Slashdot Mirror
Is Blogging Journalism?
An anonymous reader writes "In the wake of the judge's refusal to extend journalist protections to Think Secret in its case against Apple, the Net is abuzz with commentaries coming to its defense. MacInTouch points to three of them, from CNET's Declan McCullagh, MP3 Newswire's Richard Menta and grassroots journalism pundit Dan Gillmor. All agree that Apple went too far with its case and question the court's decision that Web journalists don't count."
Considering how much research that some people put into their blogs I would definately consider it a form of journalism.
Blogging is editorializing.
Blogging is just a medium through which to deliver content. Like any kind of writing, it can be good, or it can be crap.
What with journalistic ethics taking a number of hits over the past few years (Jayson Blair, Dan Rather, "Jeff Gannon", et al) - and, Mac rumor "blogs" aside, the mainstream media is beginning to pay heed to bloggers at all levels of the news cycle. Just recently Garrett Graf, who runs the political blog FishbowlDC, was granted access to the White House Press Briefing - the same thing Guckert/Gannon was maligned for attending without any "real" credentials.
Graf is the former editor of the Harvard Crimson, but he's not a journalist in the traditional sense, and he represents the first "legit" blogger allowed into the press gaggle. I'd say that's a very positive sign.
Her argument rests then on the premise that any magazine which makes its business off of discovering insider secrets in other companies and disclusing them has no right to exist in a democratic society? Is that a correct assessment?
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
Hard to imagine why that would be the case.
When everything that happens to be written becomes journalism, then the word journalism ceases to mean anything.
Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
Asking that question would be akin to asking "Are newspapers journalism"?
I don't consider weekly world news with their bat boy news to be journalism. I don't consider mindy the teenager complaining about her miserable life journalism.
Blogging is, nevertheless, a step forward for freedom of the press.
Cheers,
Adolfo
So the real question:
Isn't everyone protected by the First Amendment? If so, should everyone ALSO be protected as journalists?
Why not?
Why is my speech and my actions less protected than someone who works for CBS?
I write on Slashdot; I write on LiveJournal; I write on my own set of forums and a private website. Why do journalists, but not citizens, get protected through journalistic shield laws?
GPL Deconstructed
Journalism is irrespective of any medium -- and that includes blogs.
A journalist is a journalist whether they spread they spread their work through newspapers, magazines, trade publications, pamphlets, zines, radio, television, web sites, blogs or even as town crier.
The medium is not the message.
So close and yet so far from the world's perfect ID number
the judge's refusal to extend journalist protections to Think Secret
Uh... last I checked, US courts do not recognize the notion that a journalist has the right to refuse to disclose a confidential source. More than one reporter has been thrown in jail for contempt of court over this. So, I'm not real clear here how Think Secret's treatment is any different than what a normal journalist would get?
Moderating "-1, Disagree" is simple censorship. Have the guts to post your opinion.
Pretty much. It's the same reasoning protecting trade secrets that protects copyrights for private companies. Unless the public is at risk (E.g. company dumping toxic wastes in a daycare center), there is no constitutional reason to allow people to disclose trade secrets like that. Journalistic protection against governments is because the people have the right to know what their leaders are doing. Customers and other companies don't have those rights.
--
Free iPod? Try a free Mac Mini
Or a free Nintendo DS, GC, PS2, Xbox
Wired article as proof
Cable news "personalities" calling themselves journalists is, more often than not, like someone watching a meteor shower calling themself an astronomer. TV is like a machine that sucks any objectivity and factual evidence out of news and replaces it with inflammatory propaganda, fear mongering, and flashy graphics. Not that some blogs don't have the same problems, but if cable news is the standard to beat there are definitely bloggers that qualify as journalists.
It's nothing but crumpled porno and Ayn Rand.
Even journalism isn't journalism anymore!
Journalism used to mean researched stories, informing the reader. It seems that 99% of blog content is heresay. And professional journalists are joining the party, reducing their stories to simple "he said, she said" puff pieces.
Journalists receive special protection in exchange for informing and educating society. If they don't uphold their side of the deal, I don't see why they should retain special privileges.
Qualitative measures are used all of the time. Simply because a line is gray doesn't mean we do not try to apply a certain amount of common sense to the situation. Take for example "Good Samaritan" laws that protect me if I choose to give CPR to a dying person. If I crack a rib, that law protects me. Even if I do a crappy job of it. Now lets say i decide to jump up and down on the man's chest to try to start the heart. Well, the law no longer protects me as my actions were no longer 'reasonable'. Where is the line between reasonable and unreasonable? Hard to say. But the ideas of 'reasonable' and 'prudent' are all throughout our law. They have to be. So, we do have to make some distinction between who is a journalist and who is not. My one-entry blog certainly does not merit journalistic status. A regular Business Week columnist does. Somewhere in-between? Let the law figure it out.
See my journal for slashdot ID's by year. Mine created in 2005. http://slashdot.org/journal/289875/slashdot-ids-by-year
But I as the blogger don't have any responsability to protect your NDA.
You are correct, and Apple suit is not against these three places for damages. Rather Apple is seeking out the information of who leaked the new line up of iProducts.
-- Knowing too much can get you killed, but knowing who knows too much can make you rich.
I think a major factor that determines journalism is accountability.
Blogs just aren't as accountable as a major commercial entity like a magazine or newspaper. Just look at Slashdot. It posts flat-out inaccurate and wrong information all the time as front page news articles. But it's not really news, and the editors aren't journalists. They're just posting user-submitted blocks of text with links to other sites, often without vetting the information or even seeing if it was posted already.
If Slashdot was a print magazine, I guarantee facts would get checked a lot more often. But the Internet is seen as a responsibility-less place with no rules, so the attitude is much more lax.
Drudge posts blaring headlines and then edits them 30 minutes later when they turn out to be wrong. He posted that the Oscars had come "back from the dead" in ratings, and then an hour later I checked the site to see a giant headline claiming that ratings had been the lowest in five years. There was no mention of the change.
It's so easy to set up a webserver and post anything. That's why they are not considered journalists. When you're employed by a real news organization, there is a level of accountability and standards that must be met, or you will be fired. That accountability to someone isn't there when you're in your underwear and running your own server to post what you want.
But I as the blogger don't have any responsability to protect your NDA.
Actually, you do. Go read the Uniform Trade Secrets Act if you think otherwise. If there is a distinct possibility that the knowledge you are receiving is a protected secret (and in the Apple case, it was 99% certain because everything is under NDA anyway), and you receive it anyway and act on or publish said information, you have breached the UTSA and can be punished.
Anyway, the Apple court had absolutely nothing at all about the 'blogger' protecting the NDA, Apple was suing for the name of his source, you know - the person who actually broke the NDA. If the thinksecret guy hadnt refused to hand the name over, he wouldnt be in court at this moment - Apple arent after him, they are after the person who leaked the information.
Nice example, but, unfortunately, wrong:
The NDA is simply a contract. In order for a contract to be valid, the object of the contract must be lawfull. In this case, the object of the contract would be to cover-up an unlawfull act (use of slave labor) thus the contract (the NDA) would be void, and karmaflux could not, then, be in violation of the NDA.
Perhaps there are some "real journalists out there who do actually take pride in their craft, who do make an effort to report the facts as objectively as possible" , the number of cases where I've been able to check personally is pretty small. But in NONE of the case where I've been able to check has a newpaper or TV station even TRIED to do a decent job of objective reporting. Everything is processed for entertainment value, usually, but not entirely, by selection to such an extent that the original occurance is only recognizable if you know and witnessed what actually happened. And then it can be difficult.
I saw a city go up in flames. Then the next day I drove over there and found that a couple of blocks had been destroyed. I saw a city go up in flames. Then a week later I returned and saw acre on acre of devastation (with pockets untouched, appearantly arbitrarily).
From the news I couldn't tell which occurance was more drastic. They always attempt for maximal impact, with the result that one can't have any sense of porportion. Equally, if they decide not to cover something, it doesn't matter how large it is, it's just ignored.
I trust bloggers MORE than I trust journalists. They don't hide their biases as much, and they don't have a professional interest in distorting everything for maximal entertainment value. And they express a true variety of viewpoints. (The US press is over 90% owned by 7 corporations [perhaps 5...I don't keep track, and there are mergers]. People working in corporations don't say anything publically that they believe will upset their bosses, or allow their subordinates to do so.)
People deride Slashdot, but I trust it more as a source of news than I do the local papers. It's true that it doesn't cover a wide variety of topics, and it's true that there are trolls and astroturfers. But there's lots of other people, too, and things that people want to say aren't censored (except in ways peculiar to Slashdot, and which don't reflect the biases of the external world).
Blogs partake of the essence of Slashdot. (Well, the popular ones do.) If one person lies, someone else will contradict them. The ensuing discussion will probably reveal who is lying, or provide things I can check. Usually it turns out that the people just consider different things important, and they're arguing about their tastes. And *that's* important to find out also.
I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.