The Times and a Wellington, NZ newspaper cover the theme of blogging as a hobby turning into a full time job. The New Zealand article covers Richard MacManus and talks about his rise to fame over the last three years. The Times article, written by Michael Parsons, expands on the article on TechCrunch in this month’s Wired magazine.
There’s a line in Parson’s article, “If you’re a journalist reading this and thinking, ah, time for a nice lunch and then perhaps this is the day to knock off early, take a moment to think of the bloggers out there who want to eat that lunch” that I agree with completely. You have to eat, drink and sleep what you are writing about to get ahead in blogging. This creates conflicts, because the people you are writing about naturally become your friends. How to deal with those conflicts? I say disclose them and move on….but mainstream press loves to sink their teeth into it as a way of saying blogs aren’t as good as the old school guys.
But the mainstream media has these same conflicts and conflicts with advertising, etc - they keep acting like these issues are new - they’re not - they are just more transparent in the blogosphere. They’ve had the issues unresolved for decades.
In the end, the mainstream media and well-maintained blogs should be on the same footing an dhave the same visibility. Google should move blog search to the main page.
http://www.daviddalka.com/createvalue/2007/07/05/the-death-of-blog-search/
I think the difference between old media and bloggers is that bloggers are essentially enterpreneurs. That’s a 24-7 gig most of the time (depending on the chaos). Most media collect a paycheck and go home.
I’m sure it’s frustrating. Journalists had to go through the channels and jump through alot of hoops to be where they are as journalists, then somebody like myself (former publicist) or you (former lawyer) creates a site that surpasses old school media. I’m sure it pisses people off to stare at their journalism degree and then see somebody like you (or me) kicking ass without it.
Patricia - just think about Kodak, etc.
It’s called creative destruction and you can either go with it or be left behind (see Kodak again).
Frankly, the iPhone video Mike posted earlier pissed me off the other day when I viewed it. It now is clear why the crungear, engadgets, etc. didn’t get a sample phone. Because they would have reviewed it honestly. While the NYT guy probably tried to as well, his apple-atm.com machine might keep it on the down low. And it’s easy to put away negative features in a stupid video or whatever.
I also don’t think NYT should be in the music video business.
Everyone should be open and honest about everything. I guess this is where my accounting training comes in. For an accountant there is no “confidentiality” that a lawyer or doctor has. I had to tell the truth every single time and so it has rolled over to my blogging.
The same thing should happen for anyone who puts a pen to paper (or a key to the board).
I do agree Patricia that many bloggers have stepped over the mainstream, but just look at the iPhone and watch where Jobs believes his bread is buttered. Even tho Gizmodo does more for Apple in a week than NYT in a year, NYT gets the sample.
I love bloggers, at least everyone knows they are generally quite transparent on their opinions. The old school boys have forgotten the good ol’ days when only facts and news worthy articles were reported and opinions were reserved for a columnist. Hopefully everyone will soon realize their is no such demarcation, especially since a large chunk of US traditional media is owned by a former Australia tabloid startup (News Int.). They’ll try and keep everyone under their spell as long as possible. Heck they’re even having a go at buying out the WSJ. Tabloid culture vs the blogosphere, what a mud fight!
edit- by transparent, I mean it’s quite obvious all they say is their opinion, there’s no guise of an official news channel. IMHO
I think traditional media is still good, it just hasn’t been very active on the web up until this past year and blogs got an upper hand. They still get really great international stories, they subscribe to feeds, etc. that give good scoop on other things. Some are starting to break into being more active among bloggers. I don’t think one will eliminate another, but that news/information will be a mix of both, as well as other varities.
With more and more layoffs hitting newspaper newsrooms, many journalists from traditional media will soon find themselves blogging for their dinner. I worked in newsrooms for 20 years, and shifted to the Web in 2000. What’s surprising is that many newspaper reporters and editors realize their jobs are in flux, but don’t begin doing the hard work needed to prepare themselves for a career as an independent Web journalist/blogger. When my former employer announced around of buyouts/layoffs, several of my ex-colleagues called me to ask advice, knowing that I’d shifted to writing on the Web. Had they started blogs of their own? Nope. Learned HTML? No again.
It’ll be a rough transition. But on balance, I believe the coming surge of laid-off journalists hitting the blogosphere will be a good thing for the readers. Some wil sort it out and contribute great content.
Those conflicts of interest (compromises over advertising) have been rampat in mainstream media forever. I’ve even seen the reverse–like when a magazine editor asked me to add some negatives about a product because the publisher of same had reduced the fequency of its advertising.
But … “disclose and move on” works perfectly for blogg. Same thing that Scoble and Rojas and others have said in interviews.
(Speaking of interviews, how does one contact Arrington?)
–Mike
This is so out of topic, but I just want to comment about it.
The domain name for Richard’s Blog, is just so not suitable for the theme of the web2.0. Dun you guys agree? ReadWriteWeb? Not a nice name …really. Not sexy, not catchy enough.
@rich miller, that’s such a true point. Lots of layoffs in media all the time. I can remember when it seemed to happen every week.