Michael Norrish: Deputy Editor Digital Sport, Telegraph
I interviewed Telegraph employee, Michael Norrish, about regulations within his field of online sports journalism …..
Q What is your job title?
A Deputy Editor, Digital Sport, The Telegraph.
Q What regulation is in place at the Telegraph to ensure standards are adhered to?
A The primary responsibility for all editorial content always lies with the journalist. All copy should be subbed and then revised, but in reality online content is often self-published due to the demands of producing a ‘live’ product. It is the job of a section editor to ensure stringent standards are upheld within his/her section, and it is also ultimately their responsibility to ensure legally sensitive material is not published without approval from the lawyers.
Q Are there different rules for your online and print outputs?
A In theory, no. In reality, more care and attention goes into print production than online publishing. This shows no signs of changing.
Q What regulation is your blog subjected to?
A Blogs are subject to the same regulations as all content. There is no legal difference between something posted on newspaper website and something published in the print edition.
Q Are blog comments screened prior to publication? If so, how and by who? What internal and external monitoring systems are used?
A Comments are post-moderated, which means anyone can write something nasty, however, if it is too offensive (swearing) then it will be taken down by the moderator. We have a small team of external moderators whose job it is to police comments, and prevent spam. As sports blogs editor, I will read most of the comments posted on sports blog.
Q How has citizen journalism impacted on sports news-gathering?
A Social media has, over the last 12 months, had quite an impact on sports journalism, as many high profile athletes have used Twitter to break news stories, rant, moan etc, so all sports desks (and celeb, technology etc) should now be monitoring the Twitter feeds of people they’re interested in.
Click here to view Michael’s blog.
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tamingthebeast.wordpress.com 
This is great Rosie.
I’ve enjoyed reading all the posts about blogging and issues of regulation – it is such a vast but incredibly relevant topic.
I am surprised that comments on the Telegraph’s blogs are post-moderated, I always assumed they would be vetted before being posted. Mind you, perhaps that would defy the very point of them?
I wonder if other news organisations post-moderate their comments?
And the impact of social media on sports reporting is another interesting aspect of this interview.
Twitter really is having such a huge impact in all the arenas of news reporting. Right – I’m going to start following some high profile sports people on Twitter, just to add to my already extensive list.
I may need to start to edit who/ what I’m following – I’m going to be over-tweeted!
What is the source of this interview?
I conducted it myself.
Rosie
Great – in that case take the credit and say so!