Enquiring Media

It must drive The News & Observer’s editors crazy.
 
Every time the National Enquirer publishes a sensational new twist in the John Edwards soap opera, the N&O editors – like the rest of the mainstream media – have to decide whether to ignore it or check it out.
 
Last week, they checked out the rumor Edwards had proposed to Rielle.  Not so, he said.
 
Earlier, the editors apparently decided to ignore the Enquirer’s report that John punched Elizabeth.
 
How did it come to this?
 
Well, like it or not, the Enquirer has all too often been right on this story. There’s even a push to nominate the Enquirer for a Pulitzer Prize – for breaking the most sensational story of the 2008 presidential race.
 
Some journalists may regard this as another sign of the fall of Western Civilization. But it’s a reflection of the changed information world we live in today.
 
Everybody and anybody can be a reporter and a publisher. Blogs proliferate – some horrendously bad and some offering good reporting and analysis.  Fox News blurs the line between media and politics. A gossipy tabloid plays a key role in national politics.
 
It may be messy. But more information – good and bad – can’t be anything but good.
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Gary Pearce

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Enquiring Media

It must drive The News & Observer’s editors crazy.
 
Every time the National Enquirer publishes a sensational new twist in the John Edwards soap opera, the N&O editors – like the rest of the mainstream media – have to decide whether to ignore it or check it out.
 
Last week, they checked out the rumor Edwards had proposed to Rielle.  Not so, he said.
 
Earlier, the editors apparently decided to ignore the Enquirer’s report that John punched Elizabeth.
 
How did it come to this?
 
Well, like it or not, the Enquirer has all too often been right on this story. There’s even a push to nominate the Enquirer for a Pulitzer Prize – for breaking the most sensational story of the 2008 presidential race.
 
Some journalists may regard this as another sign of the fall of Western Civilization. But it’s a reflection of the changed information world we live in today.
 
Everybody and anybody can be a reporter and a publisher. Blogs proliferate – some horrendously bad and some offering good reporting and analysis.  Fox News blurs the line between media and politics. A gossipy tabloid plays a key role in national politics.
 
It may be messy. But more information – good and bad – can’t be anything but good.
Avatar photo

Gary Pearce

Categories

Archives