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Some Thoughtful Media Criticism From A Blogger

Yes, I said "thoughtful," and frankly I was surprised to read it. Bloggers typically don't put much serious thought into their criticisms of the mainstream media; they just rant against the MSM machine. I was even more surprised to see the criticism at Daily Kos, a forum that might better be called the Daily Knee-Jerk.

Even Kagro X, the blogger who penned the entry, wasn't quite sure he had said anything profound. "I'm not sure exactly what the point of these observations actually is, but hey, that's my prerogative as a blogger," Kagro X concluded. "And if I'm no more clear-headed in my conclusions, nor advanced the ball any further than your average pundit's weekend brain dump, then so be it."

But by my reading, Kagro X's analysis of the constraints facing the typical journalist and the value that the expert blogger can add to the information age was right on the mark.

I especially liked this part, where he nicely captured the challenges of being a journalist:

Journalists are, I think, by the nature of their business, limited in their ability to bring a mass audience "the Truth" in doses sufficient for everyone. What I mean is that they're limited in several critical ways, most of which are beyond their control:

1) Personal knowledge/understanding/expertise in ever-changing subject matter -- they are, of necessity, generalists
2) Space constraints -- even if they wanted to report on every intricacy, most traditional media don't have the time or space for it
3) Deadline pressures -- even if they knew everything there was to know and had the time/space for it, they couldn't get it all done by 5 p.m.

I have found all of those limits to be true throughout my 16-year journalism career -- and never more so than in my current job as the editor of National Journal's Technology Daily.

Our reporters have more knowledge, understanding and expertise of technology policy issues than anyone in the field, but each of them has a broad beat, forcing them to be generalists within their areas of expertise. That sounds like a contradiction, I know, but it's true.

The e-government reporter, for example, covers everything in the e-government realm -- and also is our expert in health information technology, education and labor. Our politics reporter also covers tech-related lobbying, science-related issues like competitiveness and tech matters emanating from the entire Bush administration, plus she writes our weekly "People Column." And we have one reporter who covers all tech issues in all 50 states and another responsible for keeping tabs on tech issues in other countries.

As for space limitations and deadlines, most of our daily stories are capped at 500 words, and the turnaround time on the typical news story is two to three hours after an event begins. We publish an AM Edition, a daily feature and a PM Edition, and we have other recurring features like topical backgrounders on issues ranging from telecommunications to privacy.

In short, we produce thousands of words a day, multiple times a day, on short deadlines. The demands of the job are great, and my reporters rise to the challenge daily. But they rely on experts -- the kinds of techies who now write blogs -- to help them do their jobs.

That's one reason we instituted an AM feature called "Blog Bits" (a spin-off of my own "Blog Bits" here) that calls attention to what techies and others are writing about tech policy issues in the blogosphere. I love the blogosphere because it helps us help our readers.

So to all you bloggers out there who are the kinds of experts that Kagro X rightfully praised, please keep doing what you're doing. We journalists may gripe about "bloggers" collectively at times, but most of us really do appreciate at least one blog out there and usually many more.

That's why we have our own now, like this blog and Tech Daily Dose, the one written primarily by one of my senior writers, Andrew Noyes, and others on the Tech Daily staff.

Posted by Danny | 06:31 PM

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