“Meet the new face of hyperlocal journalism” was an interesting continuation of the topic of the recent introduction of blogs as news sources in last week’s “Revamping the story flow for journalists.” Just as last week’s article discussed the increasing level of reader involvement in the news through comments and criticisms on news blogs and suggestions for story ideas, this week’s article focuses specifically on the blog “Baristanet,” which serves as a news source for a small N.J. town. Debbie Galant, the creator of Baristanet, discusses how the blog has evolved from a little-known, one-woman show into a profitable news source and legitimate competitor to local newspapers. Galant talks about her struggle to develop Baristanet into a reputable news blog and about the measures she has taken to provide information on the blog that would perhaps be unavailable from other news sources, including live chats with local politicians and an editorial spin that, while described by Galant as “fair,” is also a departure from traditional, balanced pro-con news stories. Galant says that while readers may not appreciate the stance taken in every Baristanet post, they are free to leave comments. The more controversial posts have around 100 reader comments. I like the concept behind Baristanet; after skimming through some of the posts and reader comments, it struck me as an honest and informative community blog which encourages open lines of communication among its writers and readers. I’m currently taking the class World Communication Systems, and we recently discussed the increasingly popular opinion that the media have a responsibility to actively facilitate debate about and resolution of community issues, rather than just report the facts (a theory known as civic journalism). Although some may view Baristanet as a less reputable news source than some of its more objective counterparts, I think the style of the blog and the ease with which users can post reactions – not only to the events that are covered in the stories but also the way in which they are reported on – is a vast improvement on traditional newspaper and online reporting. The news is written for the readers, it stands to reason that they should feel compelled to react to it and that their opinions should be valued and taken into account by reporters and editors.
“Skeptical editing” is about the growing problem of unchallenged information in journalism and the inevitable knocks to all journalists’ credibility after big scandals such as the one faced by The New Republic after Stephen Glass’ slew of fabricated articles. The author of “Skeptical editing” argues that the main problem is not dishonest journalists, but editors who fail to question the information in stories. Editors should not be advocates of stories, but rather, adversaries. It doesn’t serve anyone well to be (or have) an easy editor who is not brutally critical of the content of stories. Not only would readers not have been cheated by being provided with fabricated stories if The New Republic editor Charles Lane had been a little more critical, but author Stephen Glass could potentially have been saved from himself if he had been stopped early on and the publication could have saved itself the trouble and infamy that resulted from the scandal.
The Newspaper Preservation Act of 1970 authorized joint operating agreements among newspapers within the same market as a way to allow multiple papers to stay in business in spite of declining circulation. The act was designed to exempt papers from antitrust laws so that multiple papers could survive in the same market, especially in light of the fact that in most markets, the alternative to a joint operating agreement was for one of more of the area’s papers to go out of business. In a typical joint operating agreement, publications share facilities and printing presses but maintain independent editorial and newsgathering operations. The inspiration behind joint operation agreements is sound; in theory, such agreements allow communities to continue to be supplied with different news sources while those news sources are able to greatly decrease costs and stay in business, technically as “competitors.” This is not, however, the likely reality in most joint operation agreements, because the papers cannot possibly stay completely separate from each other while simultaneously being completely dependent on each other. As Robbie Steel deftly points out in his Pennsylvania Law Review article “Joint Operating Agreements in the Newspaper Industry: A Threat to First Amendment Freedoms,” publishers’ influence extends beyond editorial boards and into the “scope, focus and concentration” of news coverage. While I do see the theoretical benefits of joint operating agreements, I ultimately agree with Steel that joint operating agreements threaten fair and accurate reporting when there is a constant conflict of interest through supposedly competing news sources that are actually sharing revenue. In addition, while the purpose of joint operating agreements is to maintain a competitive atmosphere among a market’s papers, they could encourage laziness in the participating papers’ reporting due to an inevitable slackening of competition. A joint operating agreement could also discourage more papers from entering the market because the papers that are already in existence have an even stronger group-monopoly.
“’Potemkin Village’ Redux” is a survey of a variety of community news blogs which were “pioneering in grassroots journalism.” The author had previously written an article about grassroots journalism online and wrote the “Redux” article as a follow-up to track the blogs’ progress. The article was written in 2006, and most of the blogs that are featured in the article seem to have been created a couple years prior to when the article was written. The author casts a critical eye on each of the blogs and censures some more than others. He takes note of the blogs’ writing style, noting that one of the blogs reads like a press release, as well as the amount of influence readers are able to have on the blogs through the comment function. He points out that some of the blogs have formats which make it difficult for readers to post continuous and coherent comments that build on each other. This article lends another perspective to the argument for civic journalism, as one of the author’s main focuses in his review of the blogs is their ease of use and access for readers. Reading the news isn’t enough – readers need to be able to react to the news and in turn, to have other readers react to their posts and develop threads of debate. Some of the blogs reviewed in the article also feature blogging communities, in which readers can share links to their own blogs. This allows readers not only to stay abreast of community events, but also to connect with each other and share opinions. Knowledge and news aren’t purely relegated to factual information. Through facilitating debate among community members, these blogs have the potential to increase readers’ willingness to think critically about issues rather than just read and absorb cut-and-dry news.
“Common sense journalism” deals with the growth of civic journalism (or citizen journalism, also known as “cit-j”) which I talked about in some of the other readings. There is overlap in this article with two of the previous readings and some of the same blogs are featured. The article focuses on the blog created by the University of South Carolina journalism school and the Hartsville Messenger, and serves as a basic tutorial for anyone interested in starting a blog. The author discusses the intricacies of the different ways in which a blog can be set-up based on what its goals are. He does point out, however, that the point of blogging is to increase accessibility and ease-of-use to readers, and that when making a blog, one should think like a user, not a publisher. The article points out the many difficulties that can arise when creating a blog and trying to increase its functionality for readers while also compelling users to not only read the blog, but to also make it their own by posting comments and contributing other material. Because blogging is a relatively new type of news outlet, it is important for bloggers to remember that maintaining credibility and accessibility while keeping the site interesting are all crucial aspects for a successful blog. We have talked in class about the benefits of gaining blogging experience in school in preparation for the increasing number of publications that are featuring blogs in addition to the daily publication, whether online or in print, and the USC students who worked on the HartsvilleToday.com blog gained invaluable experience in blogging and learning about ways to engage readers as active participants in the news.
We raised some interesting points in class regarding the case study about “Eagle snatches dog while owner watches.” The story raises several ethical concerns, including, perhaps most importantly, the fact that it is a one-source story. Why is Dennis Fleming so credible that he should be trusted to have all the facts of the story right, or to even tell the truth at all? The owners of the dog were also not named in the story. The dog was described as “Chihuahua-like,” but the meaning of that statement is unclear. Additionally, the story arguably takes on a tone that is callous and mocking towards the woman, an insensitive attitude given her clear anguish over losing her dog.
