I imagine you all have seen the current Recommended diary "In Defense of Shaun King", within which there is much spirited discussion regarding alleged repeated factual errors in a multitude of Shaun's diaries, and a lack of timely corrections to those errors.
Just to get this out of the way, I think it's clear where I stand on the issue of Shaun's tenure at Daily Kos - I value his discussion points and have recommended many of his diaries, but I also do believe that he does not do enough fact checking and has on multiple occasions had errors pointed out to him that were not corrected, IMO, in a timely fashion.
Regardless of where you stand on Shaun's presence at Daily Kos as a front page writer, I think something we can all agree on is that this community is totally in the dark regarding editorial protocol with front page authors. I think this community deserves to know what editorial procedures take place with regard to front page writers.
Daily Kos has a sizable writer staff, and importantly for this topic at hand, a clearly enumerated editorial hierarchy.
As an Associate Editor for a technology news and reviews website, with dozens of product reviews and four press trips to the Consumer Electronics Show (2011, 2012, 2013, 2014), we have a clear protocol for how articles are assigned and posted. Along with the Editor in Chief, I assign specific products for review to our Writers. Only myself and our EIC have authority to publish articles to our site; Writers can write and submit articles online using our WordPress system, but either the EIC or I then proof-read, fact check, and revise before posting the final version online.
I mention the above to point out that our website has a clear protocol for how articles are assigned and then read by at least one Editor before final publication.
In contrast, I have no idea what such process occurs here at Daily Kos. There is a clear editorial hierarchy, as linked above, but what is the actual editorial process here? Or perhaps more pointed, is there even an editorial process here?
Who decides what stories front page writers decide to cover? Themselves? Or one of the two editors, Susan and Barbara?
Assuming the content management system is the same for front page writers (and I have no reason to assume otherwise), then front page writers seemingly are able to publish articles without any editorial review, at least once posted in the "New Diary" format. Perhaps editorial review happens at a previous time; for example, a draft diary is written in Microsoft Word or Google Documents first.
But we simply don't know. Or if some people know, that information certainly isn't common knowledge. I've been an active member of Daily Kos for almost 10 years, so I imagine if this information was already public I would be aware of it already.
Bringing this back to Shaun, who has edited his diaries during the times they were edited following reader comments? Shaun himself or one of the editors? Do editors have authority to edit writers' diaries? If so, are edits log files saved, even if just internally?
Separately, regarding Shaun's absence in most of his diaries, is he or other front pager writers clearly aware of the critiques posed to them? Shaun is very active here, posting a diary usually every day, and he is also very active on Twitter. Even though he rarely posts comments in his diary, is he even aware of the critiques toward him? What about editors and even Markos? Clearly someone is aware and paying attention, or else no diaries would have been revised following reader comments.
As a community that regularly and rightly calls for transparency in our government, I think it is more than fair to call for similar transparency with regard to editorial protocol for this website. Markos himself states that he wants Daily Kos to be the place for progressive discussion and activism, and that is reflected in the changes coming for DK 5.0. To be the authority on progressive thought, discussion, and activism - especially with so many of our diaries going viral on social media - we need to be informed regarding editorial protocol for our front page writers. Because they do represent this site as a whole and impact our credibility.
So as a request to front page writers, editors, and even Markos himself (or anyone who may happen to know this), I think it would be extremely beneficial to inform the community about any editorial protocol that exists here.
Thanks for reading.
Friday morning (EST) update
I posted this pretty late last night (at least for east coasters) but I'm pleased to see this galvanized the community. So far elfling and Armando are the only staffers to respond, and elfling with the only response close to what we're seeking. We'll see if more staffers respond as the west coast awakens this morning.
Unless specifically stated otherwise, I agree with the premise of this comment, which is that as long as front pagers are not plagiarizing, defaming, or breaking fair-use provisions, then it's pretty much all things go.
As a reason for why this is so, look no farther than site metrics over the last 4.5 years:
Even as users have significant questions regarding front pagers getting all the facts correct, and revising in a timely manner when they make mistakes, the site traffic is through the roof. Though it is precisely because of this increased traffic that getting it right is so important.
I hope higher staff do eventually respond to my questions, which are shared by many of you.