The Times, They Are A'Changing

Jim Romenesko has gotten a hold of an interesting staff memo written by The New York Times' executive editor, Bill Keller which announces a new line of communication being opened between the paper's reporters and the public:

Beginning on Tuesday, readers of nytimes.com who click on a staff byline (we're only doing this with staff names, which appear underlined and in color), will, in addition to seeing other articles by that writer, be able to e-mail the reporter. That reader e-mail will be routed without disclosing the address of the reporter, thus keeping regular e-mail boxes free of additional junk mail.

That doesn't mean that every personal attack must be parried, every anti-Times campaign repulsed, every line-by-line analysis rebutted in kind. It simply means that readers should be heard and, whenever possible, engaged. In many cases, no reply will be called for beyond the auto-reply acknowledging that a reader's message has reached you. In other cases, a polite acknowledgement will be plenty. And in all cases, it's worth keeping in mind that what you say to readers and how you say it will be taken -- rightly or not -- as representative of The Times.