Terry Neal, a Washington Post Web site columnist, writes his farewell column today because he’s returning to a newspaper reporting job. He makes some interesting comments that may add to our continuing discussion of blogs and journalism. Neal, who usually writes about politics, says:

If journalism were Congress, the Internet would be the House, the newspaper the Senate. The former is faster, younger, less stodgy, less arrogant and less beholden to tradition. The former is slower, more deliberative, older, perhaps a bit wiser, less emotional, and resistant to the fads, whims and follies of the masses -- as James Madison put it, "a necessary fence against...fickleness and passion" of the lower chamber, or in this case, of the Internet and blogosphere.

I've learned a lot in the three-and-a-half years since I took this job. I've learned that a lot of intelligent, thought-provoking dialogue and content is produced online.

I've also learned that there are a lot of nasty, intemperate, judgmental people out there seeking to co-opt cyberspace for partisan and ideological purposes. There are some great, whip-smart and entertaining bloggers out there. And then there are a lot of hacks claiming to be independent, who have turned out to be nothing more than extensions of the public relations arms of the two major political parties.

I like Neal's House-Senate comparison to Internet/newspapers. As for his other comments, blogs do put more responsibility on the reader to sort out what voices are truly independent and which ones are simply spouting the party line.

Comments?

Comments (0)

Comment	smaller | bigger
Name
Write the displayed characters
Subscribe via email (Registered users only) I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage.
	Add Comment