Quote Of The Day

Ta-Nehisi Coates on lazy pundits not taking the time to research before spewing memes,

And then there are pundits who write more than they read, and talk more than they listen, and prefer an easy creationism to a google search.

The context here is comments by Juan Williams about the lack of marches protesting black on black violence on Fox  Sunday Morning. Coates lists half a dozen such marches and rallies from the past year.

Quote Of The Day

In a sweeping analysis of Andrew Breitbart's methods and impact on the media, Conor Friedersdorf absolutely nails the neurotic obsessiveness the loudest voices on the right display when talking about the media.

There is some liberal bias. It's fine to call it out -- but absurd to treat it as the very core of your worldview, the explanation for every ideological setback you suffer, or the main factor preventing a better society.

If you are interested in the way the media landscape has changed and the impact of operators like Breitbart, the entire essay is a must read. It's as honest it gets, rightly crediting  the man for creating platforms that allow greater consumption of the news, rightly blaming him for using that platform to damage, not further journalism and ultimately, acts as a warning on the temptation to sate on satisfying short term tactical victories while ignoring the larger game being played.

Those Nasty Anonymous Comments

Don't usually toot my own horn, but this statement from analysis by the commenting platform Disqus sounds awfully familiar.

Pseudonyms are kind of a cross between the two: You can say what you want without fear of retribution (a la anonymity) but you also want to cultivate a persona, and, typically, you don't want it to be hated. The result? Better comments.

From August 2007:

Unlike the real namers however, their credibility is based primarily on context. The semi-anonymous develops a reputation based not on name but on the content of their work. If the work is credible and consistent, the handle can become almost as legitimate as a real name.

The internet changes many things, but some truths remain consistent.

Rewarding Bad Behavior

The streak of media in this town rewarding bad behavior continues.

Atlanta Progressive News' Matthew Cardinale continues to report the "scoop" that the Atlanta Journal Constitution does not credit other sources for stories. I know this comes as a shock to all those staffers at Creative Loafing, the editor of Decatur Metro and every other blog that has covered local news in this town for the past decade.

But let's put aside the continued self-declared importance of Matthew Cardinale (and his new best friend at Peach Pundit, imagine that, a Republican consultant collaborating with an avowed socialist to attack the Republican's favorite punching bag) as he protects us from the greed and sloth of the corporate media giant  and wonder aloud about the response of two of Atlanta's most storied journalists.

Former Creative Loafing Editor, Ken Edelstein:

Thank you for covering this, Matthew. The straightforward, factual fashion in which you play this media watchdog role is a real service to the community.

And The Saporta Reports Maria Saporta:

Astute observation Matthew

Ken and Maria, I just have one question. If one of your reporters did this, would you continue to promote their "good work".

There are many people in social media who continue to do good work and for years they have been routinely ignored. But many times, those who play fast and loose with the rules, get links, credit and pats on the back.

Welcome to the new world, bubba. Same as it ever was.

Quote Of The Day

Walker County Commissioner Bebe Heiskell responding to allegations made by the blog LaFayette Underground that she waltzed into a Huddle House, drunker than six sailors.

I wrote them back and said they must’ve gotten me mixed up with someone else because I don’t drink and I don’t smoke and I don’t dance and I don’t date.

LaFayette Underground has been sticking pins and needles in Walker County officials for two year.Recently, one of its anonymous contributor's was not only identified by police but questioned after security footage showed him on city property after hours.

The conflict between the powers that be in Walker County and the anonymous blog has been bubbling for some time and brings into light a number of issues confronted by social media in the past half decade; anonymity, ethics and standards, etc.

I'll withhold judgment on the standards of LaFayette Underground but will say based on what I've read, they've played fast and loose with the game. That's a dangerous position in any circumstance and as they are discovering, it has real world implications when you are accusing those in power of malfeasance

Tip Of The Spear 2011

Two years ago, I wrote the logical evolution of the new media world is blogs/social media/citizen journalists acting as the tip of the spear with traditional press acting as the haft.

City Journal's Conor Friedersdorf writes extensively about how the green shoots of this concept sprout in the far flung corners of the country:

In these instances, as in many others, the Los Angeles Times wasn’t needed to discover corruption: citizen journalists could sniff it out as capably as any watchdog. Once on the scent, however, the amateurs couldn’t dig as deep or growl as menacingly as newspaper reporters backed by a powerful regional publication....Going after the same records, the Times reporter made insistent phone calls to the city clerk every day, and having been denied, said (as she later recounted to NPR): “Listen, are we getting the documents? I really don’t want to sue you, but we will, and when we go to court and we win, because we will, we’ll ask the judge to make you pay our legal bills, because that’s what the public-records statute says.”

The conversation continues.

Marketing Vs. Reporting

Can you spot the subtle marketing in this straight reporting piece about last night's storms?

Doug Turnbull in the AM750 and now 95.5FM News/Talk WSB Traffic Center reported that all lanes of I-285 were blocked as chickens were running around on the highway. The wreck, which happened before 5 a.m. just north of I-20, was also affecting traffic on that interstate. All lanes of I-285 were reopened shortly before 7 a.m.

WSB Radio and the Atlanta Journal Constitution are owned by the same parent company.

And by the way, I did not add the bold to that particular word. That's how it actually appears on AJC.com.

Quote Of The Day

I'm not going to go on another new media rant. Been there, done that, a thousand times. My days of being the wild preacher in the wilderness, forcibly dunking people in the new media waters are behind me.

But the following quote by Forbes' Timothy B. Lee is too good to pass up. Lee is responding to John Rauch's pointed poking at us all, proposing that new media is worthless and will not stand the test of time.

I’d love to have a job at a publication that gave me weeks to work on a story, but so far none of them has offered me a job. And indeed, no conceivable economic system could offer that kind of job to everyone who wants one. The great thing about the Internet is that you don’t need a job at one of those publications to write about topics of public concern. This is understandably irritating to longtime members of the profession that used to hold a lucrative monopoly on soapboxes. But in my view the increase in freedom for everyone else is an overwhelmingly positive development.

The entire piece is worth reading.

The Reassessment

Rebirth requires reassessment.

When last I haunted these halls, I was an angry man with little hope for the future. I wouldn't be here, dusting the furniture, if things had not changed.

Let's take a look at how the larger world has faired.

The Blogs


The market works as it wants. Most of the garbage floated away or was marked as irrelevant. There is still flotsam and jetsam out there. It occasionally brushes by, leaving a slick film, but they are now few. What is left are those who have found their niche and survived the onslaught of Facebook, twitter and whatever is the latest social media flavor of the week.


A year ago, Peach Pundit teetered on the brink of fringe lunacy. Instead of pushing the conversation of in the halls of power, it pushed waves of sludge.. New editor Charlie Harper recruited a stable of writers who understood provocative does not need to be outrageous. It is again the nexus of political talk in the state of Georgia.

As expected, local reporting flourished. The patches have popped up everywhere. In Virginia Highland, the Va Hi patch reported on a neighborhood shooting and a coffee shop stick up before the television stations could start their trucks. Up in Dunwoody, John Heneghan's blog remained a critical resource for the citizens of the young city.

If Decatur Metro weren't still around, I may not have come back. If a model for blogging that well conceived could not survive, then none could. Instead it thrived, expanded and even brought on a wandering wit from the former halls of Creative Loafing.


And Doug Monroe is back. That says it all.

The blogs are in good hands.

The Press

More of a mixed bag here but, oh, the changes our professional brothers and sisters have made.

Five years ago, newspaper people bluntly told me, the editorial process would never be removed from the production of news. Never. No one could conceive such a strange thing.

Now, a mysterious troop has free rein on the Atlanta Journal Constitution's twitter feed. They are snarky. They are clever. They are freewheeling. They make mistakes and make no effort to cover them up. Most importantly. they create interest where there once was none.

Jay Bookman once approached blogging as if were a deadly snake. Now, he uses pictures from A Clockwork Orange to make satirical points.

It was as if the road from Marietta Street to Dunwoody were the road to Tarsus and the editorial staff were populated by hundreds of prostrate Sauls.

Speaking of that noted move to Dunwoody, not all in the media is light from above.

A few weeks ago, a shooting went down on Trinity and I commented on Twitter about how it would be nice if a major media outlet was nearby to cover the story. Political writer Aaron Gould Sheinin replied "Ouch". Nothing more needs to be said about the AJC's lack of presence in downtown.

Since the move to Perimeter Center, many have noted the tone of the paper has grown more "suburban". The ultimate slap came in the form of an article which skewed the purpose of the Edgewood Ave streetcar so far, a reader might have believed it was the mythical Shelbyville monorail from The Simpsons. The article was bad enough, but the backslapping full page ad quoting surburbanite praise for the expose' of the folly of the "boondoggle" was beyond insulting.

The paper still has a long way to go. But they've come a hell of a long way already. They should be praised when deserved, but switched back into line when it strays.

Me

Like Fast Eddie Felson, I'm older. Grayer. The eyes don't work quite as well. There have been many changes and we will speak of those later.

But like the old hustler, I still know the game.

Hey, I'm back.

In Which I Hate On Everyone

My dreams are all dead and buried
Sometimes I wish the world would just explode
When God comes and calls me to his kingdom
I'll take all you sonsabitches when I go
~Billy Joe Shaver

It is time to assess.

The Blogs - Let us take a look around the landscape.

Despite allegations of taking the occasional cash handshake to write positive stories, despite having to issue a retraction for a story practically invented out of thin air, Andre Walker continues to be referenced by media, enjoys privileges at one of the largest national Democratic blogs and continues to spin his stories of Democratic Party of Georgia goings-on. And he is "taken seriously" because of his "insider status". So much for consequences.

If you want rumor mongering and ego mania, look no further than Peach Pundit. It has always been the place for juicy tidbits and Erick Erickson's personal witch hunts, but with the Republican scandals of last fall, they felt the need to step it up a bit. Erick all but provided the gory details of the most famous rumor in Georgia Politics, then spent several days squealing about love children and opening the sewer pipes to allow every green apple splat squishing around the marble halls to spew forth. Privately, some journalists admonished bloggers about "editorial choices", but publicly, their publications continued to direct readers to Erick's filthy playpen and tell them to take it "seriously". So much for standards.

Of course, there are always those who would stand at the vanguard of the garbage wave. As Georgia Liberal did when it tut tutted the new cooperative of media services in the state. They digitally wagged their fingers at the stodgy journalists of the Athens Banner-Herald for not understanding doom was inevitable. Then, promptly went back to re-publishing someone else's copyrighted cartoons. So much for self-awareness.

Then, there's Jeff Sexton of SWGAPolitics. Not satisfied with accusing a sitting Constitutional officer of running a criminal enterprise, Jeff set his sights on another target. And we must give credit where credit is due, he broke the biggest story ever uncovered by a Georgia blog. If only the story stopped there. He proceeded to come as close to libel as any blog ever by calling someone a "child molestor" and quoting a section of law which did not apply. But it's hard to stop a steam train of ego. When told of his mistake, he refused to correct the blatantly false statement. Later, when asked why he hadn't given the accused a chance to respond, he replied "I don't play fair with child molestors". So much for fairness.

Over two years ago, the Athens Banner-Herald's Blake Aued said,

When y’all start doing your own reporting, rather than rely on rumors, press releases and the dreaded MSM, then you can call yourselves journalists

He should be a prophet.

The Press - For almost three years, we begged them to link to us. We were told we were rumor mongers. We were told we didn't have editorial standards. We were told we couldn't be trusted. We were told we were "entertainers".

But that dam was never going to last forever. And what happened when the deluge finally settled onto the land? The turds floated to the top.

Start with a reporter linking to a story without taking the time to research if the author has any history of legitmacy, continue swimming through the sewage by linking to every rumor to swirl out of an "insider" site and culminate by being accomplices in a political stunt that three years ago would have barely mentioned a whisper.

Leave it to Peach Pundit to take a he said/she said story about a candidate throwing a tantrum over being excluded from a cocktail hour, declaratively state that it was really racism, then stand back and see who willingly runs into the shit bomb. (By the way boys, how many bought drinks are required at one of your little soirees to get that kind of good consulting?)

Of course, it was our new friends in the media who immediately sprinted towards the fire without pausing to notice the dirty diaper underneath. By the end of the sordid affair, Miss Political Stunt had four days of positive free press.

Welcome to the year of jubilee. They link to us. Well, they link to some while ignoring others. All depends on who's tidbits are the juiciest and reality be damned.

In other words, they act just like bloggers.

The Quotes -

Look, I’m not blind to the yeoman’s work done by a handful of “citizen journalists.” But can anyone provide me examples of a major local story that was broken by a blogger — one with no previous journalistic experience? ~ATLMalcontent, March 15, 2009

It is up to each blog to determine its standards for publication. ~griftdrift, July 30, 2008

We were both right. We were both wrong. So be it.

The Best Of The Drifts - Why Facts No Longer Matter

Originally published Dec 21, 2009 (I highly encourage you to click through because the comments are much more interesting than the original essay)

The Evolution Of How They See Us

"I'm not a journalist". It is the karmic shield Erick Erickson uses to defend his continued spew of rumor and innuendo. Rumor? Good enough if it matches the agenda. Verification? Why bother. Consequences? What's that.

And why should he bother? His methods seem to work in his favor.

Time to update the timeline:

February 2007 - Georgia Public Broadcasting's Susanne Capaluto states she would never quote a blogger.

June 2007 - Athens Banner Herald editor Jim Thompson declares mainstream's use of real names creates credibility

December 2007 - Athens Banner Herald's Blake Aued says "When y’all start doing your own reporting, rather than rely on rumors, press releases and the dreaded MSM, then you can call yourselves journalists"

July 2008 - Creative Loafing Editor Ken Edelstein questions how anyone can trust an anonymous blogger

April 2009 - Athens Banner Herald editor Jim Thompson says "In the end, then, whatever the media platform, what it means to be a journalist today is what it always has meant...It's not a matter of training...It's a matter of trust"

May 2009 - For the first time, the Atlanta Journal Constitution links to a non-professional non-political local blog - DecaturMetro

June 2009 - The AJC links without attribution to...TMZ

July 2009 - Jim Galloway comes to the stunning conclusion that Peach Pundit is not a journalistic outfit. Also, the first time "Erick Erickson does not consider himself a journalist" appears in print.

August 2009 - That stunning revelation does not prevent Galloway from linking to a Peach Pundit story about a "Draft Jane Kiddman" website. Despite the author's notoriety as a hyperbolic troublemaker and Jim's own recent discovery that Peach Pundit was not 'journalistic", the top political reporter in the state says the story should be "taken seriously".

December 2009 - With little possibility of verification, Erick publishes lurid details of an alleged affair involving the Lt. Governor of the state of Georgia. No sources. No evidence. Just what he's heard.

Less than two weeks later - Peach Pundit is called a must read by the Atlanta Journal Constitution and a local TV reporter. Blake Aued tells readers to go to Peach Pundit for coverage of the Capitol chaos.

A question for my journalist readers - are you proud we've reached this point?

The Best Of The Drifts - Fairness In Blogging

Originally published November 18, 2009

A Point Of View But Fair

A point of view but fair. It could be the organically evolved creed of this three year exploration of citizen journalism.

Long have I held the view that media as a whole is shackled by the unattainable goal of "objective reporting". (Having said that, before the furies of old world media descend, there is still a need for objective journalism, but it is part of the equation, not the whole.) The concept is now warped by 24-hour news cycles with powers-that-be seeking the modern day version of a live apartment fire. Readers and viewers, with some arrogance, spout the endless mantra of "just report the facts and let us decide" then scurry as quickly as possible to the latest report of a blonde girl snatched up by a crazed fanatic who force acts of debasement found only in the deepest recesses of the psychotic soul. We bathe ourselves in filth, then complain the news givers never provide cleansing water.

Objective reporting has its place but so does non-objective reporting and how we deal with the consequences of injecting the first person will determine if the form can be elevated or is relegated to an eternal mud wrestle with the Nancy Graces.

In my own world of first person reporting, I certainly do not hide my perspective but in order to maintain fairness, I've stood by three basic rules:

1. Research
2. Quote accurately
3. Give the other side a chance to respond

To the professional journalist, these are as familiar as shoes and socks. In our world, we still have a ways to go.

Monday, the admittedly biased Atlanta Progressive News released a "story" with "community reaction" to its previous story which reported mayoral candidate Kasim Reed's work as an attorney with Holland & Knight defending Cracker Barrel in a wage dispute case. APN noted Cracker Barrel's previous history of involvement in racial discrimination cases and noted the NAACP filed an amicus brief in the wage case. The tenuous connections of race to a non-racial issue caused lawyer blogger Going Through The Motions to brutally dissect APN's research and assertions.

APN's Matthew Cardinale defends his piece claiming that "we made it very clear that the Cracker Barrel case had to do with a wage dispute". He also noted the article clearly points to a separate race discrimination case. Although, he never clearly states it, Cardinale clearly claims the article was fair.

But was it? Let's apply my three rules.

1. Research - Shoddy at best. Obfuscating at worse. After giving great detail in the wage case, including the arguably irrelevant facts of Cracker Barrel's history of involvement in racial discrimination cases and the involvement of the NAACP, Cardinale points to a single case of alledged racial discrimination against a real estate firm. No details on the allegations or the conclusion. In the follow up article, once again quotes regarding Cracker Barrel are extensive, but no specifics about the second case. Perhaps, because there were no specifics.

2. Quote accurately - The whole of the quotes are in the follow up community reaction piece. We assume they are accurate since no one disputes them. Which leads us to...

3. When confronted with the lack of response from the Reed camp, Cardinale stated, "I've been doing this (APN) now for 4 years and usually have a good idea of when a PR department is going to respond, and when they aren't. So, I just didn't want to waste my time, nor my readers' time." Zero effort was made at giving the other side an opportunity to respond.

You might give a pass on the first - although it can certainly be viewed as selective research used to color the sky a particular shade of blue. There isn't much problem with the second. But the third - that sin is so dire it should never pass. A commenter claiming to be a journalist laid out the real world consequences of such a transgression, "I'd more than likely be fired. Maybe if I'm lucky I'd just be docked a week's pay".

I'm not bold enough to say my rules should apply to all. To each their own and let the readers decide what to believe and what is fair.

But if you can't follow these basic rules, then you should never get close to using the "j" word. And you're really quite a peacock if you attach some hopped up, unearned title like "News Editor" to your name.

The Best Of The Drifts - Origins of the AJC/ Peach Pundit Spit Swap

Originally published August 19, 2009 (Note: clicking through to the original is worthwhile as the comments were extensive)

Prolific Pete, Peach Pundet and Pandering

Prolific Pete is back at Peach Pundit and not much has changed.

Pete notes that the "tipline" (i.e. Peach Pundit's "cover" to publish any wild ramblings of anonymous emailers) reported a new website aimed at drafting Democratic Party of Georgia Chair Jane Kidd for the 2010 U.S. Senate race.

...the tipline brings news of a website to draft Jane Vandiver Kidd, Chair of the Democratic Party of Georgia, to run in the upcoming U.S. Senate race against fellow liberal Johnny Isakson.

Of course it's Peach Pundit, so it must be noteworthy. AJC top political gun Jim Galloway picks up the story and adds this gem.

Take this seriously. As was the case in 2006, Democrats are extremely worried that a less-than-stellar candidate will jump in and win the top spot on the party’s ticket.

And if anyone had taken five minutes to call Kidd, as Athens Banner Herald's Blake Aued did, they would have discovered the entire story was pure fantasyland.

For years, I've argued blogs could be more than rumor and innuendo mills.

Maybe I was wrong.

How To Create A Feedback Loop

How to create a feedback loop in 4 easy steps:

1. Have one of your contributors repeat a spurious claim by a candidate

2. When an outside entity shows how easy it is to get the other side of the story, have another contributor respond that it's "lame" without ever addressing the original claim.

3. Reprint the original candidates response, only this one isn't "lame", instead it is the "truth".

4. When questioned about the entire episode, have another contributor claim they are just reporting the "news, despite the fact that the entire episode was generated by them.

Welcome to epistemic closure - Georgia style.

UPDATE: And of course the AJC picks up the story. And manages to make the candidate look positive. Welcome to the new world. Ain't it grand?

The Best Of The Drifts - Constablegate: The Final Note

Originally published August 10, 2009

A Final Note On ConstableGate

The first piece I wrote about Kyle Constable/John Oxendine was pretty much straight up news. The second piece was more my first person journalism style. This final note will be pure opinion.

Having spoken both on and off the record to the Oxendine campaign and to Kyle, here is my bottom line take on the situation: The campaign acted very stupidly by engaging with a minor, but unlike some have recently said, I believe their intentions were innocent.

The reason I tied my piece to the ethics of blogging was not to pick on a 15 year old who may or may not have the knowledge and experience to understand the consequences of his actions. However, his actions are another episode in the never ending fight about how journalists, campaigns and bloggers interact and how closely do bloggers follow traditional reporting rules and that's a subject I feel compelled to note.

There are some out there who talk both ways about what on the record means and what verification means and they are not minors (at least one of these adults I believe had an influence on Kyle and his subsequent actions). However, since they were only tangentially related to this story, I felt the focus had to be Kyle and his actions.

But take it from someone who recognizes that these types of murky ethics will lead to another cycle of recriminations from traditional media, we know who you are, so does the public and it doesn't matter how many page views or hits you rack up, your reputation is in your hands.

And in this business that's all that really matters.

The Best Of The Drifts - Galloway and Peach Pundit

Originally published on July 23, 2009

Ahem, Mr. Galloway

I'm going to attempt to avoid profanity but it will be difficult.

Blogging is the new journalism, we’re told. And so all bloggers are journalists, right? Not really. ~AJC's Political Insider Jim Galloway

No kidding.

Let's get the karmic band-aid out of the way first. Jim Galloway is one of the finest journalists in this town and if the AJC ever lost him, I doubt they would recover.

Now.

For over three years, there has been a conversation in this town about journalism, blogging, where the two meet and where they don't meet. As far as I know, Jim Galloway has never been a participant. The ignorance of his statement bears witness to this fact.

My only personal interaction with Jim was when I went to the Newt Gingrich love fest at the Galleria. I introduced myself and he complimented my writing which was very nice of him. He then told me I was too late, they'd already talked to the bloggers.

Because you see - a blogger wouldn't attend an event to get a story - one would only attend to be spoon fed whatever was covered in the "blogger meeting".

Let me share something with you, Jim. Blogging is not the new journalism. Journalism does occur on blogs, although getting some of your cohorts to admit this tiny fact is akin to convincing a flat-earther the moon landings really happened.

And lot's of other things occur on blogs. We come in many varieties, cover many topics and we'll even admit we have different levels of quality. You see, we're not this monolithic creature which vomits the same thing over and over. And every time I hear a newspaper person, the supposed guardians of the truth, use this easy fallacy, my respect for your industry slips a little further.

Now, about Erick Erickson.

Jim's ridiculous statement led to an analysis of Erick Erickson's latest ugliness which led to the pearl clutching discovery that not all bloggers are journalists and perhaps the state's largest blog, Peach Pundit, is not a transparent temple of the truth. Get out the fainting couch.

If Jim was going to pick a finer example to portray blogs as non-journalistic, I couldn't think of a better one.

After all, over the years Peach Pundit has:

• Published a front page writer who failed to disclose his connections to campaigns and has published false stories. (By the way, Jim - Peach Pundit is the only Georgia blog I know where he wouldn't be booted on his ass immediately)
• Published anonymous tips without any attempt at confirmation.
• Been a vehicle for Erick's personal witch hunts. Witch hunts disguised as expose' but backed by evidence so thin, The National Enquirer would blanch.
• Witch hunts which skate perilously close to libel.
• And has generally chosen to use the worse characteristics of a political spin machine as its modus operandi.

Peach Pundit isn't a journalistic outfit? Tell us something we don't know.

Peach Pundit is a monument to ego (Jim, you should ask Erick about his rolodex - he's proud to brag it's bigger than John Oxendine's) which loves nothing more than to wallow in the mostly Republican mud but when called out, snouts up its few mealy-mouthed Democrat contributors (one who happens to be the aforementioned false reporting scoundrel) and squeal "Objectivity! Objectivity!"

But they are the cool kids, so of course the establishment runs to them for a good story. After all, they and the establishment slop at the same trough with the same obvious result emerging from the other end. Garbage in, garbage out.

Jim, just because Peach Pundit is the biggest and baddest doesn't mean they're the best. And just because they are the most popular doesn't mean the rest of us want to be just like them.

And you, Jim, are the best in the business at telling us things we don't know. Please, return to that rewarding venue and leave this isle of tropes far behind.

Clarity And Honesty

Another new media/old media fight broke out.

It's an old fight, one where many of the combatants have tired and retreated from the field, but the recent news that many major papers in Georgia are pooling resources caused old hurts to resurface at Beyond The Trestle.

And I believe the fight has swayed from "our side" being on the offensive to being on the defensive. And I believe the wounds are self-inflicted.

There is a great deal of hubris in the online community right now. And as many have suspected, it is personally causing me existential angst. We are becoming exactly what the old media said we would - full of ourselves and thumping our chests over a product that is becoming half ass. The bottom line is we had a chance to raise ourselves to them and instead they are descending towards us. And some are gleefully declaring victory.

But The Atlantic's Ta-Nehisi Coates tangentially makes my point with more eloquence:

Lastly, there's what my label-mate Andrew calls, "journalism's dirty secret." The dirty secret is this--perhaps more than any other "profession" journalism's barriers to entry are really artificial. It does take a special person to be a great journalist. Curiosity in the extreme is important. A strong desire to see, and thus think, clearly is important. But neither of these can really be taught in a crude classroom environment. Journalism can't be absorbed through a series of lectures and assigned readings. It must be done. No one can teach you how to go up to strangers and ask rude questions. You just have to do it. Repeatedly.

I highlighted those particular lines because I believe too many will focus on the last few lines.

One thing I tell all aspiring "citizen journalists" is pick up a pen and a pad and go ask questions. Most will be shocked at how easy it is to gain access and how willing people are to answer questions. But it does take a bold person to make that first move. However, it is so much more than just having the gumption to "go up to strangers and ask rude questions"

It is about clarity and honesty.

If you go into a story with a preconceived narrative, you are only fulfilling half your task. If you are unwilling to have your mind changed, you might as well write in a vacuum. Echo chambers only create reflections - hey never produce any new sounds.

And many of us have fallen far short of these simple standards. Even sadder, some of us see it as a triumph. More on that later.

The Best Of The Drifts - Old Media Transparency

Originally published June 4, 2009

The Transparency Shield

In Decatur, as the Atlanta Journal Constitution continued scaling back local operations, hyperlocals such as DecaturMetro and inDecatur began filling the gaps left behind. Inevitably, the nascent exploration of areas long held by the media giant led to conflict. Discussions of what constituted journalism and appropriate credit spawned spirited discussions across the town square of the new media community.

70 miles away, Dr. Lee Becker, a professor of journalism and proprietor of the online site Oconee County Observations, inadvertently provided a perfect case study of the clash between traditional and new media.

His piece"Oconee Officials Met Secretly To Discuss Assembly Session" set out to expose possible shenanigans by his hometown politicians, but what followed was an easily traceable timeline of a typical old/new media convergence and then divergence.

On 5-23, Becker published his story about potential open meetings violations by the Oconee County Commission. Given his background and the thoroughness of the research and sourcing, there can be little doubt the piece should be considered journalism. However, what happened next raised familiar ethical and philosophical questions.

The next day, Athens Banner Herald staff writer Adam Thompson picked up Becker's story and published it on his ABH blog. To his credit, Thompson attributed the origin of the story to Becker's site.

One week later, on June 1, the ABH published a Thompson article on the subject in both its online and print editions. Neither Becker nor his site are mentioned.

The following day, the ABH published an editorial which referred only to the previous day's Thompson article. Athough the editorial board did not specifically claim the paper broke the story, viewed in the vacuum of the print and online editions, the implication cannot be denied.

There is little doubt the genesis of Thompson's story and the editorial follow-up was the piece published by Dr. Becker. As the story passed further from its origin and deeper into the traditional editorial process, the opaqueness of the original source grew.

Amid the assaults on the newspaper industry, one powerful shield which frequently remains unused is transparency. People simply do not understand how newspapers work and this lack of knowledge creates an atmosphere where readers are easy prey for those who peddle in myths of bias and lack of credibility.

When, where and how Becker should have been credited should be debated. However, it is clear the Athens Banner Herald missed an opportunity to use the transparency shield as a tool to give its readers a complete vision of this particular story and glimpse at how all stories emerge. A beneficial by-product would have been appropriate credit for Dr. Becker and possibly a strengthening of the perception of the new media warrior and the traditional media guardian sharing the role of protectors of democracy.

Instead, we are left with the continued friction and our separate pursuits of the solutions we all crave.

Congratulations Pye and Walls

Last night, the Atlanta Press Club held its annual award ceremony and two of our own were in the thick of it.

Congratulations to our friend Jason Pye of Jasonpye.com, Peach Pundit and United Liberty for his nomination in the Online/Multimedia category. Jason is one of the true voices of reason in the Georgia blogosphere. He is stubborn in his convictions and pointed in his perspective, but he also understands that continuing the community conversation and allowing the possibility of other viewpoints does not dull his own. Many could learn from his example.

And congratulations to winner in the Online/Multimedia category, Jim Walls of Atlanta Unfiltered. Jim is a testament to the labor, thorougness and deft stroke of a pen required to perform real journalism in our little world. He doesn't get near enough credit, from either his former pen and paper brothers and sisters or from us in the online community, for his consistent production of quality, groundbreaking stories. We should all do better by him.

Last night showed we've come a long way from the days when us byte-slinger upon entering those hallowed halls were met with hostility.

We've come a long way baby!

Photo courtesy of Grayson Daughters

The Best Of the Drifts - The Tip Of The Spear

Originally published June 22, 2009

The Tip Of The Spear

Blogs are Id. I suppose if you continue the analogy, staff reports are the Ego and features/columns/

investigatives are the SuperEgo ~griftdrift in a conversation with a traditional journalist

Developing a philosophy on media in our rapidly changing world is evolutionary, but a revolution may have shown us the way.

All discussions of media in a world of blogs, twitter, facebook and whatever comes next center on the question of "how do we make this work?"

For the moment, let's put aside the issue of how do we make money. No one has the answer and it only muddies the waters.

As we continued to navel gaze on the slow death of newspapers, the eventual death of the 6:00 news and the impact of both on our democracy, events in Iran accelerated the conversation far past our current mutterings and hand wringing.

Although many have framed the Iranian unrest as another "Twitter grows up" moment (they are coming with more regularity aren't they?), the side story of how CNN was apparently caught flat-footed is more interesting from an evolving media perspective.

In the opening days of the protests, CNN, who famously made its bones breaking huge international stories, was noticeably absent. Filling the void were the blogs of Andrew Sullivan, Nico Pitney and Juan Cole. Sullivan's place became a practical stream of conscience of every raw tidbit the maelstrom ejected.

As Twitter became the tool of choice for protesters, information which had been a trickle became a torrent.

Of course, both were rife with exactly the type of content traditional media decries as the downfall of new media - items were impossible to confirm and possibly blatantly false. The great weakness of new media is the possibility of manipulation by an unseen hand. As Iran devolved into a full blown cyberwar, it became nigh impossible to tell the truth from the truth spinners. The old internet adage of believing everything is false until proven otherwise certainly applied.

Sullivan and his cohorts were very clear that information passed along was unverified and should be taken as such.

Finally, into the breach stepped CNN. As the second week of unrest progressed, CNN with all its resources created an "Iran desk" with reporters interpreting images and speeches from a far, calling contacts in Iran and their greatest resource in these situations, Foreign Editor Christiane Amanpour, on air constantly (notably asking one of the most pointed questions at an Ahmedenijad press conference).

What had been a vast field of clutter was brought under the aegis of a massive media machine and began to resemble structure.

Oddly, the progression of media events in those two weeks mirror a common occurrence in the world of software - the merger of a smaller start-up with a traditional, heavily bureaucratized legacy. The only way these types of mergers work is if the agility of the start-up and the institutional knowledge of the legacy are both leveraged without either losing its identity. Failure occurs when either side insists on lockstep adaptation of a "preferred" culture.

Too often in the past, both sides of the media discussion have opted for the second methodology instead of the first. We recognize that we are not the same but we fail to recognize there is strength in that lack of sameness.

So, it is admission time and I am willing to go first.

We cannot do your job. There will be times when we perform parts of your job and I believe it has been shown in the past three years that we can do it with a level of professionalism and standards that should be acknowledged. But we can't cover a beat as well as you do, at this point we can't conduct investigative pieces as well as you do and we sure as hell can't cover an international conflagration with the level of detail and confirmation needed. We need you and it is far past time we admit this fact.

However, in a world where it grows more likely that a person's first contact with a story is a blog or facebook or twitter, you need us too.

We are the tip of the spear but you are the haft - both needed, one for first contact and one for weight and direction, to enable the whole to reach its target.