Newsday, my hometown newspaper, is trying to get into the blogging business.  It’s started a blog called Viewsday.  This wouldn’t be readily apparent from the Newsday website, where almost everything, news included, is a distant second to crass advertising.  In fact, you would be hard-pressed to find the blog since there’s no link to it on the front page at all. 

Aside from the fact that Newsday’s website is possibly the worst of any major newspaper, demonstrating a fundamental lack of understanding of how to use, or be used, the internet, the creation of Viewsday demonstrates a painful ambivalence to change and new media.  Somebody over there believes that online delivery of news and opinion may hold some key to future success, but they lack anything close to an institutional commitment to the concept. 

This may be a result of the pending management changeover, from Sam Zell who wanted to shed a revenue drain to the Dolan family, with more Cablevision cash than journalistic savvy.  But having made the start, why not do it right?  Better yet, having made the start, why serve up half a loaf (or less, maybe just the ends that nobody wants to eat) and prove that they aren’t ready for prime time?

I am a big supporter of the Viewsday concept.  Long Island needs a blog to provide a forum for conversation about local news and events.  We’ve got plenty of problems here worthy of discussion, and more than our share of drama.  What better place to air it out than the blog of our one daily newspaper.

But a blog needs to have something to say.  Save a couple of posts that hint at the potential for thoughtful commentary, Viewsday has thus far been a miserable dud.  I check it out every day in the hope that somebody over there woke up and said to themselves, “hey, let’s post something of consequence on the blog today!”  No such luck.

This morning, I saw a post by Bob Keeler, one of Newsday’s editorial guys and a regular columnist.  That’s a start, since this was supposed to be the editorial staff’s outlet for opinion.  Here’s his post :

       The costs of wrongful conviction

It’s hard for most of us to imagine what it might be like to spend more than a decade in prison for something we didn’t do, but it happens far too often in our state. The cost to the person wrongfully convicted is immense, but the cost to taxpayers is not trivial. Housing one innocent person for a decade costs about a quarter of a million dollars. Then there’s the cost of compensating that same person for the crushing injustice, loss of earning capacity and separation from family. Now the New York State Bar Association is trying to do something about it. Keep an eye on the editorial page in the newspaper itself.

Put aside for the moment that this is old news, something I posted about here last week.  The best I can make of Bob’s post is that somebody put a gun to his head and told him “post something on the blog or else,” and this is what he churned out.  It’s beyond lame and pathetic.  It’s simply pointless.

Michelle Chen has been charged with infusing some life into Viewpoints, and she strikes me as a dynamic and focused person.  But she’s laboring under two distinct disabilities.  First, Newsday’s editorial management doesn’t see Viewsday as a priority, worthy of allowing Michelle to give it her full attention.  Second, and more important, is that Newsday has never been anywhere near cutting edge, and appears to lack any real comprehension of what the blogosphere is, does or has to offer.

Up to now, Viewsday has been used as filler.  It’s a place to claim to have a blog, but hardly a blog in any sense.  The blog says nothing.  It has no voice, no stance, no controversy, no life.  In my effort to be helpful, particularly since Rita Ciolli, the editorial page honcho at Newsday, apparently recognizes that online existence may have a little something to do with Newsday continued viability as a going concern, I’m doing what little I can to push Newsday to stop counting pennies and start drawing in readers by offering them something worth reading.

Typical of mainstream media, they are scared to death to commit to the concept, and even more afraid that if they blogged for real, they might fall off their journalistic pedestal and be forced to wallow in the gutter with the rest of us.  I’m trying to give them a little shove and expedite the process.  It’s not so bad here in the gutter.  At least we can post about things that matter, express actual opinions, and bring something to the conversation.

Come on, Viewsday.  Give it a shot.