THE BLOGGING JOURNALIST

Are Blogs The 'Fifth Estate Of Journalism'?

Market Watch's Frank Barnako said in a January 31, 2007, post: "Bloggers have become a challenge and an opportunity for the advertising industry."

"Their spontaneous, unedited, sometimes emotional "first takes" on new products are substantially impacting business, according to Pete Blackshaw, chief marketing officer of Nielsen BuzzMetrics, a 100-person division which monitors the blogosphere," Barnako wrote, adding: "He calls bloggers "a kind of Fifth Estate or journalism."

To read more, please see " Bloggers - Fifth Estate of journalism.

Howard Kurtz: It's 'Miller Time'

Washington Post staff writer and media critic Howard Kurtz said in his January 31, 2007, column that "The last person [former New York Times reporter] Judith Miller probably wanted to see yesterday was me."

How does he know? Kurtz said she refused to make eye contact as he approached her in the courthouse where Lewis Scooter Libby, a former assistant to U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, is on trial for perjury.

Miller testified January 30, 2007, in Libby's trial.  As Wikipedia notes, he was indicted by a Federal grand jury "as part of the CIA leak grand jury investigation into how [former CIA operative] Valerie Plame was exposed as a CIA employee.

To read Kurtz's post, please see "Miller Time." It's quite informative and paints a vivid picture of Miller's testimony, which, according to some observers, was damaging to Libby. "See "Ex-reporter testifies Libby told her about CIA employee. Libby claim's he learned about Plame from journalists. 

HERE ARE A FEW RELATED LINKS 

Libby lawyer grills reporter about her memory ---International Herald Tribune, Paris, France

Drama of the reporter now dishing her source -- Guardian Unlimited, United Kingdom

At Judiciary Square, a Cold Arrival for Miller -- Express, Washington, D.C.

Judith Miller at the Libby Trial: “I Don’t Recall.” National Review Online

Ana Marie Cox on Judy Miller's Testimony TIME, New York, New York

Mediajunk Interviews Slugger O'Toole Blogger Mick Fealty

On January 31, 2007,  Michael Heraghty over at Mediajunk, an Irish blog, published an interview with Slugger O'Toole founder Mick Fealty.  I've always found Slugger O'Toole good reading. 

David Burton: 'What Happens When Past Editorials Come Back to Life?'

David Burton, a Springfield, Missouri-based "civic communication specialist," wants to know "What Happens When Past Editorials Come Back to Life?" Notes Burton in a January 31, 2007, post at the Southwest Region News Service blog:

Everyone has an opinion but not everyone puts them in print for the world to read.
That fact has caused grief for some newspaper editors and reporters who decide to switch careers and are then singled out for “politically incorrect speech” by persons offended by past editorials.
It can be a touchy situation when you change from an being an editor, where you are paid to write thought provoking editorials that may raise the hair on people’s neck, to other types of jobs where you can be encouraged to keep your personal opinions to yourself.

According to Burton, this led him "to do a study in 2005 among other current and past newspaper editors. The goal was to determine what sort of impact past opinion columns and editorials have (or can have) on future work," he wrote.

I highly recommend this post, which attempts to answer a question that had never entered my thoughts.

The Great Ganesha Expounds On 'The Art Of Blogging'

The Great Ganesha, a blogging "doctoral student finishing up his dissertation research in the Mathematics of Finance," has a January 31, 2007, post at Blog Critic magazine headlined "The Art of Blogging."  According to Ganesha:

By giving people the freedom to write about what they want, when they want, along with a more-or-less automatic readership, countless souls (including myself) have found their ‘inner writer’. Blogging is allowing people to create a new style of writing, with its own set of rules. As more and more people join the blogging bandwagon, it is increasingly difficult to ignore.

He added: "As it gains more exposure, it is also difficult to ignore the fact that blogging, at its best, is indeed a unique art form."

I highly recommend Indian-born, San Francisco-based blogger's post.

AlwaysOn Panel Offers Lessons In 'Power Blogging 101'

Larry Dignan over at ZDNet's always interesting Between the Lines blog posed a great question on January 30, 2007, when he asked: "Want to be a power blogger?"

If you do, here's the formula: "Be transparent, find a niche and post in massive quantities. And then be prepared to address issues that arise as you become a big-time blogger."

The blueprint outlined by Dignan is based on "a look at some of the key issues addressed at an AlwaysOn panel on power blogging (watch conference)" that "included Jeff Jarvis of BuzzMachine, Peter Rojas of Engadget and Elizabeth Spiers, founder of Dead Horse Media, which publishes Dealbreaker.com [link added]. The panel was moderated by Steve Rubel of Micropersuasion," Dignan noted.

To read more, please see "Power blogging 101.

Jim Schlosser's 'Blog Is Going Dark For Awhile...'

Greensboro, North Carolina News & Record blogger and journalist Jim Schlosser's "blog is going dark for awhile, perhaps permanently, as Jim works on a book of Greensboro history," according to the News & Record's Michael Grossman.

According to a post by Editor John Robinson, Schlosser marked his 40th anniversatry at the paper on January 30, 2007. See "Jim Schlosser: 40 years and counting." Also see Lex Alexander's "A toast ..."

Jeff Ooi: Retired Government Servants In Malaysia Are Blogging

Malaysia blogger Jeff Ooi, who blogs at  Screenshots and writes a column for CNET Asia, reported January 31, 2007, that some "Retired government servants are now blogging.

Ooi  and Ahirudin bin Attan, who blogs at Rocky’s Bru, were sued for defamation by The New Straits Times of Malaysia in early January 2007. He touched briefly on the case in the article cited above.

Blogging Can Make Workplace Drama A Public Affair

The Toronto Globe and Mail's Roma Luciw reported January 31, 2007: "Companies around the world are quickly discovering that the popularity, reach and speed of the Internet has turned what used to be a private affair -- complaining about work with a few colleagues over a beer -- into a very public affair. Like their global counterparts, Canadian companies are scrambling to come up with policies to address the digital ramblings."

To read more, please see "When blogging casts an unflattering light.

Eric Berlin: 'The Economist Tinkers With Blogs...'

"At present, The Economist [link added] maintains two blogs, Free Exchange and Democracy in America," notes Eric Berlin, "executive producer of Blogcritics.org and publisher of Dumpster Bust, in a January 30, 2007, post.

Berlin said, "Free Exchange espouses to be a forum where Economist journalists can interact with readers about economics. Interestingly, whereas most blogs today are personality driven, The Economist's blogs maintain the same anonymity as their other offerings (the print magazine has no bylines). So while Free Exchange has a bloggy look (time stamped pieces published from newest to oldest, with comments area on each post) the content reads more like traditional magazine copy."

To read more, please see "The Economist Tinkers With Blogs to Expand Free Online Offerings. I found the piece quite informative.

'The Authority Question' And 'The Powers That Be'

 In critiquing "The Authority Question,"  National Journal media critic William Powers' January 23, 2007, lament about old media's "loss of authority, "poet, playwright, screenwriter, and essayist" Jayne Lyn Stahl asserts in the January 27, 2007, edition of The Netherlands-based Atlantic Free Press:

At a time when journalism, as a profession, has faced the gravest threat since the days of Joe McCarthy,[link added] it's ludicrous to think that a Washington, D.C. columnist, and former reporter for The Washington Post wastes his time with what amounts to little more than a bad pun. Instead of attempting to slap an "R" rating on what we read, "restricted to professionals only," the focus should be on this administration's attempts to contain the free flow of information, as well as its ongoing assault on a free press.

"Moreover, Stahl continues, "whoever invented blogging obviously didn't intend it to be letter perfect, but to address the kind of exclusive, glass ceiling, professional elitism which is the subtext, and foundation, of "A Question of Authority." The fact that relative unknowns like myself can find their spontaneous ramblings posted on the same page as those of "establishment" writers like David Mamet, and Nora Ephron [links added]shows, if nothing else, that one of the wonderful things about authority, in a democracy, is its capacity for change, and those who question that the concept of authority frequently morphs haven't studied history.

"What's more," Stahl contends, "anyone who resists change should be collecting fossils, and not working in news."

To read the entire essay, please see "The Powers That Be." By the way, I found Stahl's views compelling.

Resolving The Dichotomy Between Bloggers And Journalists

Premesh Chandran, chief executive officer of Malaysiakini, has an insightful essay in the January 30, 2007, edition headlined "Blogs and boundaries of responsibility. It's an incisive look at New Straits Times Press' (NSTP) defamation suit against  Screenshots blogger Jeff Ooi  and Ahirudin bin Attan, who blogs at Rocky’s Bru.

Chandran believes that "It is only in the larger context of freedom of expression that the dichotomy between journalist and bloggers can be resolved."

The Monitor: Blogging Mania Hits Uganda

"As is the case all around the world, Uganda has not been spared by the ardour of blogging," asserts Dennis D. Muhumuza, a reporter at The Monitor in Kampala, the Ugandan capital. See "Uganda: Blogging Mania Hits Town."

UThink Is Serious About Blogging

UThink, a library service  at the University of Minnesota, has a list of 1153 "blogs that have been updated at least once in the last three months." It also has a list of "blogs with the most entries" and the "most comments."

I think this is a gem. In fact, I've bookmarked it.