NYT Opens Its Online Front Page to Blogs, Other Sources

(MoneyWatch)  Have blogs become the new AP for news outlets?

The New York Times has announced the launch of Times Extra, an online view of its front page that comes with links to content from other news outlets and blogs. For a long time, news outlets have been proprietary in what they report, largely because they put their reputations on the line to make sure that the information was fair, balanced and accurate. That's not something to be ashamed about.

But, increasingly, there's a number of blogs on the Internet that also have gained the respect of being reputable news outlets and, as such, should not be ignored. No, I'm not talking about the teenage blogger who chimes in on celebrity tabloid gossip but rather journalists who are now using the Web to break news and offer insight in a way that's more timely and more broad-reaching than tomorrow morning's newspaper on the front porch.

Here on the Between the Lines blog, we're constantly linking to news sources such as the Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post and so on. Sure, they're our competitors but so are Venture Beat, Boomtown and Read Write Web (which is where I originally read about Times Extra) and I also have no problem linking to them. As a journalist, I want you to read what I write. But more importantly, I want to give the readers as much information and insight as possible - and sometimes the best way to do that is to link to someone else. I'm not afraid to do that and I'm glad to see that the New York Times is no longer afraid either.

Let's see if the rest of the old school mainstream media executives will follow suit and give the readers what they really want - information.

Sam Diaz is a senior editor at ZDNet. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.

Credit: ZDNet