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Blog Bits: Blawgers vs. Journalists

Joan Biskupic, who worked at Congressional Quarterly in the early 1990s when I started my career there and who won a coveted award for her coverage of the Clarence Thomas Supreme Court confirmation hearings, spoke at a judicial conference this week about the role of journalists in covering the Supreme Court. Biskupic now covers the court for USA Today, and she is extremely talented.

But blogger/lawyer Ann Althouse , who heard Biskupic's speech, argued effectively in a blog post afterward that same-day analysis of Supreme Court decisions by blawgers like her is challenging the role of traditional journalists like Biskupic.

"As Biskupic said, there are very few regular reporters on the Supreme Court beat. These reporters cover all the cases, but law bloggers write about what they choose," Althouse wrote. "Some of us stick to specialized areas of law. Some of us write extensively when the case deserves it and say nothing about other cases.

"Why is it better to have the same generalist writing about all the cases and providing a steady stream of articles of the same length and depth?"

But what about training journalists to be bloggers? That's a great idea -- and one that at least one professor in Reno, Nev., is considering seriously enough to seek advice from technology expert Dave Winer. Here's a sample of Winer's advice:

You must bring Reno into your school. Open the doors. Go on the local TV and radio stations and explain what you hope to do, and tell them where and when they need to be. You will attract some amazing people from the community. ... And don't think in terms of curriculum. It'll be like an unconference -- no panels, no speakers, no audience. No students, no teachers, no classroom. Just news about the community, and make it inclusive, and everything that needs to happen will happen.

I like the concept in theory; I have doubts about it in practice, especially the part about the "unconference."

Unconferences are a hot fad among today's brightest Internet thinkers, and they foster fascinating and innovative ideas for using technology. But unconferences are no way to train the next generation of journalists. You can't forgo curricula, and you can't completely abandon the traditional classroom if you want to teach people to report, write and edit.

Blogs and other Web 2.0 tools are just that -- tools. They are not skills, and they have no journalistic value in the hands of people without skills.

Now it's time to step off my soapbox. Here are some more blog bits for you:

-- National Journal Group has added another blog to its offerings. The NJ.com staff is now writing a news blog called The Gate. Bookmark it, subscribe, add it to your blogrolls -- however you want to do it, just read it!

-- In addition to her post about blawgers and journalists, Althouse tackled the question of whether blawgs may be having a negative impact on the judiciary because judges read them and may be influenced by them. Her view: "[I]t's such a lame argument to suggest blog posts are somehow like ex parte communications with the judge."

-- The Electronic Frontier Foundation is representing blogger Michelle Malkin and her video blog, Hot Air, in a copyright fight against Universal Music Group. The music company forced the YouTube video-sharing site to pull a Hot Air video report that criticized Universal hip hop artist Akon. EFF and Malkin, who also was subject of a Washington Times Q&A this week, argue that Hot Air's use of Akon audio in the report constituted a "fair use" of copyrighted material.

-- Robert Bluey of the Heritage Foundation sang the praises of David Almacy upon hearing the news that Almacy is leaving his gig as the White House Internet director. "Almacy has been extremely helpful when dealing with a White House press office that never before paid much attention to bloggers," Bluey said.

-- The activists/journalists behind a new project called MajorityAP are seeking press credentials to cover Congress. Bluey, who heads Heritage's Center for Media and Public Policy (for which I'm a member of the advisory board) thinks that is "sure to spark a fight with the elitist journalists who oversee the congressional press galleries." That's a pretty sound prediction -- but one that both Bluey and I hope might change with the creation of an Online Media Gallery.

-- Politics and technology experts David All, a Republican, and Democrat Jerome Armstrong debuted their DomeNation Internet television program on YouTube by interviewing Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. All asked Kerry if he would be willing to appear on conservative blogs as he has liberal blogs like Firedoglake. "Let's set it up; we'll do it," Kerry said.

-- A dose of mainstream, anti-blog elitism, all the way from South Africa: "Most blog sites are the air guitars of journalism. They’re cobbled together by people who wouldn’t stand a hope in hell of getting a job in journalism, mainly because they have very little to say. It’s rather sad how many people think the tedious minutiae of their lives will be of any interest to anyone else. It’s even sadder when someone reads them." And the reaction.

-- How much do the top bloggers earn? Check out this survey for some insight. Notice anything -- like the fact that politics isn't the best arena for making big money as a blogger? That doesn't mean there aren't jobs in politics and technology, though, and MyDD now has a jobs board to help Democrats find those jobs.

-- What's the difference between blogging and "serious" writing? I don't really care. I just want a job that pays seven figures for my writing!

Posted by Danny | 11:50 AM

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