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Veteran Newsman Rips Blogs and Citizen Journalism
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by jhaber | January 26, 2008 at 06:23 am
544 views | 20 Recommendations | 3 comments
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Daniel Schorr,
at age 91, is a news legend. During his 60+ year career in journalism
has seen the evolution of news in print, radio, TV and now the
Internet. In a recent interview with The Columbus Dispatch, Schorr professes his disdain at bloggers and citizen journalists.
Perhaps being part of establishment for so long as eschewed Schorr’s view of journalism. After all Schorr himself got his start at the age of twelve.
In 1929, he came upon a woman who had jumped or fallen from the roof of
his apartment building. After he called the police, Schorr phoned a
local newspaper and was paid $5 for his information. Maybe if the same
incident had occurred today, a young Schorr would have blogged about it
instead, complete with images from the scene taken from his cell phone
camera. Or to put it bluntly, Shorr would have been a citizen
journalist, the very thing he now decries.
From The Columbus Dispatch interview:
Q: In some commentaries, you touch on the latest journalistic
trends, such as blogs and citizen journalism. Do you embrace this form
of news gathering?
A: I can’t embrace it. Not after what I’ve been through at the hands
of the copy editors’ desks. I have suffered many, many arguments about
what I’ve wanted to say — whether it was grammatically correct,
factually correct and all of that — and I want everybody to have to
experience what I experienced.
But today, your blogger is totally free. He is his own reporter, his
own editor, his own publisher, and he can do whatever he wants.
A person like me who believes in the tradition of a discipline in
journalism can only rue the day we’ve arrived at where we don’t need
discipline or anything. All you need is a keyboard.
What is NowPublic?
NowPublic lets people work together to cover news events around the world.
Crowd Power
jhaber
New York, United States
Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (3)
at 14:18 on January 26th, 2008
jhaber, You gotta understand the old guy. He remembers a time when Jounalism and entertainment did not converge. He comes from a time where there were ethics in journalism. Folks in his time didn't manufactur documents on Presidents because they couldn't find anything. I have some of the same concerns as he. Checking and cross checking information. Having respect for a person when they say, "Off the record". We have to be careful with this tool we have. We have an opperturnity to give the same power to individuals as journalists. Journalist have to watch out as we fact check. Let me tell you, many are embracing the CJs, Others don't want you in the same room. But undestand print media and TV has the same issues. We are segragated when we have media credentials. Some, Like CNN, Don't play that. We are in rooms but treated exactly the same.
Great story, Keep it up.
at 04:39 on January 27th, 2008
the old guy is correct.
Any journalism is about training, learning, and information going through due process. Sub-editors and editors. Tried to get that process here on NP. Ha!
This process is not done in blogging or citizen journalism.
at 06:27 on February 1st, 2008
I'm not unconvinced that citizen journalism may just be the victim of scapegoating, given the obvious distortions and misrepresentations that I read/hear, in addition to underdeveloped news items, being presented to the public as news, by the allegedly trained professionals, who are using the very process of which Mr Schorr is speaking.
In addition, the newest trend seems to hinge on beating everyone else to the story first, resulting in stories being reported that read/sound like this, and of course this is meant for illustrative purposes, however, this represents a fictionalized amalgamation of some items I've heard reported:
This just in to the news room! There was a crash on Interstate I Wherever. We don't know if anyone was injured nor how many vehicles were involved. There are unconfirmed reports that there may have been anywhere from 2 to 10 vehicles. It is unknown how many people were involved. It is unknown if any fatalities have occurred. We have reporters en route to bring you further news. Stay tuned for updates.
It seems unprofessional not to have a few minimum pieces of information before reporting on a story. I believe that the majority of citizen journalists attempt to organize their work and present it as well as the professionals are doing. Opinion pieces notwithstanding, when basic facts and figures are correct, citizen journalists are providing a service, filling a gap in coverage that may not be covered by those who consider themselves the 'real' news folks.
It must be noted that many of the news items that are reported by mainstream media today get their start as coverage by an average citizen, who happens to be a witness to the event, resulting in mainstream media's coverage of the event, including the birth of citizen journalism itself.
at 08:49 on January 27th, 2008
I never get tired of this discussion... I see Schorr's point, but MSM theory doesn't quite match MSM practice. Yesterday's coverage of a body found in Chicago is a prime example: "It may be Stacy Peterson", within an hour of its discovery... nah.
Also, the concept of "off the record" is disappearing very, very quickly.
at 04:47 on January 29th, 2008
Complete bunkum