Sell my diary, Kos!

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Sunday November 26, 2006 · 12:45 PM PST

2006/11/26 · 12:45

In the Sunday paper this morning I noticed that not a single feature was as interesting or insightful as diaries I see on DKOS every day. (George Will vs Georgia10? NO CONTEST!!!) And I thought: What a shame the general public (including those without PCs) is missing what we have here.

And then an idea: How about if Kos marketed a weekly "Best of DKOS Diaries" to the general press?

Yes, what we post is automatically NOT copyrighted (surprised? read the not-so-small print), and (I assume) any newspaper could publish what they want--free. So “sell” is not the right word. What I really mean is “market” for free. So why do it?

To bring more useful info to the public. (A counter to the right-wing spin-monster media machine.)
To publicize DKOS. (And more readers = more $ for ads, I assume.)

Is it problematic? Yes. But hear me out.

How to do it.

Every week pull out diaries that are good enough to publish. And not just political diaries. The marine series is great. And the series on writing is super. And an occasional snark diary may even be worth offering.
Email the diary authors and ask their permission, and ask if they would like to make any edits before submission. And if they would like their real names on the diaries. (I know. Copyright does not apply here, but good manners do.) Have them make the edits to the original diary, so comments would still be available. (Comments often make a good diary better--although it may confuse the newspapers, I say we should still make them part of the package). Also, remind the authors that newspapers edit for space, and their diaries may be “butchered”--but that’s part of the game.
Email a list of brief descriptions with links to the diaries to newspapers around the country. (I’m thinking a lot of smaller papers on tight budgets would especially welcome them.)
Inform the papers that--since this is an open forum--we have not necessarily have edited for spelling, grammar, or AP Stylebook; and they may want to look at each diary’s cited sources and make their own judgments. (Maybe a legal disclaimer?)

Considerations:

Legal: Are we opening ourselves to libel problems? I think Fox has proven no lie is unpublishable, and the FCC policy against news falsification is basically null and void under this administration, and we are far more truthful than Fox. But libel is a separate issue, and people may still try to sue. (Maybe have an in-house lawyer look over the diaries? If we have any. Or at least have a lawyer put together a disclaimer.)
Compensation: Although diaries are free, maybe Kos could charge a service fee for going through the diaries and picking out the best. Maybe this fee could be added after a year of free service (make it evident up front about the first-year free service.) And maybe the fee could be donated to the Red Cross or environmental groups or something.
Press resistance. Would they be crazy to make more public the fact that great news and feature stories are available on-line. Maybe. But maybe they will be smart enough to realize improving their content improves their circulation, and many people have no PCs.
Starting slow. If doing this will all diaries is a bit too iffy, maybe at least start by offering front pagers?

Just an idea.

Poll
53 votes Show Results
Would you like to see any of your diaries published in the press?

NO. Scary.

YES. Go for it.

53 votes Vote Now!
Would you like to see any of your diaries published in the press?

NO. Scary.

16 votes

YES. Go for it.

37 votes

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