WebProNews

Nick Denton, in his personal blog has made a proposal for an official organization focusing on best practices for blogs.

Nick Denton is the publisher of Gawker Media, which includes the popular Gawker, and Wonkette blogs. He states:

"And maybe it's time that we rely, not on a volunteer watchdog, but on some sort of permanent institution. So I'm going to grit my teeth, and make a proposal: that a blog ethics committee be established, led initially by Jason Calacanis, with Jeff Jarvis and one other person that they both agree on."

He goes on to mention the concept of a Blog Publishers Association ...

"This is not, at this stage, a blog publishers association, though it could be the first step towards one. The idea would be to start an open discussion -- at blogethics.org, for instance -- and then come up with some guidelines."

Jason Calacanis responded to Nick's proposal in his jasoncalacanisweblog ...

"It's a great idea, a lot of work, and very important to the blogosphere. Sure, there are interesting things we can do with advertisers on blogs, and I'm all for it. However, there do need to be standards, and I'd love to be involved in helping define them."

Jason goes on to say ...

"The ethical debate is a perfect starting point, I agree with you 100% Nick and thank you for pushing the issue in such a positive way-see, we can all get along. (Did we just have a moment?) So, I just registered BlogEthics.org. If Jeff Jarvis and Nick Denton are willing to start the Blog Ethics Committee I'll do it provided we have transparent open discussion spaces for people to participate in."

I think this is a good idea, but I suggest that more bloggers are brought in to help start the organization.

Rich Ord is the CEO of iEntry, Inc. which publishes over 200 websites and email newsletters. Rich also publishes his blog WebProBlog which focuses on internet business and marketing trends.