When I started writing for News Ltd in 2005, at a blog they asked me to develop  attached to their news.com.au website, I learned firsthand about the clash of cultures between a traditional, mainstream news organisation, and the sort of audience-engaged model we early bloggers had more or less invented (rare mainstream media exceptions like Margo Kingston’s ‘Web Diary’ at the SMH notwithstanding).

One of the most startling things about working in the mainstream was to hear the command––and I was regularly told this––to not engage with readers.