There’s an interesting post over at All Talk and No Action that covers two of my favourite subjects: the role of columnists, and the Daily Mail newspaper.

The post is mainly about a new site called Newsvine, which will enable readers to comment on “proper” news stories and combine traditional and paid journalism. It’s the brainchild of a chap called Mike Davidson. As ATANA comments:

Davidson also makes a statement I’ve long supported: “At Newsvine, we feel strongly that an article’s life only begins the second it is published. It is only when readers interact with it that it achieves its full impact.” This idea that a news story, opinion piece or even a product review is just the beginning is one I first saw in print in the late nineties in a book called Media Rants, by Jon Katz

As for the Daily Mail, it’s expanding its reader commenting feature to encompass all its articles. Which should make for entertaining or depressing reading, depending on your opinion of Mail readers.

It’s nice to see that the Daily Mail is finally taking this Internet lark seriously. Just over a year ago, it wanted you to get written permission before linking to its site. Oh, hang on. That’s still the case. Best not to link to the Daily Mail site, then.