• by Ray Schultz , 7 hours ago

The Washington Post is seeking to build interactive reporting with a program called From the Source that will allow sources quoted by name to comment or annotate the articles. 

Testing of the program will start with climate articles, but will be rolled out “more widely across the newsroom soon,” writes Matt Murray, the executive editor of the Post, in an internal memo seen by Publishers Daily. 

The goal is to “Continue and deepen the conversation about our journalism on our own platforms, rather than losing those interactions to social media, where sources sometimes turn.,” Murray adds. “We’ll look for increased interactions and time spent in our traffic data.

Here's how From the Source will work: “Once an article goes live, reporters will receive source-specific links to send to the main sources named in it,” Murray continues. “They will be invited to submit additional, relevant information about the article. We’ll vet the submissions before publication and reserve the right not to publish in whole or in part in our sole discretion. These submissions are subject to The Post’s Discussion and Submission Guidelines.” 

Murray states that if “a submission from the source is published, the reporter will have the opportunity to respond in the same space.”

It remains to be seen if this program will also be used to ensure balance in political reporting. Murray notes that The Post hopes to “further establish itself as a “real-time, dynamic forum for informed, civil discourse.”

The Los Angeles Times recently added a feature called “Insights.” Its purpose is to help readers understand where the “views expressed may fall on the political spectrum” and to provide annotated summaries “of the ideas expressed in the piece along with different views on the topic from a variety of sources”, according to the LA Times website.

The feature now appears at the bottom of select articles in bullet points, with headings for “Viewpoint,” indicating the article’s political stance, and “Perspectives,” summarizing ideas and presenting different views on the topic.