Blogs: The Anti-Journalism
Oct 31st, 2006 by Dan Blank
It is no secret that I am a big fan of blogs and new media. This morning I am shocked at the top story on Techmeme. Marc Cuban has posted “Some intimate details on the Google YouTube Deal” from an anonymous source, that he cannot confirm if any of it is accurate, but it simply “rings true.”
And I am bummed to see this. I am bummed to see Nicholas Carr react to it, as well as John Battelle and others. They state their blogs as “if this is true, then…” but that need in the blog world to jump on the scoop to be the first to report, to be part of every conversation has opened the door for spreading rumors that we all think “ring true,” but of course, aren’t.
Nicholas’ entry even has a “Digg this post” link at the end. I realize this is just part of his page template - but it points out the differences - the bad differences - of journalism vs. blogs.
So the idea with Digg is that enough people will find your thoughts so intriguing that it will make it to the front page of Digg.com and will get an avalanche of traffic. But why would you want thousands or millions of people to click on your reaction to a rumor that someone else posted, and even said that they can’t back it up at all, and it may not even be true.
The fact that something “rings true” are exactly the stories we should be scrutinizing the most.
[…] As Dan Blank and Mathew Ingram point out, it doesn’t matter that the theory “rings true” — it could all be entirely made up. […]
Commercial journalists aren’t any better… look at the Valerie Plame campaign. Three years of being pounded into the public’s ears, and then, when the scandal evaporated, professional journalists fled the scene instead of clearing the error they caused.
For a fresher example, look at how the major news services got manipulated into coverage of a fake grassroots site, and compare it to the reception Walmart received:
http://www.mudvillegazette.com/milblogs/2006/10/27/#006854
We need to develop skepticism of what we’re told… “how do you know what you say you know?” In this regard blogging seems to be commercial journalism with a faster metabolism.
[…] Also read Dan Blank and Mark Ingram. They are all addressing this post by Mark Cuban. […]
John,
I think this may be a product of information overload. So many readers are innundated with information and news that they have less motivation to worry about things such as “facts” - perhaps under the assumption that the blogosphere will ferret out any falsehoods.
Likewise, bloggers are working hard to get noticed, and the 24 hour news cycle has put pressure on all media outlets.
Happy Halloween.