The media pundit's pundit. Written by NYC insider Jeff Jarvis, BuzzMachine covers news, media, journalism, and politics.
Misinformation
: Metafilter jumped on the same white-van story this morning under the headline, “Sniper Suspect Arrested in Richmond, VA.”
But nobody said that. A van was hauled away. A man was taken into custody. Nobody said a sniper suspect was arrested.
A pro would know how to handle this; it’s just a trick of the trade. But those tricks do have value.
: Meanwhile, Wired reports on blog reporting on the sniper, quoting MIA blogger Ken Layne.
There is an article in Washington Post by Monte Reel A Region Running Scared?
(Response May Be Excessive, but Situation Is Unique, Experts Say) that is very much along these ideas. They mention a book:
The Culture of Fear: Why Americans Are Afraid of the Wrong Things by Barry Glassner. It’s quite interesting reading related to these recent events.
I think your “News is what happened” and other recent posts on the general topic are kind of off base, putting on a “I’m a journalist, so I know better” hat that just isn’t warranted for blogs.
It’s that age-old, burning issue: what are blogs for? The blogs I like — including yours — don’t pretend to be so much news providers as they succeed at being news sifters and “views providers.” Hardly a one of the links mentioned in that Wired News piece — including mine — don’t make clear when needed what is speculation and what isn’t. Quite a number do have real news and overlooked angles on the events (e.g., Henley’s observation that several of the sniper shootings have been near police stations or policemen). As I commented one of my own posts, journalists shouldn’t aspire to the slogan “Leave The Speculation To Us.”
But in cases of breaking news, especially news close to home, the news you sift and the views — and yes, the speculation — you provide can get disproven quickly. So what?
Bottom line: you read blogs at your own risk, pretty much like anything else.