CNN is starting to get it

We tuned in to CNN this afternoon for "Inside the Blogs," a new feature on Judy Woodruff's "Inside Politics" [via Hugh Hewitt] and were pleasantly surprised. Blog Reporter Jacki Schechner (above right) reads blogs for a living and did a great job reporting on the buzz out here in the sphere. Not taking sides, she and her fellow blog reporter (didn't catch his name)covered the bases from left to right in a refreshingly fair and balanced manner.  Even so, Schechner reported with obvious delight Jeff Jarvis's demolition of Maureen Dowd's hollow claim that "even Nixon didn't do what Bush is doing with fake news."  As a tad, Jarvis happened to have been interviewed by Nixon's re-election commitee for a fake news job.

"Some say the bloggers aren't that big a deal," Judy Woodruff says provocatively, setting off the sparks between her two guests this afternoon on "Inside Politics." Political analyst Stuart Rothenberg doesn't get it.  Media reporter Howard Kurtz is starting to get it big time. A few excerpts:

Stuart Rothenberg: There's this orgy of media attention to blogs. It's just another fad. What about the issue of accountability?

Howard Kurtz:  "People have to be smart.  Blogs can be irresponsible, but they can also be provocative and funny and cover things the MSM misses."

Rothenberg:  We don't know who these people are. Everybody needs an editor. 

Woodruff: What about the fact they are having an effect on the real world?

Kurtz: I think you're a little too quick to write them off, Stuart.

Rothenberg: The amount of time I have, there are lots of magazines and newspapers out there.  Do I have additional time to spend on reading blogs?  No, I don't.

Kurtz:  A lot of newspapers are losing circulation.  It's a competitive world out there.  We don't control the conversation anymore.  We don't have a monopoly anymore, and I think thats a healthy thing.

The Rothenbergs of this world, who don't have time to check out the blogs, are Darwinian toast, soon to be left in the La Brea Tar Pits of history (did you know they had toast back then?), but it looks like CNN itself is starting to get with the program.  'Will have to check out Kurtz' show, "Bloggers:  Truthtellers or Vigilantes?" on "Reliable Sources" this weekend (We NEVER check out CNN at home). See. They're no dummies. They've piqued our interest.

Comments

[Rob A.]

First, I agree that this is a very smart thing that CNN's doing. On Fox, Brit Hume's "Grapevine" is not explicitly culled from blogs but those of us "in it" know that it is. He is citing bloggers more and more.

I didn't see the Kurtz/Rothenberg exchange, but reading that bit I'm almost embarassed for him. I picture him with his fingers in his ears, kicking his legs in high-chair. Big baby.

It's not that blogs are the most important thing in the world but if you're in the media you have to read the big ones (Insta, Jarvis, CQ, the big Lefty sites, and of course sisu). Or continue to reel everytime a story breaks on blogs and then play catch up. Which makes you "toast."

[Rob A.]

Even better, see Jack Shafer's latest column. (Scroll to the 3rd item.)

Newspaper reporters who barricade themselves behind doors manned by security guards and screen calls with Caller ID tend to lose contact with their readers—and more important, what their readers know. Blogs reconnect journalists with readers by reminding them how closely they're read outside the newsroom. I agree with Powers that most independent bloggers don't have the resources or skills for "heavy journalistic lifting," as he puts it. But what he misses, I think, is the fact that 1) the skills can be quickly learned by bright, well-read people; and 2) the Internet has leveled the resources playing field. Thanks to the Web and affordable databases, today's blogger has more information at his fingertips than the best investigative reporter at the Washington Post could acquire after a week's work at the Library of Congress.