Chaos Unlimited

What about Bob?
Bob has bought printing for over 20 years now, and also does photography on the side. Feel free to wander to your minds discontent.

The posts on this blog are the sole opinion of the author and are provided ‘as is’ with no warranties and confer no rights.

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Location: Nashville, Tennessee, United States

"and now for your moment of Zen..."

Thursday, March 31, 2005

To blog or not to blog...

If you're reading this, you already know how to get to a blog. But what purposes does a blog serve? I'm sure they are many and varied, but one thing to remember that's of primary importance: blogs are mostly subjective opinions, not facts. This should be obvious, but it seems that readers can quickly forget this, or it simply never crosses their minds.

If you're reading about Sally's latest trip to the park, and looking at some pictures she's taken, it probably doesn't matter. You (hopefully) won't take the time to try and verify her presence at the park on the paticular day about which she's writing.

If you're reading information I will post here about color management issues in printing, you can take my word for it, and/or do research of your own. There are verifiable facts available from many different arenas you can draw on. There is objective data that doesn't depend on my, or your, interpretation.

The same can't be said about much of what passes for news presented as fact. Not only in blogs, but in other journalistic forums.

It's all about the spin...

Journalism.org in it's State of News Media for 2005 has this to say:

There are now several models of journalism, and the trajectory increasingly is toward those that are faster, looser, and cheaper. The traditional press model - the journalism of verification - is one in which journalists are concerned first with trying to substantiate facts. It has ceded ground for years on talk shows and cable to a new journalism of assertion, where information is offered with little time and little attempt to independently verify its veracity. Consider the allegations by the "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth," and the weeks of reporting required to find that their claims were unsubstantiated. The blogosphere, while adding the richness of citizen voices, expands this culture of assertion exponentially, and brings to it an affirmative philosophy: publish anything, especially points of view, and the reporting and verification will occur afterward in the response of fellow bloggers. The result is sometimes true and sometimes false. Blogs helped unmask errors at CBS, but also spread the unfounded conspiracy theory that the GOP stole the presidential election in Ohio. All this makes it easier for those who would manipulate public opinion - government, interest groups and corporations - to deliver unchecked messages, through independent outlets or their own faux-news Web sites, video and text news releases and paid commentators.

Can you say Jeff Gannon?

You can read the rest of the Journalism report here should you be so inclined.

The point being, (yes, I do have a point here somewhere), that you, the reader, is responsible for verifying information given in any media that shapes your world view. Of course it's easier to let others do your thinking for you, and there are many that are more than happy to do just that. Thought police won't be necessary if we're not thinking.

© 2005, Bob Cooper

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

You think, therefore you am?
I love your photos...

I'm still resisting the impulse to blog but I do find that I'm getting more and more of my real and pertainent news from sources other than the mainstream media. I look forward to reading your next thoughts.

4/1/05, 12:49 AM  

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