J-prof and news futurist Jeff Jarvis and French journalist Bruno Boutot zoom out on the issue a bit, with Jarvis arguing that commenting is an insulting, inferior form of communication for news organizations to offer, and they should instead initiate more interactive, empowering communication earlier in the journalistic process. Boutot builds on that to say that newspapers need to invite readers into the process to build trust and survive, and outlines a limited place for anonymity in that goal.

A few precisions:
- I don’t think Jarvis is a “news futurist”. I think he is a “news realist”. It’s an important nuance because I believe that news media that don’t get the urgency of Jarvis’ observations will die. The time to host communities in news media on the Web is right now: this opportunity will be seized by mainstream media or by newcomers, then it will be too late.
- without presuming what Jarvis himself meant by “insulting” about comments, my understanding is not that “comments are insulting” but that “reducing readers’ input to comments is insulting”.
- on a personal note, while it can be said that I am French (I was born in France), I have worked as a journalist, in French, in Montreal for the past 32 years; so I am more Canadian or Quebecois but if you ask me, I am a journalist from Montreal. :-)

I thought that was an interesting point to bring up.
Great post. I am sure to use this as a reference.