V. Journalism's The ascendant blogosphere has rattled the news media with its tough critiques and nonstop scrutiny of their reporting. But the relationship between the two is nfiore complex than it might seem. In fact, if they stay out of the defensive crouch, the battered Backseat mainstream media may profit from the often vexing encounters. BY BARB PALSER

hese are beleaguered times for news organizations. As if their problems "We see you behind the curtain...and we're not impressed by either with rampant ethical lapses and declin- ing readership and viewersbip aren't your bluster or your insults. You aren't higher beings, and everybody out enough, their competence and motives are being challenged by outsiders with here has the right—and ability—to fact-check your asses, and call you tbe gall to call them out before a global audience. on it when you screw up and/or say something stupid. You, and Eason Journalists are in the hot seat, their feet held to tbe flames by citizen bloggers Jordan, and Dan Rather, and anybody else in print or on television who believe mainstream media are no more trustwortby tban tbe politicians don't get free passes because you call yourself journalists.'" and corporations tbey cover, tbat journal- ists tbemselves bave become too lazy, too — Vodkapundit blogger Will Collier responding to CJR cloistered, too self-rigbteous to be tbe watcbdogs tbey once were. Or even to rec- Daily Managing Editor Steve Lovelady's characterization ognize what's news. Some track tbe trend back to late of bloggers as "salivating morons" 2002, wben bloggers latcbed onto U.S. Sen. Trent Lott's bigoted birtbday salute to Strom Thurmond while mainstream media dozed at the wheel (see "The "Please join us in this conversation. Ifs where the future is." Expanding Blogosphere," June/July 2004). Or even early 1998, when Matt — Greensboro News & Record Editor John Robinson, Drudge jumped Newsweek's Monica Lewinsky scoop. But if Lott and announcing a new "open source journalism" initiative at Lewinsky were end-runs around main- stream media, tbis has been the year of the paper tbe frontal assault.

August/Seplember 2005 4S Journalism's Backseat Drivers

Bloggers do more than skewer journalists; journalists have come to depend on them as diggers and aggregators of information, conduits of public opinion and even media and policy pundits.

Tbe power of political bloggers to push points memo on Terri Schiavo. While found that 53 percent of American mainstream media matured during the bloggers were not tbe first to cballenge adults often don't trust what news 2004 presidential campaign. That sum- Newsweek's report of Quran abuse at organizations are telling them. And a mer, blogs were credited witb sustaining Guantdnamo, tbey amplified tbe blast of new First Amendment Center/AJR poll buzz about the Swift Boat Veterans' chal- blame tbat followed. In each case main- bas found tbat just 33 percent think that lenges to Jobn Kerr^s war record for sev- stream media bore a brutal lashing—and "the news media tries to report tbe news eral weeks, until the Kerry campaign and the more they stonewalled, the worse it without bias." Of the 64 percent who dis- mainstream media responded. In tbe fall, got. agreed witb that statement, 42 percent bloggers won their defining victory by Bloggers' charges against journalism strongly disagreed. (See "A Source of swarming over memos cited in CBS begin with gross negligence: omission, Encouragement," page 30.) News' investigation of President Bush's laziness, herd-think. (How else could the It's tempting to compare tbe heyday of National Guard service. Bloggers also U.S. press have been so investigative journalism with political badgered a senior news executive at CNN collectively lackadaisical blogging today. But the scenario is hardly into resigning, forced the Associated in covering the Downing as simple as "journalists wrong, bloggers Press to tell the back story of a Pulitzer Street memos that sug- right." Bloggers do more tban skewer Prize-winning picture and accused ABC gested the Busb adminis- journalists; journalists bave come to News and the Wasbington Post of misre- tration massaged evi- depend on tbem as diggers and aggrega- porting tbe source of a RepublicEin talking dence to make its case for tors of information, conduits of public tbe war in Iraq?) But it opinion and even media and policy pim- goes farther tban tbat. Bill Mitchell dits. At tbe same time, bloggers are wrong The intensity of disdain at least as often as mainstream media from some quarters of tbe blogosphere and prone to tbe same lapses of conduct— "suggests a kind of underlying suspicion, which explains why many professionals anger, resentment that a lot of people are less than gracious in receiving their hold for tbe media," says Bill Mitchell, jabs. director of publishing and online editor at Tbe state of the blogosphere is also tbe Poynter Institute and a former news- fluid and fast-developing. The first line of paper reporter and editor. "Tbis question blog swarms pounded tbe national press, of bad journalism suddenly becomes but bloggers are already growing more biased journalism." enmeshed in poUticEd causes and becom- The media's credibility problems are ing more active at the local level. How well establisbed. The most frequently bloggers are moderated in tbese activi- cited of several studies is a survey by the ties—^by an implicit and self-imposed Pew Research Center for tbe People & code of conduct, government regulation or the Press released in June 2004, which nothing at all—will influence tbeir role in

American Journalism Review Journalism s Backseat Drivers tomorrow's mass communication land- think tank Media Matters for America); But blogs don't need a large audience scape. How tbe mainstream media react and Talking Points Memo (run by if tbey bave an influential one. What mat- to bloggers and other challenging voic- reporter and columnist Joshua Micah ters is blogs' readership among the tradi- es—by ignoring tbem, engaging them or Marshall). Tbese people are the warriors tional joumabsts wbo still mediate most attempting to co-opt them—will do tbe "wbo put on tbeir armor and sit down at of our news. According to a 2005 same. tbe typewriter to do battle, and judge University of Connecticut study, 41 per- tbeir success by how many dragons tbey cent of journalists access blogs at least slay tbat day," says David D. Perlmutter, once a week and 55 percent say tbey read a senior fellow at Louisiana State blogs as part of their work duties. University's Reilly Center for Media & Operating through traditional media, Public Affairs. bloggers appear to be influencing mass The otber camp of A-List hloggers communication in tbree ways: includes pundits wbom Perlmutter • The least frequent but most describes as "sages wbo stand above tbe dramatic way is policing the media. partisan fray and talk about bloggers as a Ratbergate was a perfect swarm because 0 understand tbe bebav- philosophy, a phenomenon." The ubiqui- tbere was raw evidence, ior of journalism's backseat drivers, it's tous maestros of pundit blogging are New documents tbat could be important to know wbo tbey are. And York University journalism professor Jay dissected and evaluated tbat's not always so easy—many bloggers Rosen and Jeff Jarvis, consultant to by the blogospbere's col- defy classification. One post migbt con- About.com and former president of online lective expertise. Tbe tain lucid analysis of a news report, the media publisber Advance.net. Tbeir tbrill was even more grat- next a wild accusation, the next a photo of hlogs, PressTbink and BuzzMacbine, ifying for bloggers, says tbe blogger's poodle. "Tbere's no sorting of abound with insigbt and commentary on Pew's Cornfield, becatise journalism blogs from academic blogs tbe news media—how tbey're evolving, mainstream media caught Michael from partisan blogs from blogs tbat are wbat's broken, why cultural and techno- on and joined the chase. Cornfield one thing one day and anotber thing logical cbanges matter. Neither is soft on Meanwbile CBS News another," says Michael Cornfield, senior tbe press, especially wben they detect fueled tbe fire by clinging to its disinte- research consultant for the Pew Internet arrogance and archaic thinking. grating story and blaming the uproar on & American Life Project. There's also a It's through these blogs and a dozen or "partisan political operatives." (See Full sea of blogs that bave nothing to do with so otbers tbat every bona fide blog swarm Court Press, February/Marcb.) media or politics—technology blogs, flows. Of course talking ahout the top Otber times, it's a lack of documenta- celebrity blogs, pop culture blogs, bobby bloggers neglects the vast infantry of tion or unclear sourcing tbat sustains tbe blogs and a depressing number of vapid unsung bloggers and readers wbo con- swarm. After a rookie blogger reported personal blogs. stantly supply feedback, ideas and tips CNN executive Eason Jordan's remarks Tbat said, certain hloggers bave tbat enricb their conversations. More at the World Economic Forum in January earned reputations for being consistently often than not, blog swarms start witb lit- (Jordan allegedly claimed US. troops bad good at deftly filtering tbe Internet and tle blogs tbat feed bigger hlogs. deliberately targeted journalists in Iraq), providing sbarp analysis of current it was the forum's refiisa! to release a events. Tbe so-called "A-list" of political tape and CNN's failure to try to get it to bloggers generally falls into two cate- do so that incensed bloggers the most (see gories: partisans and pundits. Tbe Beat, April/May). In April, conserva- Eacb end of tbe political spectrum is tive bloggers cbarged that a Pulitzer represented by a cadre of bloggers. On Prize-winning AP photo of Iraqi election tbe conservative side, tbe most read workers being killed by insurgents was blogs, according to tracking sites taken at sueb close range the photogra- Tecbnorati and Tbe Truth Laid Bare, pber must bave been tipped off by the ter- include Instapundit (run by University of or all tbeir celebrity, hlogs still rorists. "The Pulitzer Prize for felony Tennessee law professor Glenn baven't achieved the reach of other murder goes to tbe Associated Press," Reynolds); Power Line (run by a collec- media. Pew reported this year that just wrote Scott Jobnson on Power Line. To tive of three attorneys); and Michelle 16 percent of adults in tbe United States answer the bloggers' extensive analysis of Malkin (run by the conservative colum- read any type of blog. According to camera angles and lens cbaracteristics, nist). Top liberal blogs include Daily Kos Gallup, only 2 percent of Americans read AP soon put out its own release detailing (run by communication technology con- political blogs on a daily basis—compared why tbe pbotograpber was at tbe scene sultant Markos Moulitsas Zuniga); witb 39 percent who watch cable news, 36 and bow tbe sbot was made. Shortly afler Escbaton (run by Duncan Black, aka percent wbo watcb network news and 21 AP's response, the bloggers moved on, Atrios, now a senior fellow at the liberal percent wbo listen to talk radio. though it's not clear whether tbey were

August/Seotember 2005 48 ejuurnaiisin s uacKseai urivers appeased or just finisbed with tbe fight. stream media—particularly cable, talk work on Dean's Internet campaign, Swarms fi-equently end in ambivalence radio and columnists—to interview blog- "largely in order to ensure tbat tbey said ratber tban a decisive outcome. gers or excerpt blog posts whenever a positive things ahout Dean" on their • The second way blogs influence news organization flubs, even if the flub blogs. "They never committed to support- journalism is through their role as didn't involve blogs. When Newsweek's ing Dean for the payment," wrote tbe conduits between mainstream media Quran story broke down, for example, aide, Zepbyr Teacbout, on her own blog, and the online Zeitgeist. Pews May hloggers' comments on tbe incident and "but it was very clearly, internally, our 2005 report, "Buzz, Blogs and Beyond," the use of anonymous sources in general goal." found tbat "journalists, activists, and (guess wbat, tbey're against them) were Moulitsas and Armstrong freely political decision-makers bave learned to part of mainstream media's coverage of acknowledged their work as paid consult- consult political blogs as a guide to wbat tbe story. ants, but fiercely denied tbat posting on is going on in tbe rest of tbe Internet." Poynter's Mitchell says it makes sense tbeir blogs was part of the deal. Moulitsas "Mainstream media need bloggers as to consider bloggers' perspectives on also took issue witb tbe suggestion tbat hadly as bloggers need mainstream media issues. "Many bloggers probably bis work for Dean, or any other candi- media," says Pew's Cornfield, wbo direct- consume news at least more aggressively, date, would he unethical. "I never claimed ed tbe study, "because tbe Internet is too if not always more carefully, tban a lot of to be free of bias," he wrote on bis blog. voluminous for mainstream media to otber people," Mitchell says. "If you're "Ultimately, I trust you all to take wbat I cover on its own." Cornfield says blogs writing a story about a new car, you don't write witb tbe proper grain of salt, fully have become especially important for 24- want to just talk to people wbo are appraised of wbatever conflicts of interest bour cable news channels, providing fod- designers, engineers and mechanics; you I may bave.. . I have to make my living, der to fill gaping programming holes. want to talk to the consumer. [Bloggers] and if I can do so helping Democrats win CNN's "Inside the Blog" segment, whicb seem to me to be pretty qualified as news elections, I can't imagine anjrthing more debuted on tbe February 14 edition of consumers." exciting and fidfilling." But Perlmutter "Inside Politics," is a case in point. (Tbe questions tbe ability of a blogger to concept bas been lauded, but the for- remain true to bis or her own opinions mat—coancbors reading from blogs on a wbile on tbe payroll of a campaign. "Will computer screen—is yawn-inducing.) be be likely to say, 'Boy the campaign Pew's preliminary findings also sug- really screwed up?' Or [willl they start gest that while blogs might help create saying things tbey don't believe because and sustain buzz, they are buzz followers it's tbe party line?" as often as leaders. "If bloggers, or media, While Moulitsas was widely defended or presidential campaigns were buzz in tbe blogosphere, the actions of two makers...tben tbere would be a recurring he power of blog buzz North Dakota bloggers were generally pattern in wbich one channel led and the has been far too effective to escape tbe condemned. Following tbe 2004 election, others followed," tbe report said. "Tbat notice of political strategists. After the it was revealed tbat two conservative was not wbat we detected." 2004 campaign, a former aide to unsuc- bloggers—Jason van Beek and Jon • Finally, bloggers may be influ- cessful Democratic presidential hopeful Lauck—were paid a total of $35,000 by encing journalism by achieving Howard Dean said tbat Moulitsas (Daily the campaign of South Dakota credibility as media pundits. It's Kos) and business partner Jerome Republican Jobn Tbune, who unseated become common practice for main- Armstrong (MyDD) had been bired to former Senate Minority Leader Tom

More often than being nnisleading, bloggers wrong; it's the nature of the blogosphere to hypotheses and wait for evidence to surface.

American Journalism Review Journalism s Backseat Drivers

Dascble. Tbrougbout tbe campaign the Perlmutter, "so tbat was a new tbing at memo was fake, and we did not purport to two hloggers doggedly attacked Dascble tbe time. More and more people are going have any information that was not pub- and pummeled the state's largest news- to pay attention to that" dining the next licly available," Hinderaker wrote in an paper, the Sioux Falls Argus Leader, with election. At the same time, Perlmutter April 9 post. "Any reader could follow our charges of individual and institutional predicts a flood of blogs backed by politi- logic and either agree or disagree witb bias. Neither blogger disclosed his rela- cal action groups. our opinion. But the Post was 'wrong' in a tionship to Tbune on his blog. Because of More often tban being misleading, much different and more serious way. Tbe the significance of the race, the bloggers' bloggers just get tbings wrong; it's the Post...reported tbose statements as facts, posts were picked up by top conservative nature of tbe blogosphere to toss out without giving the reader any informa- blogs, including Instapundit, Power Line hypotheses and wait for tion about bow the paper knew them to be and the Drudge Report. evidence to surface. In the true." It was Hinderaker's position that if Wben reports of the payments sur- case of Power Line's tbe Post had adequately sourced its infor- faced, the bloggers were criticized by their September 9, 2004, post, mation, tbe bullabaloo wouldn't bave p)eers, suggesting an implicit code of con- "Tbe 61st Minute," blog- bappened in tbe first place. duct. "My instinct is that the bloggers' gers' suspicions about While tbat's wacky logic ta journalists relationship with the Thune CEunpaign CBS' report on Busb's who've been drilled to get tbe facts before should bave been disclosed on the blogs," National Guard service publishing. Pew's Cornfield says the vet- wrote Power Line blogger Jobn turned out to be rigbt. Oavni ting process works differently on the Hinderaker. "No one reading the hlogs Several months later, Perimuner Internet. Journalists and citizens need to could have failed to understand tbat wben ABC News and the learn a different way of approaching Lauck and Van Beek were pro-Tbune and Washington Post reported tbat a memo information on the Web. anti-Dascble.... But, rigbtly or wrongly, describing the Terri Schiavo case as "a "I don't think a blogger bas any sort of many people would view tbe blogs differ- great political issue" was distributed to responsibility to anybody, otber tban tbeir ently if tbey knew their authors were also Republican senators, a Power Line post own sense of what matters and then even- Tbune consultants." asked, "Is This The Biggest Hoax Since tually to their audience," Cornfield says. The Sixty Minutes Story?" Blogger John Although bloggers currently have no "They can be irresponsible if they want. Hinderaker noted that tbe memo was obligation to reveal financial arrange- You tbe reader, tbe browser, have to be unsigned, witbout letterbead, and "does ments with campaigns, the Federal more diligent because you bave the power not sound like something written by a Election Commission is considering new of determining wbat's true and what's rel- conservative." Turns out a Repubbcan rules this summer tbat might require evant and what's fair.... While tbere are senator's aide bad written the memo. But tbem to do so. Bloggers are figbting hard lots of mistakes on the Internet, there are in tbe two weeks it took for tbe memo's for self-regulation, but the specter of more lots of corrections—and corrections come author to come forward, groundless cases like the one involving tbe Thune really fast." cbarges of fraud were repeated by several campaign is fueling support for tbe rules. national news outlets, including CNN, Wben it comes to rules of conduct and Perlmutter says modest disclosure guide- NBC News, Fox News and the self-correction. Slate Editor at Large Jack lines wouldn't be a bad idea but predicts Washington Post. Shafer suggests a distinction between tbe the self-correcting behavior of tbe blogos- widely read "top 100" bloggers and tbe pbere will kick in more effectively during ABC News Vice President Jeffrey rest. Sbafer, wbose Press Box column fre- the next election cycle. Payments to blog- Schneider says it wasn't bloggers wbo quently addresses skirmishes in blogland, gers "badn't been on the radar yet," says compelled ABC News to eventually report says the top tier is likely to adopt self- tbe memo's source, but pressure from imposed best practices, but the entire blo- within the Senate for the author, who gospbere is too vast and unruly to fall into worked for U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez, R- line. "Remember, not all bloggers are cre- Fla., to come forward. "It was becoming ated equal," Shafer wrote in an e-mail just get things increasingly obvious tbat there were interview. "Some are smarter and more senators who knew exactly wbo the accurate tban others (just like journal- sources were, and I tbink that was made ists). I trust the marketplace of ideas to clear to Sen. Martinez's office," Schneider sort out bad bloggers from good, just as it toss out says. "It was not my sense that pressure does bad journalists from good." from tbe blogosphere made that person Blogger and Greensboro News & come forward and admit that they bad Record columnist Ed Cone offers this drafted it. It was tbe pressure of decency piece of advice: "You have to be a carefijl tbat made tbem come forward." consumer of news is tbe lesson tbat blogs Some may bave expected an apology are trying to teacb you by tbeir criticism. from Hinderaker, but tbey didn't get one. Sometimes tbey teacb you by tbeir "We did not report as a fact tbat tbe example."

August/September 2005 47 Journalism's Backseat Drivers

There are many things that traditional medi the public engagement and excitement thj but they're more interested in being hip an understanding the true lessons of blogs."

an event, are they really a different thing? Internally, many newsrooms are Where is the divide? I'm not sure it's there reviewing and revising their reporting even now. I think the media landscape is guidelines. The New York Times, the a lot richer, and there's a lot more analy- Wasbington Post and USA Today have all sis and independent thought out there." recently adopted more stringent policies Poynter's Mitchell says the light bulb regarding unidentified sources; NBC is on for many journalists. "A lot of jour- News and CBS News are also reviewing nalists recognize that on a lot of stories, their practices. However, efforts in two- readers necessarily know more about it way dialogue are less apparent. (In one ccording to than tbey do," Mitchell says. They are right-minded but ill-fated experiment, tbe many bloggers and pundits, the "blogs vs. "coming to grips with the futility of being Los Angeles Times invited readers to mainstream media" meme is passe— too defensive. There used to be a kind of modify the paj)er's editori- almost as xincool as debating whetber defense to getting things wrong—and als via its Web site in bloggers are journalists. The enlightened that was just pretending it was right. Tbe June. Three days later tbe way to regard the advent of the bloggers idea is not to cave in to critics, [it's] figur- initiative was suspended would be to accept them as part of an ing out how the audience generally—for- after it became flooded evolving media scene rather than treat get about bloggers in particular—can witb obscenity.) Many them as an invading force. But if the actually improve the journalism." newsrooms have started dichotomy is false, many bloggers and As soon as accusations of misreport- blogs, but most of tbose journalists are still operating as though it ing surfaced in the Scbiavo memo affair, are set up as storytelling John Robinson were real. ABC Vice President Schneider says he devices for journalists Those who feel most threatened, Cone started contacting bloggers directly. "It's rather than conversations with viewers says, are the ones who insist on drawing a important to get your two cents into tbose and readers about tbe reporting process. hard line between bloggers and journal- stories as early as possible, but being Even after Ratbergate and the Eason ists. The whole notion that bloggers careful not to fuel tbose stories," Jordan melee, mainstream media don't should be pitched in opposition to jour- Schneider says. "There were bloggers that often stoop to engage their critics prompt- nalists, he says, is phony and antiquated. I personally dealt witb wbo I thought ly and directly—or "speak from someplace "To focus on tbose differences is a defense were really interested in getting at tbe other than the mountaintop," as Cone mechanism on the part of corporate truth. There were others wbo simply puts it. media that maybe doesn't want to made up their minds without a whole lot Cone has firsthand experience with admit—maybe doesn't realize—that the of thought or investigation, and they were that kind of engagement. At the game is over, the game has changed," intent on proving that ABC News had Greensboro News & Record, Editor John Cone says. "When blogs jump on a story or somehow taken a big misstep." Robinson maintains a blog called The

48 American Journalism Review Journalism sBacifcsealtTnvers

Robinson wrote in an e-mail interview tbat some of bis colleagues in resource- strapped newsrooms may be scared to take tbat plimge. "Who can blame them? Newsroom staffs are being cut beyond can learn from where they should," Robinson says. "Now the editors are thinking about adding on additional duties to already overworked and underpaid reporters?... Maintaining blogs generate, a blog is time-consuming. You're putting of this lead, and how long will bloggers' yourself out tbere. You're acknowledging glory days last? One scenario is that the mistakes.... And there are many people blogosphere (or its essential behavior, lurking in the blogosphere who routinely since tbe tecbnology may change) is an techie than use that as an opportunity to smack you emerging Fiftb Estate, a vast and vigilant fix)m the blind side. So you have to have a sector of citizen watchdogs over a wide tbick skin to deal witb tbose folks who range of media, goveniment and corpo- prefer to criticize you personally rather rate institutions. In order to sustain that than add to the civic discussion." role, however, bloggers must survive But, Robinson says, 'T)oing nothing numerous tbreats to tbeir independence. was not an option, given all tbe reader- One is the possibility that today's ship trends and research." impassioned amateur bloggers will be As for the journalists who feel co-opted or crowded out. In Cornfield's besieged by hotheaded and often unin- view that could happen if the most Editor's Log. "When people question formed hecklers, Robinson says he under- prominent media and policy blogs are something, he writes about it in his blog," stands tbeir exasperation and resent- swallowed up by big media, recruited by says Cone. "He's in tbe game. He's not just ment. 'Tes, I empathize," Robinson says. "I political campaigns or subsumed by "offi- waiting for his column to come out next bave been there. Hell, I am there. Just cial versions" sucb as ABC News' Tbe week to answer a cballenge made yester- visit my blog. But the fact is that the Note. Cornfield says amateur hloggers day." toothpaste is out of tbe tube. Ignoring or won't be eliminated, but tbey could find Pew's Cornfield senses the same need. belittling them will not make it all go themselves competing witb the superior "Every time I open the Sunday New York away. As everyone knows, people have marketing and promotional clout of Times and look at the ombud, I think, 'Ob been criticizing newspapers for one rea- media giants. my God, tbis is so restricted and stilted.' son or another for years before there were Slate's Shafer doesn't regard the Ombuds should move to the Net. blogs. Now they can make their criticism demise of the amateur blogger as a seri- Anything involving direct evidence read around the world. So the world has ous possibility. "The MSM could bire tbe should migrate to the Net." changed. Our responsibility, our chal- top 100 bloggers right now, and I predict The first step toward greater trans- lenge, is to explain wby we do wbat we do. 100 equally smart and talented people parency for many news organizations It's hard and it's intimidating and it's would replace them," be says. may be estabUshing an ombudsman or frustrating. But none of those things are The tone of the blogospbere—particu- ethics board. (About 40 American news excuses for not rising to the challenge." larly in tbe realm of political activigm— organizations bave ombudsmen—see could also depend on whether online "Tbe Ombudsman Puzzle," February/ speech becomes government-regulated. In Marcb.) "You wouldn't have a company tbat respect the FEC's decision on hlog that says 'advertising is very important to regulation could open tbe door to otber us but we don't have anybody who does controls. "Tbis decision will send a big sig- tbat,'" Perlmutter says. "If you don't have nal about wbether tbe government an ombudsman, you're saying, 'Screw you, intends to mess around witb tbe Internet we're not interested in your opinion.' or not," Cornfield says. "Up until now, [the Tbere are many things that traditional government has] largely left the Internet media can learn fi-om tbe public engage- alone and even gone to the point of trying ment and excitement that blogs generate, to stay out of its way." but tbey're more interested in being hip In the near term, bloggers will contin- and tecbie than understanding the true ue to monitor the national media—and lessons of hlogs." have just begun to make their presence Of coxirse transparency and interac- felt on tbe local scene. The Tbune cam- tion take time. News & Record Editor paign was one example. Tbis spring, a

August/September 2005 49 Journalism's Backseat Drivers hlog run hy an engineer at Los Alamos because of the blogs? Probably. It's not It could be coincidence that the blo- National Laboratory in New Mexico drew reducible to 'blogging killed the incen- gosphere emerged around the same time attention from Congress and then the tives,' but the conversation is richer trust in the media was falling and politi- national media for its harsh complaints because of the blogs." Of those examples, cal rancor was intensifying—or perhaps about operational problems at the facility. only the Thune episode involved criticism those factors helped shape the blogos- In Greensboro, Cone recounts an incident of the mainstream media, but news phere. In any case, blogs have proven an in which the city council killed an incen- organizations played a role in each. As extremely effective vehicle for mobilizing tive plan for Wal-Mart after two council local bloggers become better organized individuals to influence joumahsm, pub- members who opposed the measure dis- and more widely read by their neighbors lic discourse and policy. We've also cussed it frequently in their blogs. "The and the local press—which is already learned that hloggers don't need the News & Record was all over" the story, happening in places like Greensboro— blessing of the establishment in order to Cone says. "Was some of the coverage blog swarms will likely hit hom^e. flourish; they will continue to check, cor-

BY JENNIFER DORROH

Wikis let readers "do something they've never done with the newspaper before: They can edit, on the fly, text that has already been put out there, and then track the kinds of changes or contributions that others have made," she says. That's what computer programmer Ward Cunningham had in mind when he created the first wiki software a decade ago. He conceived wiki as a way to allow colleagues to more he newspaper editorial, in its traditional easily discuss programming language, he wrote on his per- form, is strictly an insider's game: The elite group of writers on sonal Web site, adopting "wiki wiki," a Hawaiian word for the editorial board hash out their opinions, draw their own "quick" that he picked up on a trip to the islands, as a name conclusions and assert their stance in the morning paper. for his brainchild. In June, the Los Angeles Times took a bold, though tempo- A few years later, a group of wiki enthusiasts realized the rary, departure from that model when it used a new technolo- potential for using that same technology to collect and publish gy to open up one of its editorials to what amounted to an information of interest to the general public, and Wikipedia, the online free-for-all. collaborative online encyclopedia, was born. Last year, the Latimes.com posted the paper's Friday, June 17 editorial group launched Wikinews, which allows citizen reporters to "War and Consequences" as a wiki, a form that allowed read- submit news articles and to edit the work of others. ers to edit or alter any part of the piece. The Times' trailblazing Wikipedia's and Wikinews' focus on reporting, rather than "wikitorial" drew lively contributions from readers across the on the opinion writing that the Times attempted, provides a political spectrum. But the trial came to a crashing halt in the useful model for news sites that aim to draw more reader input. wee hours of Sunday morning, after a handful of site visitors "News organizations could offer wiki-based backgrounders added pornographic images and other inappropriate material and tutorials on important public topics—with a focus on the to the piece, prompting latimes.com to remove the wiki. news value and public-interest aspects," wrote Amy Gahran, a Does this mean news organizations should shy away from freelance writer and blogger. In a contribution to the Poynter wikis? Not necessarily. Some online media experts say news Institute's E-Media Tidbits. sites shouldn't give up on the form too quickly. Many say that an editorial doesn't lend itself to the collabo- News outlets that ignore wikis "may miss a rich opportuni- rative editing process because people with opposite view- ty to expand their influence and their brand," says Nora Paul, points will simply change each other's conclusions. The L,A. director of the Institute for New Media Studies at the University Times editorial urged the U.S. government to set a timetable of Minnesota. "Your site can become a place where citizens for training Iraqi soldiers. can share Information under the auspices of a brand that cares While news wikis are in the experimental stage, Paul says, deeply about accuracy." "It might be better to start with issues that are not such hot but-

50 American Journalism Review Journalism s Backseat Drivers rect and challenge the Rosenstiel, director of tbe Project for cheap seats yelling advice." reporting of the New York Excellence in Journalism. "But journal- In some ways, that's exactly what tbey Times and your local ism bas no value, nor any claim to author- are—angry, rowdy and out of control. paper. Sometimes they'll ity, except in the name of citizens.... I That doesn't mean we can't learn from be right, sometimes they'll tbink many news organizations bave them, da be wrong, sometimes already found it remarkable bow mucb they'll be vindictive. the tone of an angry andience memher Contributing writer Barb Palser is AJR's "It will take a tough Tom Rosenstiel can change if you simply listen attentive- new-media columnist. She is partner com- hide, a tougher one than ly and respond fairly." munications director for Internet journalists maybe are used to, as they sort Says Perlmutter, "Traditional journal- Broadcasting, which produces news and out their new relationship with a more ists look at hloggers like Major League information Weh sites for more than 70 interactive audience," says Tom Baseball players look at some guy in the local television stations in the U.S.

tons of controversy as the Iraq war." cept it supports are untested from a business standpoint. "It Instead, she suggests that news sites use wikis to "craft looks good on paper, but will sites get citizens who care event coverage that might have multiple witnesses, like a high enough to contribute and make it work?" school football game. One person could write the key story, Those who do try wikis should prevent or quickly remove then other people would add what they saw. Maybe the coach inappropriate posts. As the Times discovered, wikis can be a would correct [the name of the player] who did the big tackle," magnet for online vandals. "The open philosophy of most she says. wikis—of letting anyone edit content—does not ensure that Along these lines, CNET News.com posted a wiki in June to editors are well-intentioned," notes Wikipedia's entry on the accompany its series on India's technology renaissance (india- topic. techwiki.com). Readers posted comments on topics ranging The wiki should include tools that let readers report from competition for talented software engineers to poverty in obscene content, and the site must respond quickly when they the subcontinent. Like most wikis, the India Tech Wiki is an eas- do, wrote blogger Jeff Jarvis in a post about the L.A. Hmes sit- ily readable page of text with highlighted phrases that link to uation. "If you do not respond and they are calling a 911 line other sections of the wiki. It includes a link to a page of recent that never answers, then it will turn into—as this did—outtakes changes, which allows users to view previous versions of tbe from Caligula." piece. Having built their reputations and industry on the notion of A group of investigators could also use a wiki as a collec- reporting what they know, traditional media are struggling tion point for the information they unearth. Volunteers are with a loss of control when it comes to allowing visitor input perusing thousands of pages of U.S. government documents, through tools like wikis, the University of Minnesota's Paul obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union, that detail says. "The medium has always been, 'You'll take what we give treatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base. The you and you'll like it or you won't, but here it is.' Now the audi- group is using a wiki to report its findings. ence wants to have individual control over the news it gets Scott B. Anderson, director of shared content for the through news alerts, filters and the ability to contribute and talk Tribune Co.'s interactive unit, thinks a news site could do back. something similar. "This is a way that a newspaper can let its "A small but powerful and growing group of news con- audience take part in its core mission: investigation," he says. sumers has an appetite for tools like wikis and an expectation But mainstream media organizations shouldn't try a wiki that they will have these tools available to them. A lot of the just because it's a relatively new toy, Anderson says. "Wikis are time it means the cutting out of the middle man," she says. the flavor of the month," he says. "With wikis, or with any tool, "That's where news organizations have to adopt an attitude of, you have to think through what the tool does and how we can 'If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.'" use it." Anderson notes that wikis and the citizen journalism con- Jennifer Dorroh is a frequent contributor to AJR.

August/September 2005 SI