News at the Speed of Light: CBS Taunts the Blogosphere
Published November 08, 2004
CBS Taunts the Blogosphere
Must be remnants of sour grapes from the Rathergate debacle. Frank Barnako vice president of CBS MarketWatch had this to say:
"Bloggers Blew It: Much posting, little impact. No one reads blogs. Oops! I did it again. Better get under my desk before the e-mail flames arrive... Bottom line: Political blogging is like Ralph Nader. Nobody pays attention.Frank even went so far as to blame Bloggers that posted early exit polls for a dive in the Dow Jones. Sounds more like professional envy to me because Bloggers aren't subject to the same rules as mainstream media.Despite all the anti-Bush screeds on Web logs, the frequent priming of wordy bonfires with Bush's National Guard duty records, the rush to judgment about missing explosives in Iraq ... it just didn't matter. All those opinions. All that Internet buzz. So little impact. Could it be not even bloggers trust what they read on blogs?
It's just that after the presidential election, it appears to me that the only readers of blogs ... are bloggers! They are a good group. Educated and engaged. But they're also like mice in a rotating cage: running in place, bumping into the same old people."
Nevertheless, the jist of Frank's argument was this. Bloggers don't get the same volume of users as mainstream media. Hence, Bloggers are not as important because they only speak to other Bloggers, and the numbers don't add up to be of any influence.
So according to Frank's profound logic, millions of mindless minions sitting on the couch clicking a TV remote amount to more than educated, motivated Bloggers simply because there are more of them than us. Hmmm. Go figure.
Ok Frank, tell that to Dan Rather. BTW, has it not occurred to you that in order to read a blog one must also have a computer (or at least some sort of internet enabled gizmo). Last time I checked there were more people with TV's than computers. And everybody that has a computer doesn't necessarily have a Blog or even heard of it for that matter. So please explain how that somehow diminishes the Blogosphere? I mean really Frank, this isn't rocket science.
- News at the Speed of Light: CBS Taunts the Blogosphere
- Published: November 08, 2004
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- Section: Politics
- Writer: Blog Bloke
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So the blogs are a filter Boomcrash?
The truth of course, lies somewhere in between.
Are blogs more than entertainment? Not for me, but I'm only me. I don't go to blogs for news, but every now and then I read something first on a blog before I read it in a newspaper - usually the death of someone.
The best blogs are those where there's a clear personality behind them.
I would agree Temple Stark, that perhaps overall the truth is somewhere in between. The blogs I had in mind when I wrote that, weren't so much 'personal' blogs where someone might relay a bit of news mixed in with their feelings of how their day went or paragraphs of what their cat did that day.
The blogs I was thinking of, are blogs that offer little to no commentary but are mostly links to newspaper sources around the country. Blogs that use newsbots and display mostly links to news, with just a brief description rather than the news themselves. I've got a list of numerous blogs like that (mostly gay-related) and it's only from those links to little known newspaper sites that tell me things that cable news doesn't mention.
For example, the media doesn't tell us that hate crimes are already increasing. Blogs do.
The mainstream media never told me that Israel has a homophobic bent and applies the fear of the unknown (in this case Arafat's ailment) to a homophobic rationale. Blogs do.
My definition of the best blogs wouldn't be those with personalities, but what makes one the best would be open to interpretation, wouldn't it? The best blogs are those that tell us what the mainstream media like Fox and the right-wing-wannabe CNN don't.
>The blogs I was thinking of, are blogs that offer little to no commentary but are mostly links to newspaper sources around the country. Blogs that use newsbots and display mostly links to news, with just a brief description rather than the news themselves. I've got a list of numerous blogs like that (mostly gay-related) and it's only from those links to little known newspaper sites that tell me things that cable news doesn't mention.
Hmmm. Fair point. Your take is not usually the way the discussion is framed - and all the better for it.
Food for thought. Thanks.
Bingo, Temple! Blogs are mainly entertainment. With the exception of a maybe a dozen of them, very little actual reporting appears. (Understandably, reporting takes resources.) Specific topic blogs, such as tech, or books, are good aggregators of information. But, that information comes from other sources.
And, many of those 'empowered' by blogs are extremely stupid people. A blog is often a way for nattering know-nothing to prove publicly he is an ignoramus. Ego tripping is often what is going on, not insight or education. Ironically, it is that sort of person who is most likely to make ridiculous claims about the significance of blogs. It is part of not having a clue about what they're talking about in general.
I would never encourage anyone to read mainly or only blogs for information.
Only be a technologically impaired blogger who writes for entertainment purposes would dispute the empowering capacity of blogs. Whether or not a blogger that uses the technology is stupid does not deny its potential. There are many so-called professional writers that could fit into that category.
An automobile can be an effective means of transportation for a responsible driver, or it can be means for a drunk to kill people. Obviously it is the technology that the author is referring to and it does not take a huge amount of imagination to foresee its potential. Thank goodness the inventors of the printing press did not succumb to the criticism of those that pretend to know better.
Add your comment, speak your mind
(Or ping: http://blogcritics.org/mt/tb/21989)
Blogging enables people to engage, participate, express and influence ideas at an unprecedented level. Never in the history of mankind has a technology empowered so many.
Or at least since instant messaging and chat rooms. Just kidding.
Actually, while we still get most of the 'headline' news from the old fashioned media, we've found blogs are a much better way to get directed to those lesser known stories that normally only appear several webpages deep in some small town's online newspaper or something like that. Important stories that don't make it into the main news but keep us informed as to what is going on in the rest of the country. Also, other peoples perspective is great, I agree with you on that. Reading a news story and then reading what others think is far better than just watching it on tv. And bloggers on both sides of the political spectrum seem to be good at breaking newstories or exposing falsehoods at a much faster rate than tv.