Scott: Are you as critical of newspapers, books, and television as you are of the Internet? Did you let those mediums off scot-free because you did not want to clutter your premise? Because I read, for example, "Not a day goes by without some new revelation that calls into question the reliability, accuracy, and truth of the information we get from the Internet" and I'm thinking the same statement could be said about the "mainstream media." Are you playing with the facts some to make your points?
Andrew: The main weakness in Cult is that I’m not sufficiently critical of the political bias of some of the mainstream media (see #1). However, I do think that mainstream media, even at its worst (Fox), is less susceptible to corruption than the blogosphere. Even at its worst, mainstream media has gatekeepers and the creators of its content can’t hide behind anonymity.
Scott: I am doing this interview for Newsvine and Blogcritics. Now you refer to sites like these on the Internet this way:
They are the digital equivalent of online gated communities where all the people have identical views, and the whole conversation is mirrored in a way that is reassuringly familiar. It is a dangerous form of digital narcissism; the only conversations we want to hear are those with ourselves and those like us.
I'm sure the readers of these sites, who are of all political, racial, ideological stripes, who often find the most popular debates are over controversial and contentious issues, would like to know what makes you sure your description of them is better than mine. Did you actually visit some of these sites and participate in them before dismissing them?
Andrew: I didn’t visit Newsvine, but I did look at Reddit, which is particularly inane and dangerous. Just looked at it - Newsvine. It appears interesting, although I’m troubled by the fact that a number of the suggested articles are recommended by a certain Scott Butki. Who is this Butki? Why is he giving away his labor for free? And why should I trust him?
Thanks again to Mr. Keen for the interview. This is that Butki guy signing off.
Article comments
1 - Ian Johnson
That is a great interview - I find both sides of this debate extremely interesting to regard.
You might also be interested in this article on Larry Sanger's Citizendium blog review of Keen's book.
Thanks again for your article.
- Ian Johnson, Out Now
2 - SCott Butki
Andrew Keen is on the Colbert Report tonite.
3 - John W. Ratcliff
I think you may be right, Keen is simply taking an absurd position to sell his book. I would so *love* to 'debate' him.
My first question would be, "Why don't you believe in the right to free speech?"
As far as self-publishing goes, our most famous of Founding Fathers, Benjamin Franklin, was a self-made man, without a formal education, and changed the world through self-publishing.
Blogs are as American as apple pie and this British tart Keen needs to realize that his country already lost that war
4 - VL
Keen spends all that time on the Internet and he's never heard the term "troll"?
5 - Scott Butki
You noticed that too, did you? I thought that was odd as well.