Jon Friedman at MarketWatch says bloggers frighten him… He says … Now that bloggers have gained a measure of credibility …
… what are they going to do with their newfound acceptance?
The danger is that bloggers are going to embrace the worst aspects of tabloids. That means, as the saying goes, they’ll throw their content against a wall, and if it sticks, they’ll publish it, no matter how wild or trivial it might be.
As important as a freewheeling world of opinion is, an irresponsible writer can endanger reputations within society at large and within journalism as a profession.
Despite tone of the headline, Jon says he is also keeping an open mind.
Reader comments:
Matthew Oliphant
Part of the fear is that media consumers who become infected with this blogging “phenomenon” will start to think critically about the source of “facts” (as they should and often do when interacting with independent publishers).
And if that happens in the realm of blogs, perhaps that same criticality on a larger scale will affect traditional media outlets.
Thinking consumers are bad for traditional journalism as a whole.
Jeremy Pepper
Interesting article, but found one problem with it – the danger is already here. Read the blogs on either side of the spectrum, and they make the Weekly World News look journalistically responsible and ethical.
Just blogs have broken break a few stories doesn’t give them the carte blanche to write whatever they want, with no regards to veracity or any fact checking.
I’m with Friedman on this one.
Steve Rubel is a PR strategist with nearly 16 years of public relations, marketing, journalism and communications experience. He currently serves as a Senior Vice President with Edelman, the largest independent global PR firm.
He authors the Micro Persuasion weblog, which tracks how blogs and participatory journalism are changing the public relations practice.
