Would-Be Journalist Castigates Blogs, Bloggers

This published Opinion is that of a would-be journalist studying as a Junior at San Diego State University. She likely deserves the benefit of some doubt for being young and all but totally lacking in experience. However, she does present at least one glance into the journalistic mind of tomorrow as it is developing today. The look is not pretty, new and bold, nor enlightened. From this glance, it would appear that the journalistic academy does not paint a very positive picture of blogs, or of people, for that matter, at least in some instances.

the Internet world is infringing on the world of print journalism - leaving some journalists-in-training terrified.

Perhaps it is "terror" that compels her to go on and be so judgmental and negative as regards blogs and the people who write them - but she does.

In recent years, blogs, as well as Real Simple Syndication (known by Internet junkies as RSS), ... A blog can be as simple as a daily journal entry for the world to see or as complex as a news report on what's happening behind corporate walls coming from a mere individual with the need to unmask truth via internet.

Quite possibly she isn't yet learned or mature enough to understand tone or nuance in her writing, but, as you'll see, her use of the word junkies and mere are telling.

...how can a person browsing a blog be sure what has been exposed is "the truth?"

It seems as though the sick, sad world of blogging has twisted the minds of many Americans. People are relying on other, regular, everyday Americans to report to them what is going on in the world according to the blogger - leaving the people who were trained for years on the principles of journalism in the dust.

Good heavens! Sick ... sad ... twisting minds ... It's difficult to know if she's writing an opinion piece for her university paper, or a political pot-boiler for a creative writing assignment. And it seems the only requirement for being classified so is to impose upon her apparently presumed right to become part of a future media elite ruling over the information mere people are entitled to digest: mere people lacking the ability to understand truth, as opposed to she, the next ink-stained whirlwind fresh out of San Diego State determined to feed it to us, of course. Heh! She may be right about the "leaving them in the dust" part, in some sense, anyway. However I think every realistic blogger knows full well that blogging cannot and will not replace the MSM media anytime soon.

... Where has the traditional daily paper, doughnut and coffee combo gone? ... I relate this form of (blogging) "journalism" to the out-of-control reality TV occurrence. Blogs are nothing more than a real-life account on what is going on in the world. This "infotainment" element captivates many who are bored with a daily newspaper.

If you read her piece, you'll see that she starts to unravel quickly from here - pointing out the very assets of blogging - two way communication, instant interaction and access to information - as negatives. She uses what they are best at in an unsuccessful attempt to impugn them, mucking up the issue just as she seems to impugn real life accounts by confusing them with reality TV above.

the majority of bloggers are ignorant of, or completely reject the ethics of journalism. Because of this, people are influenced by what they read and take as truth, not considering there is chance that what was reported was sensational or false.

Obviously she establishes no causal effect between one persons alleged lack of ethics and another persons believing that which is sensational, untrue or false. At this point it becomes a might scary for me to think that she might actually represent the voice of one of the real journalists of tomorrow. But it gets better.

Bloggers are nothing more than Gonzo-journalist wannabes (either with or without the drug haze). Instead of writing their experiences in a literary journalist style and submitting it for possible print publication, bloggers hide behind their computer screens knowing every word they type will be published in an open forum.

Perhaps there is some type of insight I am missing in the world of blogs. But more likely than not, there is no insight to miss. Just as I am sick to death of mindless reality TV, it seems blogs will never truly grasp my interest.

Yes, laughable, I know - particularly for me in this case as I likely have as much or more formal education, training and practical experience in real journalism than she - as do a great many bloggers, I should add. Pity that all went away when we started to blawgg. But, I digress.

I can't tell if she is missing some type of insight, unfortunately she reveals no other types with which to compare it. Perhaps the saddest part of this, allowing that she likely could mature and learn over time, is that she may not get the chance. If what is happening with blogs and blogging doesn't grasp her interest, it will most likely grasp any potential job and career she is entertaining behind those not quite so ivy walls. Poor dear. We bloggers should wish her well, seriously. One of the things we need to do better as bloggers is educate. Evidently some subset of the journalistic academy has a few holes in current offerings.

This post also available through the Blogger News Network.

Comments

[Rhod]

You're too easy on her. We have to wonder whether the advanced rot in American universities is in the faculties or the students. Maybe both.

Any journalism student who doesn't already know that the mere CHOICE of subject carries a bias hasn't learned anything. Reporting is not about truth but about observation. Open commentary is a search for truth, a matching of words with empiricism. Blogs, not broadsheets or other layered truth-dispensers are the medium of open commentary.

She has the clammy hand of the arrogant authoritarian already; blogs exists BECAUSE of slugs like her.

[David]

And as she's holed up in her attic hideaway in future years, evading the grasp of the dread Bloggers, she can write The Diary of Anne Evasive.

In part it was this almost completely transparent lack of self-awareness (unconsciousness of their pre-concieved biases or the manner in which it affected their "reporting") or even deliberate disingenuity that led me some 20 years ago to simply STOP watching any network news.

Haven't missed it a bit.

In its place, I read newspapers. First stop in every paper: the editorial page, so I could get a slightly more honest presentation of the paper's biases. THEN the "news" articles, read with an eye informed by the editorial page and slightly more able to key in on both selection (and deselection) and semantic weight biases.

Since the internet became available, I've stopped reading newspapers. I still do the same thing with everything I read (search for the viewpoint first), which makes me the sort of person that's anathema to Mass Media Podpeople.

But keep in mind that your most telling observation is probably about this kid's age and experience. And her age (and probable education experience) tells us much more about the intellectual tools she /very likely/ does NOT have to work with than anything else. (I have met few college grads from the last few years' crops who could hold their own with my home-schooled 12-year-old nephew, for example. *sigh*)

Let her have her (inconsequential) rant. As my wife's Norwegian immigrant grandmother would have said, "She enough old."

*heh*

It can be a scary world out there for buggy-whip plant manager trainees...

[Gordon]

C'mon Dan, let's cut her some slack. First of all, her best prospects out of college and into the Big Bad World will be the San Diego Eye, a sub-alternative weekly known for it's perverse relationship ads. This job will pay $18k.

Second, she has no Photoshop skills so she cannot do Lebanese "mosque" lickers pics. This puts here at an even greater disadvantage.

So don't mock - pity our wide eyed young, hungry journalist.

[Dan]

Gordo - She's a college Junior, likely about what, 21? She can put out if she wants ME to be nice to her, otherwise, she's fair game! Heh!

[Tyler]

Lord I almost feel bad for her after reading her pathetic 'piece' on blogs.

THIS is what passes for a serious student of journalism these days???

She'll never have to look for a reason why blogs are drawing so much readership from papers these days. Because she's a living example of that very reason.