Be fearless, but don't be dumb

Part of journalism's function is providing an outlet for the steam to get out of the teapot before the teapot explodes.
That's an idea that's been around since the Revolution, and is one of the legs on which the First Amendment stands.
The steam also lets the truth out: lots of people are racist, misogynistic and angry. They often target powerful women or those who are different. Psychology students would have a field day with how the Internet has made "redirected aggression" more visible.
That visibility has made some bloggers and forums go silent, and that's the wrong response.
A diversity committee at one newspaper is lobbying for comments on stories to be turned off. An editor at another paper seems to have minimized her blogging because a few trolls took over her comments. A tech blogger elsewhere canceled travel plans because of death threats.
News sites have to be smart about how they handle community. Dialog is important, but technology exists to monitor that dialog and to direct it. We can create places where the trolls can rant among themselves, letting the steam out. We can monitor comments or create Q&As instead of blogs to control the amount of time spent managing postings.
We can let ranters hoist themselves on their own petards.
I'm not saying anyone should stand in front of moving bulldozers, but we distort the truth of our society if we go silent or refuse to let the ranters have a voice.
Elie Wiesel: " Speak up!"