Media: Back to school
And here I thought Journal Star reporters lived in fear of getting mentioned on Peoria Pundit.
More on that in a moment.
I was a guest in former Journal Star religion writer/copy desk maven Mike Miller’s journalism class at Bradley University. Also guesting was current JS courts/military affairs reporter Andy Kravetz.
We were invited to discuss online journalism. In addition to writing full time for the paper, he also maintains a blog, called InFormation, in which he writes about military issues.
Andy was there to present the mainstream media approach to online. I was the providing the citizen journalism perspective.
Andy and I agrees on quite a lot. He’s is far less enthusiastic about the value of comments, as he finds that comments seem to inevitably denigrate into flamewars. I cannot help but think about how my readers often provide insight and knowledge on many issues.
We mostly agreed on the need for blogs operated by the mainstream media to maintain the same standards of objectivity they aspire to follow in print or broadcast. I agreed, but added that blogs provide another voice that is often opinionated, and that opinion is also journalism. Objectivity, I noted, is NOT a state of mind but is a process that includes making sure that multiple sources are used to provide balance and expertize. What readers want, I said, is fairness.
The students asked interesting questions about how and when to moderate comments, and how to deal with the fact that some people hate what you write. ‘They can kill you, but they can’t eat you,’ I replied.
I didn’t get a chance to tell the ‘Yo, Pundit” story.
But both Andy and Mr. Miller expressed disappointment that I don’t mention them much. Miller said the only time I even mentioned his name was when I reported that he was taking the buyout.
Usually, the only feedback I get from JS people is when they express, well, unhappiness that I mentioned them. And the hour passed quickly, and I didn’t get to interact as much with the students as I would like.
So I’m looking forward to visiting John Sharp’s class on some Tuesday.
November 19th, 2008 at 6:03 am
All publicity is good publicity. Feedback from an outside source is always useful for reporters — even if it’s unfair.
I started posting here (while I was still working at the JS) only because I thought your criticisms of the paper were sometimes unfair or uninformed. I figured it couldn’t hurt for everyone to have the facts.
The most important thing for newspapers and blogs to remember is that it doesn’t matter if “they” love you or hate you. You’re not dead until they ignore you. I often felt when I worked there that the Journal Star spent too much energy trying not to offend anyone. (I should point out, though, that a story placement and headline decision I made was responsible for a weeks-long advertising boycott by a Peoria supermarket. I was informed but not criticized. I did not, however, make the same mistake again.)