MSM -- dialogue or destroy?
Jay Rosen asks this question of Will Collier at Vodkapundit.
http://journalism.nyu.edu/pubzone/weblogs/pressthink/
Here's my two cents which I sent to both of them by e-mail:
Re: MSM – dialogue or destroy?
Yes, yes, yes.
The MSM is not a single entity. Neither is the blogosphere. Speaking only for myself, which is all I can do, I am a new blogger (Two Minute Offense) who would love to influence the coverage of establishment news organizations with my input. And I intend to comment positively on reporting which is worthwhile.
However, news organizations which plant bombs in trucks and blame the resulting explosions on the manufacturer need to be destroyed. So do those which work as partisans to influence elections and government policy while lying to the public that they are fair and balanced. Unfortunately, we have a lot of evidence which shows that much of the MSM has been partisan for a long time. The revelations last summer about the Argus-Leader in South Dakota are instructive. See also my post on the partisan media in which I discuss the admission by the Washington Post ombudsman on a CNN panel in 1993 that the press was partisan and had been partisan his whole career. His first assignment as a reporter (at the Nashville Tennessean) was to write a speech for a politician favored by the paper and then to cover the speech. No one should be shocked that the story was quite favorable.
So YES, use all the benefits that bright, informed bloggers, expert in so many diverse fields, bring to the information highway to inform and improve the quality of news. And in the process, YES, let’s utterly destroy the liars, frauds and cheats.
And perhaps we can start by compiling a catalog of all the outrageous examples of media partisans playing fast and loose with the truth to tilt the playing field. Perhaps then, the media apologists will finally acknowledge the rot and we can all start working together on improving the news product. As long as they remain in denial, however, there will be far more destruction than dialogue.
The truth WILL set us free.
http://journalism.nyu.edu/pubzone/weblogs/pressthink/
Here's my two cents which I sent to both of them by e-mail:
Re: MSM – dialogue or destroy?
Yes, yes, yes.
The MSM is not a single entity. Neither is the blogosphere. Speaking only for myself, which is all I can do, I am a new blogger (Two Minute Offense) who would love to influence the coverage of establishment news organizations with my input. And I intend to comment positively on reporting which is worthwhile.
However, news organizations which plant bombs in trucks and blame the resulting explosions on the manufacturer need to be destroyed. So do those which work as partisans to influence elections and government policy while lying to the public that they are fair and balanced. Unfortunately, we have a lot of evidence which shows that much of the MSM has been partisan for a long time. The revelations last summer about the Argus-Leader in South Dakota are instructive. See also my post on the partisan media in which I discuss the admission by the Washington Post ombudsman on a CNN panel in 1993 that the press was partisan and had been partisan his whole career. His first assignment as a reporter (at the Nashville Tennessean) was to write a speech for a politician favored by the paper and then to cover the speech. No one should be shocked that the story was quite favorable.
So YES, use all the benefits that bright, informed bloggers, expert in so many diverse fields, bring to the information highway to inform and improve the quality of news. And in the process, YES, let’s utterly destroy the liars, frauds and cheats.
And perhaps we can start by compiling a catalog of all the outrageous examples of media partisans playing fast and loose with the truth to tilt the playing field. Perhaps then, the media apologists will finally acknowledge the rot and we can all start working together on improving the news product. As long as they remain in denial, however, there will be far more destruction than dialogue.
The truth WILL set us free.
posted by Stan at 6:32 PM
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