The media pundit's pundit. Written by NYC insider Jeff Jarvis, BuzzMachine covers news, media, journalism, and politics.
TV of the people, by the people, for the people
: Glenn Reynolds takes off on the explosion of TV to say something more fundamental about news:
Journalism isn’t a profession, but an activity. And it’s an activity that technology is putting within the reach of many more Americans. That’s bad news if you’re Dan Rather, but it’s good news for the rest of us.
Great. I look forward to Instarube’s reports direct from Fallujah.
Give it up, Jeff. Until this “citizen’s media” can come up with significant quantities of meaningful original content it’s not going anywhere.
Anyone notice Reynolds recent dullness and injection of and reliance on links to true partisan comments? I know he always had this tendency, but interesting finds are becoming more and more hard to find and his “network” of support is being established.
excuse my typos.
Would anyone be offended if I said that InstaTwit is a dumbass?
He loves to be insulting.
Insulting is a major feature of the conservative personality.
A “profession” is any fucking thing people do “professionally,” i.e., for a check.
InstaTwit will gladly reduce it to an “activity” if he thinks it’ll feel like a stab of the knife followed by a twist.
He’s a mean, mean person, from a mean, mean party.
(And no, I’m not a journalist. I’m a web developer. Have nothing to do with news or media.)
Journalism isn’t a profession, but an activity.
What nonsense: medicine isn’t a profession either then, since I know how to apply a bandaid.
Yes, anyone can report, but not everyone can do it professionally.
The guy who run Little Green Footballs does not even rise to the professional level of Dan Rather, let alone our better newspeople.
Journalism isn’t a profession, unfortunately. Not by any of the definitions of professionalism. It might be a craft, and it’s certainly an activity.
Knowing how to apply a bandaid does not make you a doctor. No hospital or medical center would hire you based on those credentials. You would be arrested for practicing medicine with those credentials.
So how about journalism? Ever know anyone without journalism training to be hired by a journalistic outfit? Ever hear of anyone arrested for practicing journalism with a license or appropriate training?
Try getting into a major press event without a press badge, JennyD.
Tryinh getting hired as an network anchor without a professional career behind you.
Actually, though my medical metaphor was partly tongue in cheek, it still stands: all sorts of charlatans set up alternative health clinics all over the place. You have people claiming they can heal just about any ailment with magnets for example.
Nonetheless, sure anyone can report, but only those with the requisite skills are going to rise to the top. Is it possible for someone to do that without any formal training? Yes. And people can be appointed to professorial positions or given doctorates without having attended a day of school in their lives if they have something unusual to share. But that doesn’t make journalism or teaching anything less than a profession.
This is just a whole lot of bloggers being petty. Fortunately, not all bloggers are so petty. Not all bloggers have crappy blogs. Some certainly are and do.
Bob, who decides who gets into a major press event? What motivates their decision to let one guy in and not another?
It’s eyeballs. Not journalistic credentials.
Try being a “professional” journalist at a small operation. You’ll be shut out every time.
No, it’s all about market. If you are a blogger with lots of hits, you’ll be let in before the local newspaper is. Trust me, I’ve been there.
Journalists should be worried; their very craft is coming under the microscope. They had better professionalize it, or be prepared to be marginalized.
Bob, who decides who gets into a major press event? What motivates their decision to let one guy in and not another?
It’s eyeballs. Not journalistic credentials.
Er, that’s just not even remotely true. Try getting into a Presidential press conference, a National Convention, a museum opening or an NBA lockerroom without a press pass.
You’re right that some bloggers might get in – some – but my point isn’t that bloggers can’t *do* journalism (read my comments again), but that journalism *is* a profession. And a blogger *is not* automatically going to be considered seriously as a journalist, nor should they automatically be. That is not the same as saying they *can’t be.*
Additionally, a blogger can call himself a journalist in the same way that a lot of people (bloggers or otherwise) can call themselves authors, whether they’ve ever even written a book or not. As you suggest, the market does decide, so some bloggers can receive some deserved notice. But, though journalism certainly has changed and will change as a result of the internet and blogging, the whole enterprise isn’t going to disappear because people can get “news” from a vast array of blogs of greatly varying quality.
Besides, it’s a two-way street and journalism is taking advantage of the Web and blogging etc, too.
Hey, if you’re a great blogger who gets noticed, gets hits, makes money off it, maybe even gets asked to contribute to major publications (a la Atrios, whether you like him or not) MORE POWER TO YOU.
Just quit with the professional journalism bashing,ya’ll. It’s simply silly, the arguments just don’t cut it, and it really comes across like the insecure little puppy nipping at the heels of the big dogs, craving the attention. Or another way of looking at it: the rapper who has a measure of success but is still so insecure that he has to prove what hot shit he is by wearing the bling and the furs and driving the Rolls. I mean, if you can do, do it. Just do it.
Although I like a lot of what I read on Jeff’s blog here, some of his journalism bashing is the most tedious part of visiting. (Especially the bashing of the bloggers vs. journalists variety.)
On the other hand, keep up the great work defending the first amendment, Jeff.
-Bob-
You protest too much. Face it – Journalism is changing, with or without you, and the Internet is the catalyst.
Greg
Funny Greg, that’s what I said: “But, though journalism certainly has changed and will change as a result of the internet and blogging.”
So, it’s unclear: what am I supposed to face?
Reynolds has yet to explain why an increase in journalistic “activity” is bad for Dan Rather. That’s like saying an increase in pro se cases is bad for law professors.
Journalism is no profession, in the restricted sense of the word. It requires no credential, no special training. I am one of many thousands of practicing journalists who never studied journalism. So what?
Journalists are defined not by a credential but by what they do. People who write, edit and report for a living are professional journalists. Bloggers can commit acts of journalism and may even get paid for them. They are subject to, and victims of, the same errors of bias, judgment, honesty and accuracy that afflict the pros. Those problems come with the territory, not with the medium.
The bloggers who waste precious bandwidth grousing about professional journalists are dumb, insecure or jealous. Maybe all three.