Weintraub: what muzzle?

Dan Weintraub tells Mark Glaser at the Online Journalism Review that the shift in his editing regime at the Bee is a minor deal.

"Obviously I liked it the way we had it, with me posting to the Web and to my editor at the same time," Weintraub said. "But I don't expect a whole lot to change. They never reeled one of my posts back in using the old system. And with about 500 print columns under my belt here, I can count on one hand the number of times my editor has asked me to consider a substantive change. I expect the same to apply to the blog."

The way it works now is Weintraub files his posts to deputy opinion editor Mark Paul, who gives a read then sends them to the Web. Weintraub used to post his California Insider items at the same time he copied them to Paul.

I never saw the "muzzle" that some writers wanted to see, but I still think the Bee is mistaken to treat blog posts like any other piece the paper publishes. They should allow for the form, like they do when Weintraub appears on TV. And since the editors are highly unlikely to require any substantive changes to his blog posts, it was a dust-up -- and a black eye -- with no point for the Bee.

Update: Tim Rutten's column in the L.A. Times today covers the dust-up. The former Times city editor Bill Boyarsky says Weintraub's judgments and news breaking, not his opinions, have made him the journalism star of the recall campaign. Money quote to Orville Schell, dean of Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism: "An edited blog is a contradiction in terms."

Update II: Email to a reader from the Bee's Opinion editor, David Holwerk, is cited at Daniel Drezner's blog:

As the guy who edits Dan Weintraub's column and his blog items, I have to say I disagree with your contention that it is "crystal clear to all readers that Weintraub speaks for himself in his blog." My experience is that many readers regard the blog and all of our on-line content as an extension of The Bee.

My aim as Dan's editor is not to change his opinions or alter his viewpoints, but to make sure that his blog items are clearly written and adequately explained and do not engender reactions he does not intend. That is what editors do. If they do that well, they can actually make writers more effective. That's what I and other editors at The Bee try to do every day. You can judge for yourself to what degree we succeed.

My earlier posts:
Going to the source
Give Weintraub a break
Weintraub reined in?