Sports TV personality Stephen A. Smith on a blogger-free world:"And when you look at the internet business, what's dangerous about it is that people who are clearly unqualified get to disseminate their piece to the masses. I respect the journalism industry, and the fact of the matter is ...someone with no training should not be allowed to have any kind of format whatsoever to disseminate to the masses to the level which they can. They are not trained. Not experts."Funny, it had never occurred to me that Stephen A. Smith was a journalist. I guess he is, credentialed or otherwise. I just thought he was loud.
"Therefore, there’s a total disregard, a level of wrecklessness that ends up being a domino effect. And the people who suffer are the common viewers out there and, more importantly, those in the industry who haven’t been fortunate to get a radio or television deal and only rely on the written word. And now they’ve been sabotaged. Not because of me. Or like me. But because of the industry or the world has allowed the average joe to resemble a professional without any credentials whatsoever."
(via Instapundit)
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I'm not sure what the remedy is-- censorship? Should we take the internet away? It isn't like this never happens in the "real" world of publishing, although I am painfully aware of the layers of editorial process designed to thwart inaccuracies, etc.
But what about the recent "Baghdad Diarist"? Wasn't there something in place to verify those stories? In fact, if I recall the story on NPR correctly (WARNING: UNSUBSTANTIATED FREE SPEECH TO COMMENCE) a conservative blogger helped put an end to the series.
Bloggers are passionate about what they are writing about. They are given a voice BY the people, not by some command-and-control structure. Will I get 1million pv's by claiming to have a pic of Britney snorting coke? Sure. Will my credibility be ruined when it is proven false? Of course. Bloggers may not be precise, but that doesn't mean they don't hit the mark.
Stephan should spend some time on digg and see how the other half lives.
"credentials"?
Is he talking about the fact that his suit is more expensive than mine? I've never seen him do anything but try to out-shout someone on ESPN.
I guess that gives him more of a right to express his opinion?
my favorite is that he (or whoever typed this for him) mis-spelled "recklessness" with such poetry! "wrecklessness." i may adopt that spelling..
i also love the unguarded shallowness of the statement that "someone with no training should not be allowed to have any kind of format whatsoever to disseminate to the masses to the level which they can. They are not trained. Not experts." trained how? experts in what? bloggers, for the most part, *are* experts -- in technology, or finance, or even their own lives. next he's going to say that chefs who haven't been to culinary school are in danger of poisoning their customers.
He didn't write the article so I don't think we can blame him for the spelling. But you are right, gisarah, the bloggers that gain a wide audience tend to be ones that write smartly about things they know. It's a noisy, raucous marketplace of ideas.
That's a great way to put it: "a noise, raucous marketplace of ideas." Of course, wherever you have noise you have those who wish to turn the volume down.