UNIQUE WAYS OF COVERING IRAQ AND SCOTT PETERSON TRIAL ONLINE
Reporter Adam Lynn and photographer Peter Haley from The News Tribune of Tacoma, Wash., are in Iraq traveling with the 81st Brigade Combat Team from the Washington National Guard. Lynn keeps online readers up to date with the latest happenings of his stay in Iraq with a Web log. It's unique because it's at once objective, professional and peppered with personal observations. And it includes Haley's pictures. They also file regular dispatches for the print publication. This is a welcome development -- print reporters and photographers producing unique content both for print and for the Web.

In San Mateo County, Calif., the Times is publishing "Hear/Say," a behind the scenes Web log covering the Scott Peterson murder trial. What's different about this blog is that readers can contribute content directly. Here's how: "If it's heard, seen or said on the streets, in the hallways, in the coffee shops or on the Web, Hear/Say might print it. If you would like to contribute, send items no more than 50 words to John Bowman. Please include your name, city/state/country." It's an interesting experiment in real interactivity.

WHAT TO DO WHEN READER COMMENTS GET OUT OF HAND
Dan Gillmor, one of the first and best journalist bloggers, writes eJournal, "News, views and a Silicon Valley diary" for SiliconValley.com, the Web site of the The Mercury News in San Jose, Calif. This is a widely read and very influential column. To his readers, one of the most attractive interactive features is the ability to post comments directly to the blog. Unfortunately, some obnoxious readers (known as trolls) post inappropriate comments. This is one of the most troubling aspects of blog comments and also newspaper reader forums. Gillmor recently vented about the problem, asking readers for suggestions. Here are the choices he was pondering:

Keep playing whack-a-mole with our troll, but this is time-consuming and annoying (perhaps what he/she wants);
Ban an entire range of IP addresses, which would prevent some legitimate comments from getting through (something I'm exceedingly reluctant to try);
Or shut down comments entirely until we have a new posting system that prevents this kind of ugly behavior by people whose purpose appears to be disruptive, as opposed to having a serious debate of the issues.

This is an ongoing issue we've mentioned before in this space. Anyone out there successful in dealing with obnoxious readers? We'd like to hear.

WHERE'S THE INTERACTION IN INTERACTIVE MEDIA?
Here's a great article in Online Journalism Review about the difference between active readers and passive consumers, and how news sites need to have better design: "...much of today's interactive media fails to reach beyond the interactive quality of print media, and pales in comparison to print's usability, information density, and compelling materiality." What does it really mean to "interact" with readers? Are rich-media graphics and other multimedia features truly interactive? How effectively do readers interact with each other and with you? What are you doing that's truly interactive? Tell us.

FEATURED WEB SITE
A site by journalists and for journalists, Interactive Narratives, lists interesting rich-media content on various news Web sites. What, exactly, are "interactive narratives?" They are "informational and storytelling experiences designed and produced for the Web. They leverage great design, visual journalism and rich-media content." See examples here. Here are a couple of the newspaper multimedia projects that have a link on Interactive Narratives:

"The Great Lakes at Risk" from the Star Tribune in Minneapolis.

"The Presbyterian Home Band" from The Journal in Winston-Salem, N.C.

"So Long, Simos (Barbecue Inn)" also from The Journal in Winston-Salem, N.C.

What cool new multimedia packages do you want to share with fellow APME editors? Tell us.

This Update was written by Ken Sands, managing editor of online and new media, The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Wash., and a member of the APME Board of Directors.