December 29, 2005
Kathleen Parker on Bloggers
I read Kathleen Parker's column on Town Hall today. Normally I enjoy her work, but today, I felt like a young child who has been rebuked by his mother for being naughty.
Bloggers persist no matter their contributions or quality, though most would have little to occupy their time were the mainstream media to disappear tomorrow. Some bloggers do their own reporting, but most rely on mainstream reporters to do the heavy lifting. Some bloggers also offer superb commentary, but most babble, buzz and blurt like caffeinated adolescents competing for the Ritalin generation's inevitable senior superlative: Most Obsessive-Compulsive.
Even so, they hold the same megaphone as the adults and enjoy perceived credibility owing to membership in the larger world of blog grown-ups. These effete and often clever baby "bloggies" are rich in time and toys, but bereft of adult supervision. Spoiled and undisciplined, they have grabbed the mike and seized the stage, a privilege granted not by years in the trenches, but by virtue of a three-pronged plug and the miracle of WiFi.
Yikes! She goes on to compare bloggers to the kids gone savage in the classic novel Lord of the Flies (which used to be compulsory high school reading, but I am not sure if it still is).
I considered writing my own rebuttal, but thought twice about what she said about being "spoiled and undisciplined." Fortunately for me and my wishy-washiness, I saw two great rebuttals: one by John Hawkins over at Right Wing News and another by JimK over at Right Thoughts.
Read 'em! (BTW, I did take a journalism class while in college, as well as a course on how to write magazine articles. So, you could call me a semi-trained "journalist.")
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There's another good rebuttal: DJ Drummond of Polipundit - http://polipundit.com/index.php?p=11751
I was taken aback a little by Parker's column, but at first I thought I was just being too "sensitive".
Posted by: Gary at December 29, 2005 04:50 PMI have a degree in Journalism yet I do no original reporting on my blog. I have no desire to do so. No doubt she would consider me among the wild spoiled and unsupervised.
One thing I have failed to understand is why professional journalists and columnists hold themselves in such high esteem. I think what threatens them and causes pieces like this to be written is that they fear people will figure out that what they do really isn't so hard and not all that special. I mean if the spoiled and undisciplined can seize the stage without the years she spent in the trenches - what makes those years so special?
Posted by: Stephen Macklin at December 29, 2005 08:04 PMI agree with the last commenter. Us children (or is it we undisciplined children?) just might be a bit threatening to 'real' journalist, or is it news reporters.
I think it's sort of like reality TV threatening the sit-coms. The sitcoms aren't nearly as funny or interesting as 'real' people put in odd circumstances.
Maybe 'real' people having an avenue to post our views is more interesting than canned news reports.
Just a thought.
Posted by: Beth at December 30, 2005 12:54 AMI have one Journalism degree and am about to complete a Master's in Broadcasting.
Nothin to it. What bloggers do is no different than what a columnist does. there are blogs that have better indepth coverage that any major newspaper (IRAQ THE MODEL, etc.) The MSM is jealous that they are losing readers, and they often lash out desperately at bloggers as the source of that competition. Let em.
Thus the age of the end of the Dodo draws nigh...
Posted by: Good Lt at December 31, 2005 08:09 PMThank you!
Posted by: Heather at August 12, 2006 03:23 PM
