Michael Cooke is wrong about bloggers
There was a time in media when professional journalists hated bloggers. They hated their guts and thought they were little more than badly-adjusted, shut-ins who sat around at home and wrote ill-informed (sometimes patently wrong) rants. I thought that time was behind us. Obviously, I was wrong.
Michael Cooke, editor-in-chief, of the Toronto Star accepted an award recently at the Canadian Journalism Foundation and trumpeted the investigative work done by his journalists. Cooke also took the time to slam bloggers and citizen journalism.
“Is journalism one hundred unpaid bloggers all talking and yattering at once, or a city filled with amateur citizen journalists uncoordinated in all their efforts? Those bloggers and citizen reporters are as close to real reporters as karaoke is to Frank Sinatra live and in person.”
He quickly followed that up with a conciliatory comment about how there’s room for both “serious” investigative journalism and yattering bloggers. It was like splashing cold water in someone’s face and then following it up with a handshake and an introduction. You’re not going to get a warm reception.
Cooke isn’t just wrong about this, he’s plain insulting. I wonder how the citizen bloggers who contribute to the Star’s Your City, My City blog feel about Cooke’s remarks? Or what about the bloggers who have their uncoordinated work rewritten by Star staffers feel about this?
Sure, many, many bloggers aren’t worth a second glance but a few show the tenacity, smarts and journalistic moxie that any editor or professional journalist would find enviable.
It’s also patently unfair to compare a Toronto Star journalist, with the resources of Canada’s largest paper behind them, and a nice salary to allow them to work full-time, to a blogger, who more often than not is doing this for exposure, for fun or just for the sheer passion of it. They often have few resources to work with, little or no training and most certainly don’t have the luxury of pursuing their work full-time. It would be like an NBA star badmouthing the guys who play 3-on-3 at their local gym. It’s in bad form.
The journalism ecosystem has changed and bloggers are a legitimate and crucial part of it. A better thing to do would be to figure out how to interact with bloggers and citizen journalists. What Cooke and other recalcitrant traditional journalists should do is try to figure out why, despite the scant rewards and obstacles, so many do take that microphone in their hands and try to do their best Frank Sinatra.
June 20th, 2010 at 4:55 pm
I totally agree with you Ron.
I posted this over on NotJSchool (http://www.notjschool.ning.com/), but it also fits here.
I understand what Cooke was trying to say, but think he may have just proved why old media is on the verge of dying.
Yes, “real” reporters at “real” papers do stuff that bloggers and citizen journos can’t — namely investigative pieces, “hard” news, etc. (even that can be argued though). But some bloggers and citizen journos out there used to be in the media field, so thus do have the expertise to produce quality content.
And when you boil it down, is journalism not just creating content? Much like a blog’s purpose is creating content? And a citizen journo is not to be discredited — just look at how breaking news happens now and how valuable those citizen journos are (the Toronto propane explosion is one example).
I think Cooke needs to watch what he says, and who he slams in the process. On the one hand, a visit to the Star’s site on any given day and they are asking you for your photos, your stories. Hmm. If I’m just karaoke to your Sinatra live and in person, then how would anything I have be of any value to you?
June 21st, 2010 at 8:54 am
Ron: I’ve heard some karaoke singers who could sing better than Frank Sinatra. And I’ve seen some citizen journalists break news completely missed by the mainstream media.It’s true that many citizen journalists are untrained and raw, but that doesn’t mean they can’t get the job done, especially when the so-called “professional” journalists are absent, negligent or biased. The National Association of Citizen Journalists is working to help citizen journalists get some training and education to solve the problem. Citizen journalism, in our estimation, will only get better as time goes by. Michael Cook and naysayers like him will be surprised – but not pleased.