commenting

One issue that gets editors and lawyers both uncomfortable is the idea of free form user-generated content. Typical questions include:

• Can we be held responsible for what people say on our site?
• Should we police the comments to make sure that inappropriate statements in comments don't make it to the live site?
• If we see an inappropriate statement, do we edit the comment, refuse to post it, or let it go through?

Editor and Publisher has a great article on what some large news organizations are doing with their comment moderation.