right-wing site. It is the wrong direction.Examples:
http://www.bigthink.com/policy-politics/2008-elections/10636
http://www.bigthink.com/policy-politics/10644
http://www.bigthink.com/policy-politics/2008-elections/10643
http://www.bigthink.com/truth-justice/10646
http://www.bigthink.com/features/455
Mary Coyote on May 23, 2008, 8:28 PM
Arianna's Huffington Post is a THUGGISH Jungle
http://www.bigthink.com/media-the-press/10722
She speaks of 'VIGOROUS DISCUSSION' yet will NOT ALLOW it on her blog, Huffington Post. A place where most days each comment must be vetted by a thuggish censor before it appears, rendering conversation impossible, as this process can take hours, sometimes most of the day. Then again the site is plagued with technical problems and spyware so added layers of censors only cause more problems. On the days that the vetting system is broken, conversation flows freely and it feels like the good-old-days at Huffy. (or perhaps I only have this experience when I log in as a new user)
She says that 'people discover us (e.g: her POV),' and she is concerned about 'exposing many more people to our viewpoint.' And this is the NUT of the problem at Huffy: that Arianna is NOT concerned with an exchange of ideas; that she is not interested in cultivating fresh viewpoints; that she does not want to encourage discussions………………..SHE DOES NOT WANT A SALON, but 'an Internet newspaper' where her POV is enforced.
During the first two and a half years of Huffington's existence the site was a SALON where even the radical right and far-left voices were heard. This of course created issues where more progressive bloggers made it their raison d'être to spar with the extremists. But now even progressive voices such as Coyote's are purged censored and banned because we are not suitably 'discovering …. our viewpoint;' that is failing to discover the POV of Arianna's thuggish censors.
And that is the NUT of Arianna's problem: that she sees her site as a NEWSPAPER, an Internet newspaper, rather than a SALON, or a blog. A salon is where ideas are exchanged shared and allowed to grow. A blog where the audience's voices are valued.
On the other hand, a newspaper is a one-way-delivery of the publishers prejudices. Some newspapers have been adding Internet comment opportunities in order to adjust to readership lost to the Internet, but they tend to see consumer comments as irrelevant, as if only professionals can write articles, blog and make a newspaper.
Arianna had an opportunity to change this
to create a blog for the peoplebut instead of valuing the ALMOST MILLION WORDS I HAVE BLOGGED ON HER SITE FOR FREE, she values only paid bloggers. ( I know how many words blogged as I keep a bloglog)Where I call myself a blogger, she calls me a commenter. And she wants us to restrict our comments to short CHAT format; the posting of ideas not-directly-on-topic are reason for banishment.
Her site is one of horrific technical problems; excessive censorship; purging of posts that do not reflect her POV; or are deemed off-topic; and where all posts past and present may be purged for minor infractions. It is just like any right-wing site. It is the wrong direction.Examples:
http://www.bigthink.com/policy-politics/2008-elections/10636
http://www.bigthink.com/policy-politics/10644
http://www.bigthink.com/policy-politics/2008-elections/10643
http://www.bigthink.com/truth-justice/10646
http://www.bigthink.com/features/455
(BigThink: you need to fix this using of quotations problem; where quotes turn into %u201C%u201D)
Mary Coyote on May 24, 2008, 12:25 AM
Arianna’s Huffington Post is a THUGGISH Jungle
http://www.bigthink.com/media-the-press/10722
She speaks of ‘VIGOROUS DISCUSSION’ yet will NOT ALLOW it on her blog, Huffington Post. A place where most days each comment must be vetted by a thuggish censor before it appears, rendering conversation impossible, as this process can take hours, sometimes most of the day. Then again the site is plagued with technical problems and spyware so added layers of censors only cause more problems. On the days that the vetting system is broken, conversation flows freely and it feels like the good-old-days at Huffy. (or perhaps I only have this experience when I log in as a new user)
She says that %u201Cpeople discover us (e.g: her POV),%u201D and she is concerned about %u201Cexposing many more people to our viewpoint.%u201D And this is the NUT of the problem at Huffy: that Arianna is NOT concerned with an exchange of ideas; that she is not interested in cultivating fresh viewpoints; that she does not want to encourage discussions………………..SHE DOES NOT WANT A SALON, but ‘an Internet newspaper’ where her POV is enforced.
During the first two and a half years of Huffington’s existence the site was a SALON where even the radical right and far-left voices were heard. This of course created issues where more progressive bloggers made it their raison d’
Mary Coyote on May 24, 2008, 12:28 AM
Arianna’s Huffington Post is a THUGGISH Jungle
http://www.bigthink.com/media-the-press/10722
She speaks of ‘VIGOROUS DISCUSSION’ yet will NOT ALLOW it on her blog, Huffington Post. A place where most days each comment must be vetted by a thuggish censor before it appears, rendering conversation impossible, as this process can take hours, sometimes most of the day. Then again the site is plagued with technical problems and spyware so added layers of censors only cause more problems. On the days that the vetting system is broken, conversation flows freely and it feels like the good-old-days at Huffy. (or perhaps I only have this experience when I log in as a new user)
She says that ‘people discover us (e.g: her POV),’ and she is concerned about ‘exposing many more people to our viewpoint.’ And this is the NUT of the problem at Huffy: that Arianna is NOT concerned with an exchange of ideas; that she is not interested in cultivating fresh viewpoints; that she does not want to encourage discussions………………..SHE DOES NOT WANT A SALON, but ‘an Internet newspaper’ where her POV is enforced.
During the first two and a half years of Huffington’s existence the site was a SALON where even the radical right and far-left voices were heard. This of course created issues where more progressive bloggers made it their raison d’
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