Two posts today that catch my eye.

Steve Yelvington talks up the community blogging move started by many newspapers.

Bob Cauthorn praises the Austin American-Statesman for its Austin360 blogs, saying, in part:

Instead of throwing up ever more ways of reading the same old voices, the newspaper invites anyone in the community to post their very own blogs to the site — words, pictures, viewpoints untainted by any interest other than those of the writer. This is proper. This is smart.

Problem is, they don’t.

In their blogging FAQ, they say:

“What’s a blogger?
Our bloggers are Austin American-Statesman reporters and columnists. They will update throughout the week with news and responses to some of your comments.”

This is quite different from the open blogging on Bluffton Today, or even the editorially-selected bloggers on Lawrence.com.

There are open opportunities to comment, and that’s a start, but it’s hardly a revolution.

Some crow-eating clarification: There are open community blogs at Austin360Blogs.com, but that site hasn’t been integrated to the main site yet.