Will Something as Innocent As a Blog Cause the Next Newsweek Scandal???
After our class engaged in a brief discussion on Tuesday discussing the merits/dangers of an unfiltered, non regulated Internet where free speech reigns, I remembered reading the following short blog on the Washington Post's Web site by Joel Achenbach. Achenbach questions the role of groupthink the Internet can bring on. He offers the question of whether this groupthink will cause the masses who read blogs and other online discusssions to simply believe everything they read, which can lead to chaos.
Yes we all expect a major situation if a journalistic entity like Newsweek makes a critical mistake and prints inaccurate information, but what happens when an unregulated blog prints something incorrectly? Could an otherwise non-noteworthy blog become a big deal if something it prints (whether it is verified or not) suddenly becomes newsworthy or the topic of conversation across the globe?
Yes we all expect a major situation if a journalistic entity like Newsweek makes a critical mistake and prints inaccurate information, but what happens when an unregulated blog prints something incorrectly? Could an otherwise non-noteworthy blog become a big deal if something it prints (whether it is verified or not) suddenly becomes newsworthy or the topic of conversation across the globe?
5 Comments:
Regarding the Newsweek scandal, the folks at Air America Radio all claim that Newsweek's mistake was not on the facts of the alleged desecration, but on the issue of whether the Pentagon was admitting to it. I don't have any independent information on this, I'm just reporting what I hear on Air America Radio.
While it is true that people can lend too much credence to what they see online, I've become more worried about too much credence being given to traditional journalistic sources. Moreover, there's still so much media that we as a culture share; I believe that plays somewhat of a filtering role to what is found online.
The reason a scandel in the blogs is not a possibility is because they are not as "respected" as the mainstream media, nor do they hold themsleves (for the most part) to the same standards (although 'Journalistic standards' is becoming more and more of an oxy-moron). I think the main reason for this is that bloggers are all free-lance. Is a blogger going to fire themselves for faulty reporting? Also, because it is so decentralized a medium, there is no one target to aim at.
I am reminded of the recent Terri Schiavo talking points memo, where the right side of the blogosphere was all up in arms about how the memo was a 'dirty trick.' All of the blogs that claimed it was are still up and operating. Because so many made the claim, there was no one person to go after for it. Blogs will only be the suject of scandel when (if) there is some level of accountability.
So much of journalism is based on one particular person's take on a course of events. Since blogs arn't considered respected yet, they are not held to the standars of public accountability as the mainstream media. At this point, they are viewed as public op-ed pieces. However, we all know that the mainstream media does not report the whole story sometimes. Blogs are often a great way to post information that isn't being reported. . .whether you are on the right or the left. i tend to get my news from blogs since i dont trust mainstream media and am often looking for a more left leaning take on things. . .just some thougths
NO!!! Unlike published, edited pieces of journalism, blogs are truly just bursts of ideas and opinions sometimes written by people riding on a train, in their office, in the bathroom - basically where ever a lap top can reach an interney signal. Meaning that content information is not edited by a certified and highly paid editor from a major news organization. Blogs, while informational and educational, will not have the same impact as a Newsweek because of the lack of editorial staff.
I would disagree with the thought that blogs cannot have an impact on creating a major scandal or that they are not as important as traditional news sources. I think that we have just begun to see the power of blogs. Ten years ago, who would have thought that anyone would take any news reporting on the internet seriously. With the amount of people that site the Drudge Report as a credible source, I think that it is only a matter of time before a major blog emerges as a news source. Some say that blogs are already a feeding ground for journalists who will chase down leads that get from blogs. This is a new technology and I think we have yet to see just how poerful they can be.
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