Apple is fighting a legal battle against a group of rumor-sites. Apparently someone inside Apple spilled the beans about Apple's new operating system and these Apple-centric sites prematurely published the info. These websites that have a blog-like feel to them are now claiming that they should be protected under the same rights that journalists enjoy; i.e. they feel they do not have to reveal their sources. While journalists sometimes are bloggers, bloggers aren't always journalists. Bloggers don't share the burden of responsibility, credibility, honesty, fairness or clarity that journalists must often carry as professionals. Notice I didn't mention objectivity.
From TechWhackNews:
“The court ruled that there is no legal protection for those reporters who publishes a company’s trade secrets. In addition, Apple had also sued 25 of their employees who they suspected of leaking information to these online news resources claiming that the probable leaks violated nondisclosure agreements and California’s Uniform Trade Secrets Act. They also demanded that the news sources in question should reveal their sources.”
But given how public support of local and national newspapers has waned and the scandals within established journalism circles are curiously on the rise, I am not so sure bloggers want or should be calling themselves “journalists.”
I just learned that Mitch “Tuesdays With Morrie” Albom, who is a sports writer at the Detroit Free Press, is courting a potential dismissal from his job there. That's plain sad that a columist who is highly regarded should succumb to, well, laziness. Albom wrote a column recently about two of his buddies from Michigan State University who were supposed to be at a game Albom was covering. While Albom described in great detail his former college friends at the game, the fact was these guys changed their mind and didn't make it to the event. The column had been fabricated.
We all know about The New York Times debacle with one of its writers, Jayson Blair. Let's not forget CBS News and Dan Rather's involvement in that mess called “investigative reporting” of President George Bush's National Guard service records. Then there was the outing of James D. Gukhert, aka. Jeff Gannon, who wrote for the conservative website, Talon News. Gukhert assumed a name and applied for press credentials when in reality he had no business being in the press briefing room of The White House.
“Gannon first gained attention several weeks ago when he asked a question at a presidential press conference that some in the press corps considered so friendly it might have been planted. Later E&P revealed that Gannon had been turned down last year for a congressional press pass because he could not prove his employer was a valid news organization. That denial barred him from receiving a White House “hard pass,” allowing regular access to White House press events.”
So, if you are a journalist these days you don't have to be in Iraq to be wearing a flak jacket. Potshots are commonplace. Is newspapering on its way out? Are blogs the CNN of the newspaper world; your “news” now? Who do we turn to for honest, real reporting when credibility is at an all time low? Will some blogs assume that role? Which ones and why? Leave your comments here. I'll be sure to check all appropriate links.
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“Are blogs the CNN of the newspaper world; your “news” now?”
I am totally biased as someone who is solely a journo and whose blog is for personal rants, not news or anything else of any use.
What you alluded to in the first paragraph of your entry in that bloggers do not assume the responsibilities that a journalist has is on the mark. Until bloggers do, they cannot replace the hard facts. They are, admittedly, a great supplement to the news, in that it gets you thinking of what might be and what is and other such thought-provoking stuff.
In my opinion (I refuse to use the acronym) if bloggers become the main news source, the responsibilities of a journo will follow. Blogs will lose that free-wheeling sense and the public will start to hold them more accountable to checking facts, etc.
On another, but somewhat related note, I think that people turn to blogs to read only the news they want to hear. If I want to hear that President Bush is an idiot and liberal thinking is right, I have a whole litany of blogs to say that. If I want to hear that President Bush rawks and all liberals have their heads up their asses, I have a whole list of those blogs as well. And that’s what people are doing. Every day, our reader rep log is full of people calling saying “I saw this story on Powerline, where is it in your liberal-bias paper” or “Your news is all biased, I’m just going to watch Fox and read Powerline” or “so and so blog reported the president lied about this and that, why isnt that A1”
ETC.
Anyway, my comments perhaps don’t further the discussion, just repeat what has already been said…
“Are blogs the CNN of the newspaper world; your “news” now?”
I am totally biased as someone who is solely a journo and whose blog is for personal rants, not news or anything else of any use.
What you alluded to in the first paragraph of your entry in that bloggers do not assume the responsibilities that a journalist has is on the mark. Until bloggers do, they cannot replace the hard facts. They are, admittedly, a great supplement to the news, in that it gets you thinking of what might be and what is and other such thought-provoking stuff.
In my opinion (I refuse to use the acronym) if bloggers become the main news source, the responsibilities of a journo will follow. Blogs will lose that free-wheeling sense and the public will start to hold them more accountable to checking facts, etc.
On another, but somewhat related note, I think that people turn to blogs to read only the news they want to hear. If I want to hear that President Bush is an idiot and liberal thinking is right, I have a whole litany of blogs to say that. If I want to hear that President Bush rawks and all liberals have their heads up their asses, I have a whole list of those blogs as well. And that’s what people are doing. Every day, our reader rep log is full of people calling saying “I saw this story on Powerline, where is it in your liberal-bias paper” or “Your news is all biased, I’m just going to watch Fox and read Powerline” or “so and so blog reported the president lied about this and that, why isnt that A1”
ETC.
Anyway, my comments perhaps don’t further the discussion, just repeat what has already been said…