Bloggers worth applause

Admirable actions of bloggers deserve notice. We often see the word "kudos" or "hat tip" used in posts or comments. "It's a good thing," as Martha would say.

3 Blogosphere Behaviors we all might emulate - My favorite big blogs are able to say they're sorry, reinforce ideas worth repeating and consciously avoid posting about certain issues. I offer their examples.

Posting an apology - Joshua Michael Marshall, of Talking Points Memo, in a 7/8/06 post about Guantanamo, corrected himself in a graceful manner. To quote,

Update: Nothing like giving style instructions, and being incorrect. A number of
readers have correctly pointed out that the Supreme Court in Hamdan did not reach the issue of whether Hamdan was a prisoner of war. So I overstated the case when I wrote that the Supreme Court had declared his POW status. Rather, the District Court had made that determination, and the judgment of the District Court was affirmed by the Supreme Court, but on different grounds. It simply did not decide the POW issue one way or the other. I think it's fair to say that the District Court's opinion that Hamdan is a prisoner of war remains good law, but that decision does not have the imprimatur of the Supreme Court, as my post stated. My apologies for the error and thanks to the readers who caught it.

Ideas worth repeating - AlterNet has a blog called "The Echo Chamber," Yesterday's post was titled, "Stop professional hate-mongers," with a link to Media Matters. The link is to a petition urging the mainstream media to stop giving these folks a national platform. The post, naturally, provoked lively debate comments about free speech.

What you don't say, says so much about you - DailyKos, run by Markos Moulitsas Zúniga, announced something he was not going to blog about in a 7/17/06 post about the Middle East. To quote Kos,

Me? I grew up in a war zone. And there was one clear lesson I learned -- there
will never be peace unless both sides get tired of the fighting and start
seeking an alternative.
. . . It doesn't matter what we bloggers say. It doesn't matter what the President of the United States says. Or the United Nations. Or the usual bloviating gasbag pundits.
When two sides are this dead-set on killing each other, very little can get in the way.
And I, for one, sure as heck have no desire to get sucked into that no-win situation. I just hope that war-fatigue sets in at some point.

Positive vs. negative - It has been easy for me to get discouraged, to think of giving up writing, voting or watching TV news. Because I am an almost incurable optimist, however, it has always helped me to get back on track by focusing on something positive in the blogosphere. Thus the applause.

References:
Cyberjournalist.net - a Blogger's Code of Ethics
Microcontentnews.com - Blogging Code of Ethics
Desirable Roasted Coffee - Code of Blogging Ethics
Forrester - Charlene Li's (corporate blogging) Blogger Policy Examples
Tags: blogging writing ethics DailyKos Talking Points Memo AlterNet