Shorenstein Comments Via L.A.

A very interesting article appeared recently in the Los
Angeles Times,
written by Alex Jones, director Harvard’s
Shorenstein Center, a sister
institution to the center of Blogging at Harvard, the Berkman
Center.

The Democrats and the Republicans are inviting a limited number of
bloggers – those witty, candid, irreverent, passionate, shrewd and outrageous
Internet chroniclers – to their 2004 conventions. It’s a gesture of respect
for the growing influence of the blogosphere, and if ever there were
events ideally suited to bloggers, the heavily scripted and tensionless
conventions top the list.

Starts out in a laudatory tone, a rhetorical feign as old as the
Greek Athenaeum.

But make no mistake, this moment of blogging legitimization – and temporary
press credentials – doesn’t turn bloggers into journalists.

Understandable professional protectionism – not for nothing is this
guy directing the Sorensen Center for Press, Politics and Public Policy.
Next, after the obligatory nostalgic rehashing of the Trent Lott debacle,
a cautionary note enters the story.

Journalists increasingly read blogs to pick up tips. Blogs have become
a network of capillaries that feed the nation’s veins of information.
For that reason, blogging’s freewheeling, unfettered style makes it a
juicy target for manipulation.

In these early days, blogging still has the charm of guileless transparency,
which in the blogosphere means that everyone – no matter how cranky or hysterical
– is presumed to be speaking his or her mind with sincerity. It is this air of
conviction that makes bloggers such potent advocates.

However, if history is any indicator, such earnestness will attract those who
would exploit it, and they include some canny, inventive people. There is already
talk of bloggers who would consider publishing items for cash and commercial
blogs that tout products.

Hey, cash for stories. You mean actually getting paid for writing?
But, gosh, wouldn’t that make us (gulp) "professionals"? And wouldn’t
that mean we were part of the problem, not the solution. For the Dowbrigade,
the solution may come in the form of untraceable cash, or better yet,
bearer bonds. Delivery instructions to follow.

from the L.A. Times