Editors_Desk's blog

This photo came over the AP wire from Port-au-Prince this morning, and I couldn't take my eyes off it. The image by Ariana Cubillos shows people begging for food and water, and it's a heartbreaker.

Part of what makes the picture so powerful is that we don't know whether the these people will get the provisions they seek. No matter how tough life has become here in the United States, it doesn't approach the desperation apparent in this photo.

Hundreds of photojournalists are in Haiti, recording the story, and there will be many memorable images. This one, I think, will stay with us for a long, long time.

Dan

If our readers are concerned about what's happening in Haiti, they're not showing it on modbee.com. The story about the big earthquake and its aftermath is getting scant attention on our site. Our readers are clearly more concerned with local events.

We are checkig to see if there are any local churches or organizations that have ties to Haiti. If they do, we'll report what we know.

Dan

Here's a reminder to all Hive bloggers: Please do not post content from The Modesto Bee in its entirety here on The Hive (or anywhere else, for that matter).

If you'd like to quote from a paragraph or two from a Bee story or editorial, you're welcome to do so. But copying stories, editorials and letters in their entirety and posting them elsewhere is a copyright violation.

If you'd like to point readers to the full text of a story or editorial, the ideal way to do that is to link to the item. To do so:

- Find the story on modbee.com and copy its URL into your browser buffer.

- Go back to The Hive content creation area and with your cursor, highlight the text in your post that will serve as the hyperlinking word or phrase to the link.

- Click the "link" icon in the control box above the text window and paste the URL into the proper box.

- Hit submit.

It's a new year, and there's been some shuffling among the wire services bringing news to The Bee from around the nation and around the world.

As of Jan. 1, the Los Angeles Times-Washington Post service ceased to exist. The LA Times has joined the McClatchy-Tribune News Service. You'll continue to see LA Times content in The Bee through the MCT wire.

The Washington Post has teamed up with Bloomberg News Service. The Bee does not subscribe to that service. However, we continue to subscribe to the Washington Post Writers Group, where we get many of the columns that you see on our Op-Ed pages.

We continue to receive wire content from The New York Times and The Associated Press.

The net effect in print is minimal and nil on the Web.

Welcome to 2010. We at The Bee wish peace and prosperity for all our readers. Mark Vasche' starts the year off with a front-page column on promises to our readers, which you can read here.

I draw your attention to No. 7 on his list of 10 pledges:

Provide a forum for public discussion — creating a rich marketplace of ideas on our Opinions pages, from the far right to the far left and everything in between. And doing everything we can, in print and online, to keep the dialogue civil and constructive.

I've just responded to a number of complaints about posts and comments on The Hive attacking other bloggers by deleting several posts in their entirety. To the vast majority of our users who follow the rules  and behave civilly, I apologize for your having to put up with this type of behavior by others.

UPDATE: Our response to several comments in reaction to this blog is found below or at this link.

Dan