You can understand sometimes why people think old, mainstream media don’t get it. As journalists we’re trained to really cover bad news. It’s a cliche, but it’s true, though up until recently only born-again types or folk with dandelions in their ears would say it: The way traditional media covers society is deeply skewed towards… Read More »
We could learn some lessons about blogging, honesty, accountability and the distinction between public and private views from an unlikely source: the U.N.’s special envoy to Sudan. Jan Pronk, expelled last month for comments on a blog he was writing about the conflict, has replied to an email I sent to him shortly after he… Read More »
The first reviews for Loose Wire the book are beginning to trickle in and I’m beginning to get a sense of what it’s like on the other side of the fence. First off, you can understand why us journalists aren’t well liked: If we are pleasant to people when we interview them the interviewee goes… Read More »
Daniel Harrison at the The Global Perspective takes issue with my post about media companies no longer being about content and all about the medium. He makes a fair point, and it’s a good thoughtful post (I’ll forgive him getting my name wrong), concluding that “it is misleading to get side-tracked into a debate on… Read More »
But why the hell not? Shafer argues that this puts the next reporter in a
risky position: Will sources trust him or see him an an agent of the law? I
think the reporter who does not follow Eichenwald’s lead is in a
riskier position: of allowing and thus even abetting crimes to be
committed. And what does that tell the public about our role in our
communities? What kind of citizens are we then? Now to the third,
inevitable illustration. I wish that On the Media had asked Eichenwald
about Judy Miller and related cases, for the parallels are clear. She knew
a crime had been committed and she went