Scripting News: I don't believe in 'gotcha'

Scripting News, the weblog started in 1997 that bootstrapped the blogging revolution.

I don't believe in 'gotcha'

I don't believe in the mythological "gotcha" moment reporters like to dream about, for a couple of reasons.

1. I've never seen it happen, in years of being interviewed, and knowing people who are often interviewed. I've never seen a reporter ask a question and get an answer that revealed something unusual that was actually understood by the reporter, and made its way into print in a form a reader could use.

2. I've seen really interesting juicy stories out there, ready to be reported, on the record, attributable, with dozens of supposedly ambitious and relentless fact-diggers swarming all around, and instead of going for the gusto, they cling to the safe tried-and-true nauseatingly boring and insignificant overtold bedtime stories.

In other words, if you fancy yourself a Woodward or Bernstein, stop boasting and go out and do some work and take some risks. Until then I don't see why you need to talk to someone for 25 minutes for a 12-second soundbite. I don't see who that serves. I don't think very much listening is happening in that process. I think if the subject spent the 25 minutes blogging instead, the world would be a much better place for it.

So here's a question for the reporters who may be listening. Did you learn anything in the discussion about interviews, or did we just talk over each others' heads?

Last update: Thursday, June 3, 2010; 4:00:45 PM

~About the Author~

Dave Winer, 55, is a visiting scholar at NYU's Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute. He pioneered the development of weblogs, syndication (RSS), podcasting, outlining, and web content management software; former contributing editor at Wired Magazine, research fellow at Harvard Law School, entrepreneur, and investor in web media companies. A native New Yorker, he received a Master's in Computer Science from the University of Wisconsin, a Bachelor's in Mathematics from Tulane University and currently lives in New York City.

"The protoblogger." - NY Times.

"The father of modern-day content distribution." - PC World.

One of BusinessWeek's 25 Most Influential People on the Web.

"Helped popularize blogging, podcasting and RSS." - Time.

"The father of blogging and RSS." - BBC.

"RSS was born in 1997 out of the confluence of Dave Winer's 'Really Simple Syndication' technology, used to push out blog updates, and Netscape's 'Rich Site Summary', which allowed users to create custom Netscape home pages with regularly updated data flows." - Tim O'Reilly.

Mail: scriptingnews1mail at gmail dot com.

Apr Jun