It's even worse than it appears.
Sunday January 12, 2020; 10:08 AM EST
Journalists: We are not you#
  • On this day four years ago the question of bloggers wanting to replace reporters came up again. This was yet another colossal misunderstanding, much like the disconnect re Facebook today.#
  • We, bloggers, seem to always be trying to assuage journalists' fear of us. That really shoudn't be necessary, btw. #
    • Sidebar: How refreshing that Ben Smith, editor in chief at Buzzfeed News, refers to the "the enduring positive qualities of social media." I wonder if his colleagues at Buzzfeed and other pubs tuned into that. How about a series of columns, updated to 2020 reality, that explore those positive qualities, to balance all the horror stories running in the NYT and elsewhere.#
  • I observe that journalists tend be blind when it comes to voters, users, writers, developers, anyone but politicians, rich people, and other journalists. We hardly exist as individuals, we're only considered in the aggregate (polls and the like). They shrink their world, furiously, so they can deal with it. Huge disconnects result. #
  • This cartoon ran at the DNC in 2004.#
  • In my talk at ISOJ in April last year, I described the above cartoon. I was one of the bloggers. Of course it hurt my feelings, it was intended to, although some people think it was done with irony. I personally don't buy that. YMMV.#
  • Bloggers don't usually wave their credentials in your face, so you might not be aware that many of us at the DNC in 2004 actually had decent credentials. For example, I had a good education from good schools. At the time I was a research fellow at Harvard. I had spent decades proving myself in my field and had risen to the top. I invented a bunch of technology that were in very wide use, and would form the foundation for all computer networking to come. I had been writing my blog for nine years at that point, and if I do say so myself, was a good writer. We were in the process of starting podcasting at the time. And I was just one of the DNC bloggers. The others were just as accomplished. You had to be someone special to be at the DNC in 2004. #
  • A request for ambitious truth-seeking journalists -- stop writing from your fear, learn more about the world. Your blind spots are huge, and are killing us. #

© 1994-2019 Dave Winer.

Last update: Sunday January 12, 2020; 11:54 AM EST.

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