Howard Kurtz says bloggers help keep big media honest by exposing errors and analyzing bias. I agree: ” To lazy reporters, the world of blogs represents their worst nightmare: It’s an endless parade of experts in every conceivable subject they might write about, all equipped with Internet-style megaphones ready to pounce on errors.”
Trouble is, every time someone points this out, many journalists — instead of welcoming the chance to improve their profession — get defensive and think that their paychecks are being jeopardized. This us vs. them mentality gets us nowhere.
Here’s my take, from May 1999:
| The emergence of weblogs doesn’t eclipse the importance of timely news and entertainment on the Web — if anything, it enhances the value of such original content. Mostly, it’s a sign that we’re only beginning to discover the best tools and strategies for helping Web users cope with the vast media terrain we all now inhabit. The webloggers have found a new and fertile niche in the Web’s information ecology. They’re fulfilling the predictions by Internet visionaries of the rise of a new breed of personal journalism online — only instead of pounding the physical pavement, they forage for news on the Net itself. |
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