Guardian columnist Roy Greenslade stands up for journalistic tradition.
I think Denton, and others who support his view, are wilfully misunderstanding the digital revolution. They think that "factual news" appears on the net by magic. It's put there by agency journalists and stringers - the downtrodden peasants of the modern journalistic class structure - and then the squirearchy back at base can play with it to astound readers with their interpretative "stories". Finally, the nobility - the high-profile columnists - can employ their dazzling writing skills to give their own spin at £10 a word.
By this time, the readers may have been entertained but will they be properly informed? Will they have had the chance to assess all the facts? It is a fundamental distortion of the digital revolution to wish away the separation of news and comment as some kind of old-fashioned newsprint tradition that is somehow past its sell-by date.
The Denton to which Greenslade refers is Nick Denton of the Gawker Media group. He posted the following at Gawker: Why the (NYT) should abandon the news-opinion divide.