Idea Management

What is the difference between a blogger and a journalist?

In a recent controversy culminated in an interview on ESPN’s “Outside the Lines,” a lot of hostility was directed at a post written on MidwestSportsFan.com.In his post, Jerod Morris “speculates” on whether or not Raul Ibanez’s stats this year are tied to steroids in any way. (I emphasize the word speculate, because when you read the post it seems evident Morris’ intent was not an accusation or speculation.)After reading the original post and then gauging the responses it generated, my thoughts on the matter are that many mainstream journalists still just don’t get it.Countless times both Ken Rosenthal and John Gonzalez claim in the ESPN interview that they DO get it. What they get is what the rest of many traditional journalists “get” (which is coincidentally the same thing that my parents and grandparents get regarding interactive media) - they get that it’s taking away readership from their own publications; they get that it’s not going away; they get that they need to find a way to participate. What they don’t get is what that participation means. Journalists don’t get to pick and choose what parts of the Internet are worthy and what parts need to be accountable to their standards. There is a certain arrogance in the interview that comes from Ken Rosenthal that is irritatingly off-putting. His smug comments do nothing to reach any truth. The interview is simply a format for him to promote his own journalistic piety. He isn’t trying to reach any truth – he’s trying to push his own agenda.

So, first I’d like to address the post in question. Then I’d like to draw some of my own conclusions regarding the differences between bloggers and journalists.

The OTL piece is what led me to Jerod Morris’ blog post. As I was watching the interview I thought that Raul Ibanez’s outburst directed at Morris was justified. After actually reading the post, I think his hostility would be more deservedly directed and John Gonzalez than at MidwestSportsFan.com. Morris simply states that, in his circles, people are speculating that Ibanez, due to his spike in power statistics, might be on steroids. Not to commit the same ridiculous speculation himself, he painstakingly documents many other probable explanations for this increase in numbers. The reasons are very well researched and include Ibanez’s new ball club, the pitchers he has faced, the stadiums he has played in and much more. At the end, he addresses the possibility of steroids and blames past players and MLB’s poor handling of the issue for the reason these claims even enter the thoughts of fans when they put up big numbers.

He does not conclude that Ibanez ever touched steroids, but simply that it is on the minds of fans and is something all ballplayers need to be cognizant of. John Gonzalez then blasted Morris for his lack of journalistic integrity. Gonzalez was not responding so much to the post as he was to comments from his readers who were now asking his thoughts on the topic. He was upset because he felt like Morris was invading his team and his city just like bloggers have been invading his profession. Ibanez, in turn, doesn’t seem to be responding to Morris’ post either. Instead, he is responding to Gonzalez’s article which lacked the same integrity he was blasting Morris for: not getting the whole story and reacting to the conjecture of others.

Instead of providing a lecture on the “power of the written word”, journalists need to realize that everyone’s thoughts are open for the entire world to see.

In addressing the role of journalistic standards in the blogosphere, these reporters need to understand that there are all sorts of reasons why people blog. Some people want to be heard. Others just want to hear themselves talk. Some people want to put their thoughts and opinions out there. Others want to provide new perspective. Some are there to make money. Others are there to do their own thing. There IS accountability on the web: the people that make up the communities. There is so much content that people need to filter their information. Services like Technorati and Digg allow users to self-regulate the same media they’re consuming. The call for accountability has already been heard and as more people’s thoughts become known, there are more and more ways of filtering that content.

Blogging (and micro-blogging) is not news. It is a conversation. And while that conversation is now open to the world, it does not mean that it takes on a different standard than previous public discourse. It just means that you now have the opportunity to hear more clearly what the people are actually talking about. Without posts like Morris’, people would speculate in private. Now Ibanez has a format to not only hear what his fans might be thinking, but to be able to address it.

Ironically, the same mainstream media that reluctantly participate in new media shamelessly use this open public discourse to support their own agendas. You have the ability to now look into the soul of your audience and physically see what they are discussing. And the media constantly uses that dialog when it’s convenient and serves their self-interest. I can’t turn on a news broadcast without hearing about Twitter. It’s almost like watching my dad trying to rap. They don’t really get it, but they want to make sure they’re not left out of the loop.

David Murphy, another journalist with the Philadelphia Inquirer wrote a great response to John Gonzalez and this issue. He compares traditional media to a big brother taking on the greater responsibility over its little brother, new media. But until journalists start to recognize the value in this public conversation, they’ll always see the Internet as a competitor.

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