There are two kinds of people in this world. There are those who implement Internet filtering. And there are those who hate Internet filtering. Sam Zell's memo putting an end to filtering at the Tribune Company is getting cheers from the victim side of that line. On2 recalls:
"So quite a few of us were unable to do our jobs -- even after we bitched loud and long and got what was supposed to be a fix in place for the Chicago-based interactive staff. And it wasn't just online. What about morning news shows that regularly do shots of computer screens with YouTube videos? Oops, not working, they discovered on live TV. What about being able to kill a clip of ours, that unfortunately had a nasty mistake in it, after someone outside the company posted it to YouTube? Oops, can't do that."
The particular brand of evil that's been implemented at my place of work is called Bluecoat, and it harasses me constantly, popping up challenges when I visit Poynter, WSJ.com, and even our own newspaper websites. (The problem seems to involve advertising networks.) I'm squarely in the anti-filtering camp.
The broader problem is support departments that don't really understand the work being done elsewhere in the enterprise.
Comments
And you call this a newsroom?
Well, there is hope for TribCo after all. The big boss just showed he has more news sense than the editors running the papers.
Filtering, blocking and nanny-state watching professional journalist's access to online resources (and source) is idiotic and counter-intuitive. Going to IT to ask permission is like asking for a hall pass to go pee. Grownups don't need them.
How the hell are you going to report the news wearing blinders? "Whoops, 'ah, hey there, Mr. reporter sir, - don't go down that dark alley there - there might be actual news there - but you might get hurt, too.'"
About time someone put the IT police in their place. What year is it? What country are we in? Who is in charge of newsgathering in the newsroom?
I like how Slammin' Sammy is taking his bat to the "Tribune Thought-Control Stasi."
OK, there's a reason he's a billionaire.
The irony is that our
The irony is that our newspapers traffic is based on people violating these strict internet policies. If every employer blocked "time wasters", we'd be out of business.