August 20, 2002

Is Blogging Journalism?

I’ve been futzing with that question for months, and I think I finally got it down in one place.



Is weblogging journalism? The question confuses the technology with the act it supports — not something that technologists have ever done before, oh no no no. Just as the equipment doesn’t make me a musician or a programmer, blogging doesn’t mean you’re a journalist. But what makes today’s blogging tools exciting is that they’re building an infrastructure that allows the rapid and broad dissemination of information. It’s an infrastructure that’s a natural for building a journalistic enterprise around.


 

Filed Under: Media & Publishing, Tech
May 14, 2002

The Web, Arabs, and The Trust Equation

Dave Winer, whose weblog software I use and who knows a thing or two about online community, is less impressed with Tom Friedman’s column of this past weekend than I am. He says:



Now with all due respect, they shouldn’t believe everything they read in the NY Times either.


Well, that’s certainly true enough. The thing is, Dave, what the Net helps do is put random content on the same footing as The Times. This is what terrifies Big Media, which has invested bazillions of dollars into establishing a trust equation with readers. Here’s what I wrote about that, nearly six years ago to the day (what — you thought this was a new issue?), in NetGuide:



The camcorder approach to information has its place, and is where a lot of the excitement about the net comes from. Always be asking yourself about what you’re reading and why it was put out there. And remember that good information always has a price.


What Friedman, Winer, and I are talking about is a subtle and complex issue. This is my full column, from the August 1996 issue of NetGuide, and I’ve seen no reason in the intervening years to change my mind.

Filed Under: Media & Publishing, Politics, Tech