A Lie is a Lie

Mike Shear of The Washington Post, the final speaker at the Va. blogger conference, said we probably wouldn’t agree with anything he had to say. Then he sought to provoke with his basic message that bloggers irresponsibly truck in rumor, gossip and basically are pretty lax on the fact checking. If we don’t know it to be true, we shouldn’t say it.

I agree.

He also said that the difference between bloggers and newspapers is that journalists “attempt always to make sure that what we have written is true.” While he equivocated, he seemed pretty sure he was on higher ground. He even quoted the Society of Professional Journalists’ code of ethics. It is an “optional code,” I might add.

I also think it’s irresponsible for a newspaper to report that, say, a presidential candidate did not deserve medals he received while a soldier, when in fact, as the paper reported a week or so after the Swift Boat Veterans attacks on John Kerry, that the charges were not true. Yet, The Post reported the story before checking to see if it was true, and once it found otherwise, kept repeating the story.

When asked about the contradiction, Shear, to his credit, said it’s “a hard charge to deny.” But he tried to defend papers by saying that they try to find out the truth whereas bloggers rarely do.

That’s too broad a charge and too weak a defense of papers who report rumor or charges if they echo long enough on Fox News or other pseudo news media. In other words, they adopt the lowest standards of truth and decency. That that is better than no standard is higher ground only in a relative sense, and not a place I’d anchor my moral superiority.

Comments

[Romeocat]

Yes, that lovely grey area. It is often difficult to decide where the line needs to be drawn, especially when there's no clear definition of our role. Actually, I am of the opinion that the role of bloggers cannot really be defined. We run the gamut from pretty solid analytical editorials (and some reporting) all the way to "life-blogs" like mine, which make no claims to objectivity or journalism.

It's a bit like the remark I made in "Ethics and Blogging" about personal responsibility. Each blogger has that responsibility to adhere to some sort of code, if only to satisfy some personal sense of civic virtue or standards.

It is, unfortunately, far too easy for bloggers to devolve in snipe-fests and flame-wars. "Official" journalists are less likely to do this (from what I've seen), but they may be far more talented at the subtle but deadly twist of the stiletto.

I think that Sorenson, for me, will have made me more aware of and careful with these possibilities - and that will be a good thing, even for a life-blogger like me.

Have a great week!

-- R'cat
www.CatHouseChat.com

[Bob]

I got a lot of comments about that shirt. Sorry we didn't meet, but I recognize you from your description.

Mike was right about bloggers traffiking rumors. It's almsot as if he was suggesting that when one lone blogger does it, it's bad, but when a half dozen well educated, elite journalists together decide to do it, it's OK. I think his comment to my observation clearly suggests he understands the gray area. Both journalists and bloggers are in that area some of the time.

[Romeocat]

Hi, Bob - sorry I didn't catch up with you at the conference. Were you the gentleman near the front and wearing a black, almost Hawaiian polo shirt (during Mr. Shear's closing remarks)? I was the crazy woman wearing the black "I'm blogging this" t-shirt.

I think that your comments on Mr. Shear's remarks are spot-on: it's very difficult to effect productive and positive change, when the problem has not been accurately defined with concrete guidelines for correction.

Oh, geeze, I'm sounding like a professor, which I most definitely am NOT! Anyway, he was too broad in his statements, and he offered no real suggestions on how to correct the problem.

Thanks for the post - it will help me do a better job as I write my "what I learned" post(s). I *do* have my initial "who-I-met" post up, which you may find interesting.

Best wishes, and hoping to read your blog much more often!

-- R'cat
www.CatHouseChat.com