Reaction on the new personal blogging guidelines is beginning to come in from CBC employees and fans who also maintain personal blogs.

Joe Mahoney:

I will be adhering to it in every way, shape and form. I especially appreciate that they reference the CBC Blogging Manifesto in a positive way.

Paul Gorbould:

Though not perfect, it is an eminently more sensible document. The tone is cautiously encouraging, and the bulk of it explains how existing policies — journalistic, IT and HR — affect what you do online. Though I don’t know of any bloggers who were consulted this time or last, the change in tone certainly reflects the lively conversation that evolved last time around. I recognize a few bits of the text.

Justin Beach:

It appears to me anyway, that the core of the policy is the same and it raises troubling questions…. Overall, I’d have to say that this policy is dangerous. The internet is a huge part of the lives of most people under 40-45. This policy does not, in any way, recognize the realities of how people use the internet. It is a policy that everyone, at some point, will violate and so creates a situation where anyone, at their manager’s (or their manager’s manager’s digression, or their … etc.,) can be punished, at any point. Everything that everyone said about the policy the last time it was announced, still holds with the new one.

Ouimet hasn’t weighed in yet. Maybe she secretly wrote the document?…

With the departure of senior news honcho Tony Burman, someone has stepped in to fill his role as the CBC’s news blogger.

I say someone, because whomever the writer is (or writers are), they’re not identifying themselves it’s not clear at first glance who the author is. It doesn’t show up in RSS readers or on the blog’s main page. This sadly, is probably the least effective way of engaging the dialogue that the blog desperately wants:

Tell us how you get your news and why you prefer it that way. Has the digital news world changed how you find out about things? What would you like to see covered in this space? Who would you like to hear from?

More than just being less effective, I believe it could actually hurt our brand image. We’re anxious to showcase the innovative programming and great people we have here. We spend lots of money advertising to that effect. A nameless blog, written as “we,” just reinforces the image many Canadians have of us as a bureaucratic and impersonal broadcaster.

Don’t get me wrong. The CBC News Editors’ Blog is better than not having one at all, but people want to engage with other people, not a huge faceless organization.

UPDATE: Since this original post went up, the web site was tweaked and now includes the names of the authors   Next to change: Full-text in the RSS feeds.