BuzzMachine

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

I pledge not to pledge

10 comments on I pledge not to pledge

I pledge not to pledge

: Yesterday, I suggested that Dan Gillmor should have wikied his pledge and Sean Bonner has done it. Dan has some links.

Thinking about it last night, I liked the idea of a pledge even less but thought I should explain that more.

A pledge assumes ill will and mistrust, requiring that we promise we won’t do something bad. If we’re decent and you trust us, we shouldn’t have to do that. I don’t have to take a pledge not to torture little puppies for you to trust that I won’t do it. I shouldn’t have to pledge to be honest to be honest.

The whole point of this new medium is that it is human and not institutional. In a human relationship, apart from wedding vows and oaths in court, we don’t take pledges. When you meet a neighbor, you don’t feel the need to say, I pledge not to dump my garbage in your backyard. The compact of civility and trust is assumed until it is broken. That’s the way I think this new medium operates. A blog is a person. Buzzmachine is me. You either like and trust me or don’t (and there are plenty who don’t; just read the comments). Or to put it another way: Like me, like my blog; dislike my blog, dislike me. I keep coming back to the conclusion of my blog chat with NY Times exec editor Bill Keller: Though blogs can do journalism and do media they are still essentially human. Journalism is institutional, impersonal, and dispassionate; blogs are human, personal, and passionate. Institutions takes pledges because they have become separated from the people they serve and they need to. Humans — bloggers — shouldn’t need to. Doesn’t mean you have to trust a blogger. But saying “trust me” doesn’t mean anybody should trust you more.

At the end of the day, I don’t want to see blogs turn into an institution, or try to, for then they wouldn’t be blogs anymore. They are human and operate on a personal and social scale and it’s a mistake to see them through institutional eyes. When I sat at an Annenberg confab on journalism a few weeks ago, I flashed on the frightening notion that in 50 years, there could be such confabs among bloggers fretting over trust, ethics, professional standards, educational needs, government relationships…. But then I snapped out of it. I was looking at blog through institutional eyes. No, blogs are just people speaking.

10 responses to “I pledge not to pledge”

  1. pieman Avatar
    pieman

    The whole pledge malarkey is very American, innit? Can’t imagine a European blogger coming up with the idea.
    I agree with your thoughts and that Dan’s barking up the wrong tree on this.
    Just out of interest, do US schoolkids still have to do the scarily patriotic ‘pledge allegiance to the flag’ routine every morning? Or is that just in the movies.

  2. James Avatar
    James

    Jeff: Aren’t marriage and rule of law “institutional” rather than “human” relationships?
    Can you explain the difference between these two spheres?

  3. Jeff Jarvis Avatar
    Jeff Jarvis

    James: They are attempts to institutionalize personal relationships. When you date and sleep with someone, it’s a human relationship; taking a marriage vow is a means of institutionalizing that … and more than half the time, it doesn’t work, eh? When you live in a civilized society, you’re assumed to behave until your behavior bothers enough people that a law is passed trying to stop you from doing that to institutionalize the issue… and some portion of the time, that doesn’t work, either. I’m not saying either is wrong, only that it indicates an assumption of failure and I don’t think such efforts to institutionalize are necessary in most human interactions — you don’t get married or get arrested every day — and I don’t think it’s necessary in blogs, which are really a form of human interaction.

  4. cori schlegel Avatar
    cori schlegel

    I don’t have a problem with people signing the pledge, but I think that its central problem is that it’s essentially meaningless. There’s no enforceability and no real advantage. Who’s to say that an individual is living up to their pledge or not and what’s to happen to them if they don’t?
    I don’t share the fear that the blogosphere will become institutionalized. Perhaps some areas will become so, and perhaps the Bayosphere will be one of them, but the power of blogs is their distributed nature which I think effectively prevents large-scale institutionalization.
    I disagree with some of what you say about people and blogs, though, Jeff. Your blog (or mine) is not a monolithic entity any more than you are a monolithic person. I like almost all of what you have to say about media and pay very close attention to that even when I disagree. I dislike what you have to say about terrorism and related issues and so pretty much completely disregard all of that. Neither of which has anything to do with how I’d feel about you as a person were I to meet you, nor really about how trustworthy you are.

  5. Karl Avatar
    Karl

    Three questions:
    1. What do you see as the differences between a contract, pledge, and agreement?
    2. Did you happen to sign any contracts with your new employer?
    3. Does your ISP have a Terms Of Service agreement that you abide by?

  6. Jeff Jarvis Avatar
    Jeff Jarvis

    Karl: I don’t get the point. My relationship with my ISP is most certainly not a human relationship. If it were, I’d punch it in the nose.

  7. Karl Avatar
    Karl

    Just asking questions to see if I can understand your view better.
    Three more questions:
    4. Do you see ‘citizen journalism’ efforts like Bayosphere as attempts at institutionalizing the entire blogosphre?
    5. Does About.com require contributors/authors to sign contracts/agreements/pledges?
    6. If About.com does, indeed require contract/agreements/pledges, how do you feel about them?

  8. JS Avatar
    JS

    Doesn’t calling something journalism distinguish it from blogging, which is mainly opinion? But since this journalism isn’t done under the aegis of an institution with standards the journalist is expected to adhere to, what’s wrong with declaring some to your readers?
    I donít think most people go into things with bad intentions. The problem is that human beings have a great capacity for self-delusion and rationalization. (Iím fond of Jeff Goldblumeís line in the Big Chill that ìrationalizations are more important than sex. When did you go a week with a rationalization?î)
    What defining roles of behavior that we promise to try to live up to does is to create a mechanism where whatever our human capacity and willingness for self-awareness is brought to bear. In this case there doesnít appear to be guarantees or enforcement mechanisms other that our own integrity to fulfill our pledged intentions.
    In this sense I think it is most valuable if you donít necessary take Danís pledge but rather craft one of your own. Owning something generally confers upon it a higher worth.

  9. Alex Krupp Avatar
    Alex Krupp

    But you are missing on thing, Jeff. If you sign the pledge and then violate the rules, then your ability to display that you are a member of this group will be revoked. That way if you go to a new blog and have never heard of that person before, you will immediately be able to see whether they have done anything unethical in the past.

  10. Monjo Avatar
    Monjo

    I pledge my allegiance to the flag of America and for all for which is stands (native american genocide, illegal wars and commie paranoia apart). I pledge that I won’t burn it not even out of irony (eben though I am British and just love irony).
    Hmm, does the US Gvt not trust Americans if it makes you swear a pledge?