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So how does it feel my journalism compadres?
How do you enjoy the life of being examined from every corner, judged on every output?
Once upon a time we'd have to deal with angry phone calls or letter to the editor. We could field the call and chalk it up to "another disgruntled reader/viewer/listener." The letter might make in the paper, might not.
We did our thing and who would really change it.
Oh, but now it has changed. We - the scrutinizers - are being scrutinized. From every corner and in every fashion.
We have our constant critics and our in-house complaint stations. We have the self-investigations and the reformers.
So tell me my fellow-journos, how's it feel being on the inside of that globe?
I'm a sports junkie and a devotee of the New York Mets. The team has played lousy and just changed manager. The new man in charge, Jerry Manuel, has a gift of the gab. Over the weekend he entertained the press before the team was ready to head back to their home field. The fans have been rough on the under-achieving Mets. Some players are getting booed just as they step onto the field.
So one of the reporting gaggle asked Manuel how one of the boo-birds favorite target - a scuffling reliever - would handle the hoots back in New York. Manuel spoke about how the most beautiful flowers need not only fertile soil but fertilizer. It was a colorful way of saying that the booing can only make the players stronger.
But that's not how the New York Post heard it. "Manuel Likens Angry Mets Fans To Fertilizer," was the headline. This has long been the Post's scrubby style - twist and turn words so that it fits a nice narrative, in this case: New manager kicks fans and keeps the team in a beleaguered state.
The old days might have meant a phone call to an editor (likely ignored) or a piece of mail plopped in the ghetto of the letters section.
Now ... the Post is judged -- and with the full quote provided so you can make the call. And it's not just by one blogger, but by many. And the press performance also becomes part of the narrative. And sometimes it leads to a public flogging by none other than Keith Olbermann who called the Post's sportswriter one of the "World's Worst".
World's Worst 6/23 - NY Post, Bachman, Crowley
So how does it feel to be judged, dear journalists? It's damn uncomfortable sometimes. And it can throw us offguard, make us think twice about a story approach or the use of a quote (although I doubt the NY Post feels the same. To them any publicity is good publicity).
Perhaps, in this case, turnabout is not only fair play but maybe makes the press play fair.
Maybe it makes our work stronger (And note, I'm not bringing fertilizer into this, lest someone gets the wrong idea).
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Comments: 5
"So how does it feel to be judged, dear journalists? It's damn uncomfortable sometimes. And it can throw us offguard, make us think twice about a story approach or the use of a quote (although I doubt the NY Post feels the same. To them any publicity is good publicity).
Perhaps, in this case, turnabout is not only fair play but maybe makes the press play fair." - Michael Caputo
Exactly.
Shouldn't journalists think twice or punch-proof a story approach anyway? I'm not talking about the industry-navel-gazing I'm seeing in/from/about the media now, but about the basics. Shouldn't citizens have one eye on the story themselves? Do bloggers now fill that role well? (I'm thinking of your first blog post example, here.)
The walls that box press people into categories -- blogger, newspaper person, radio reporter -- are tumbling down. Our good friend Bob Collins is showing that a blogger can provide all the analysis, research and context that you would hope for in other forms of news delivery.
We desperately need media literacy in the U.S. We must have people play a more active and engaged role in what the read/hear/watch... know more about those sources of information.
And we in the press need to embrace the idea of creating space, creating forums, reaching out better so that people are engaged in the news. My two cents.