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The media pundit's pundit. Written by NYC insider Jeff Jarvis, BuzzMachine covers news, media, journalism, and politics.

Don’t listen to me, I’m just a white guy

12 comments on Don’t listen to me, I’m just a white guy

Don’t listen to me, I’m just a white guy

: Ah, the weekend: When I can catch up with my Jay Rosen reading.

It was a remarkable week at PressThink: Jay covered the hubub over the discrimination minority journalists showed Bush v. Kerry when each came to speak to them… Jay took the contrarian stand that they should show their opinions (and I agreed)… then Jay’s blog turned into a friggin’ op-ed page with various players writing pieces there (rather than in the big papers that employ them). This is what happens when you allow news to become conversation. I hope that is not lost on the big news guys who are reading the action over at Jay’s. I fear it is lost, but I can always hope.

I have to say I got pretty mad at a white guy at all the white-guy bashing I read in the guest posts (read: old-style columns) put there by the Unity players (both of whom I know professionally). Ernest Sotomayor, president of Unity and Long Island editor of Newsday, said:

Let

12 responses to “Don’t listen to me, I’m just a white guy”

  1. Robert McClelland Avatar
    Robert McClelland

    Oh, so the downfall of media is because it’s run by white guys, eh?
    Why is this any more stupid than the “liberal media” conspiracy cooked up by right whingers?

  2. Sissy Willis Avatar
    Sissy Willis

    Caught the tail end of you on something on C-Span last night. Awesome. Can’t get enough.

  3. rivlax Avatar
    rivlax

    As an editor for 30 years I’ve concluded there is only one answer: if minorities want more minorities in journalism, then they should get their butts into it. Nobody is holding them back anymore. All editors search constantly for good minority journalists. The problem is that most of the kids I speak to at minority jobs conferences see it as a job and not a calling. That’s why the don’t stay in the profession when the going gets tough.

  4. paladin Avatar
    paladin

    Thanks, Jeff, that needed to be said.

  5. Andy Avatar
    Andy

    The downfall of journalism like that of politics is that we have evolved a celebrity class. Those who are famous for being famous and those who write about them have grown together into a mass known as celebrity.
    The phrase “They/he’s a good person” implies but never says that good people do not do bad things. Celebrities are famous for having their name in the paper and being chatted about on TV. They need not “do” anything. They need only “be”. Then they are free to comment on politics or become politicians. They are free to hob-nob with actors, actresses, directors, screenwriters, producers and assorted hangers on. The people who write about these stars have become equals of those they write about.
    The audience has been dismissed. The voters ignored. The readers, subscribers assumed complacent.
    After all, doesn’t EVERYONE want to know about the World of Celebrities?
    This works well when there are no real issues, no truly evil and dangerous people. Everyone stays amused and lives vicariously until its time to act and the self defense skills have atrophied.
    Diversity is just a short cut around merit to Celebrity. It eliminates a whole category of otherwise competitors.

  6. JamesJayTrouble Avatar
    JamesJayTrouble

    Iow, when people “reveal their bias” in public, ANYbody, ANY bias, ANYWHERE in public..
    ..who’s gonna decide if it’s accurate? And since you JUST WANNA PRESUME it IS accurate, because you read blogs too much.. Where do you end up?? (Hint: You do NOT pass “Go” and you do NOT collect $200.)
    You thought this through at ALL, bloggers??

  7. Jerry Avatar
    Jerry

    The smugness of the UNITY journalists — there’s a misnomer, if I ever saw one — is as disgusting as their assumption they can beat the race drum without causing white people to question the reliability of the information they gather. The kind of show they put on at their convention must lead to the further delegitimization of the mainstream media. The tribalization of the news is not a good thing, folks.

  8. HA Avatar
    HA

    Jeff,
    I would love to see more people of all kinds of background and viewpoints blogging
    Are you sure? You condemend the authentic view of minority journalists at the Unity conference. Why would the same views expressed on blogs trigger any different response? The medium might change, but the message would be just as ugly.

  9. Doug Avatar
    Doug

    Robert McClelland quoted Jeff Jarvis, “Oh, so the downfall of media is because it’s run by white guys, eh?” Then McClelland replied, “Why is this any more stupid than the ‘liberal media’ conspiracy cooked up by right whingers?”
    How does that comparison reduce the falseness of the minority journalists’ attribution of causality? Are you at all aware of the problem of the “tu quoque” argument fallacy? Does it embarrass you to have employed it, especially in such an obvious way?
    If you truly want to disagree with the point of the original posting, you’ll explain to us why whiteness, after all, truly is the cause of the declining esteem in which the major media are held. As for the rest, we’re wise to your argument fallacy and we hold you in lower esteem for exhibiting such poor reasoning and rhetoric.

  10. Doug Avatar
    Doug

    “HA” quoted Jeff Jarvis, “I would love to see more people of all kinds of background and viewpoints blogging,” and replied, “Are you sure? You condemned the authentic view of minority journalists at the Unity conference. Why would the same views expressed on blogs trigger any different response? The medium might change, but the message would be just as ugly.”
    Why should one bother to discuss a political issue with Robert McClelland or “HA” when there are so many issues of reasoning skills with which to deal first?
    In HA’s reply, his use of the word “condemned” obscures the distinction between saying that an opinion is false and saying that it’s morally bad. Jarvis says the particular opinions of the particular speakers are false; a proper rebuttal would show why they’re true.
    HA also invites us to suppose that Jarvis would not really want to see published any view with which he disagrees. He gives us no evidence to support such a notion.
    HA writes of “the authentic view of minority journalists at the UNITY conference” as if all minority journalists at the UNITY conference could have only one shared set of opinions or at least only one authentic shared set of opinions. He gives no evidence that being of minority race must lead to someone’s having a particular opinion. Nor does he show how he is capable of knowing what opinion is anyone’s authentic opinion. More, he emphasizes the supposed authenticity of the opinions expressed, whereas Jarvis disputed their accuracy; HA invites the suspicion that he places a lower value on accuracy than he does on authenticity. He does not explain to us why we should be more interested in knowing whether opinions are sincerely held than in whether they’re accurate.

  11. Robert McClelland Avatar
    Robert McClelland

    If you truly want to disagree with the point of the original posting, you’ll explain to us why whiteness, after all, truly is the cause of the declining esteem in which the major media are held.
    I never claimed to believe this kooky theory either. I only asked why this one is kooky while the “liberal media” wingnut theory holds water with Jeff.

  12. Old Grouch Avatar
    Old Grouch

    Ah, for the days of USENET. At least you had killfiles…