Which way to iReport?
Last night I was a guest on Brian Lehrer’s TV show.
OK, I only had 20 minutes of the hour. (I had to share it with some guy who had done four tours of duty in Afghanistan).
Brian got right to the nub of the issue and asked what would happen when everyone had a video camera and everyone was, at least in their mind, a reporter.
What you get is a free press.
But who will guarantee the accuracy, Brian wanted to know.
It’s a question we hear a lot.
Who will be the guarantor of the accuracy of the journalism.
Well, no one. Which I think is a healthy thing.
Although journalists love to say things like ‘free press’, when one actually comes a long, it tends to scare the pants off of them.
HL Mencken used to say “freedom of the press is guaranteed for those who own one’. And of course in those days, you had to have the wealth of a Hearst or a Sulzberger or a Paley or a Murdoch to ‘own’ a press. And indeed, for Hearst or Paley or Murdoch, there was a free press. They were free to publish pretty much whatever they wanted (see Fox News).
In the not too distant future, journalism professors will refer to the recent past as ‘the Golden Age of Newspapers’.
Bullshit.
What we have been living through for the past hundred years was not a free press. It was a Soviet Union of the Press. Â A situation in which a very few people, due to their wealth and power, became the arbiters and guarantors of ‘the truth’.
If you wanted to be a journalist you went to work for The New York Times or NBC News and became an employee. Â And the ‘integrity’ (and I put the word in quotes on purpose) of the press was very much in the hands of beneficent owners, who, because of the goodness of their hearts, were personally dedicated to the endless search for truth. Â Diogenes on Park Avenue.
These were the guarantors of the accuracy and the integrity of the press.
It was a stupid system in which to entrust the quality of journalism. The nobless oblige to the ruling class would protect us peasants and keep the journalism serf fed and housed.
How medieval.
But that was what it was.
And now, those medieval fiefdoms are collapsing. Â The rich families can no longer keep the latifundia going. Â They are releasing the peasantry to their own devices, to forage the land on their own.
The end of the world!
Who will guarantee the integrity of the press now?
Well, if we really believe in a free press, we are about to have one. A real one, and for the first time.
When everyone has a blog and when everyone has a flip cam and when everyone is a journalist there is going to be a lot of journalism. A lot!
We haven’t had a lot of journalism up till now. We’ve had a tiny drip drip drip of journalism.
Now, we’re gonna have a tsunami.
And a lot of it is going to be crap.
And lies.
And pure BS.
So what?
So what?
There are probably 100,000 people in LA who believe themselves to be screenwriters and probably 99% of them are crap also. So what?
That is what a really free press is all about.
Everyone gets to take a shot.
And who decides what is ‘true’.
The market.
The wisdom of the market.
People will gravitate to sources that they trust and who over time prove themselves to be both of quality and trustworthy.
We say we love a free press and we love a free market
Now we’re gonna get one.
For the first time.
*And this, of course, from the wonderful book by Clay Shirky. Required reading for everyone.
15 Comments
Nino December 05, 2009
A horny society has no set spending limits
$ December 05, 2009
Make that mediocre production values with lots of skin showing.
Without the skin showing, the mediocre production values don’t hold water.
Or get anyone willing to pay to watch or support the project over the long term.
Michael Rosenblum December 04, 2009
PJs. I think there might be something in this.
Of course, GIrls Gone WIld clearly demonstrated the power of Citizen Pornographers, and that there’s a pretty good market for mediocre production values, no?
$ December 04, 2009
LOL
PJs!
Porno Journalists!
Watch out!
I sense a new school being opened by our favorite gypsy VJ teacher!
Heavy back-lighting might even help out with some who might participate too!
This might be a winning idea that actually draws viewers!
FINALLY!
LOL
Nino December 04, 2009
Are these actually your words Michael?
“Everyone gets to take a shot.
And who decides what is ‘true’.
The market.
The wisdom of the market.
People will gravitate to sources that they trust and who over time prove themselves to be both of quality and trustworthy.â€
Are you joking or did you take a vacation from reality?
How many more proofs do you need that the market does not want this crap disguised as journalism?
Current TV is out of CJ
Your own CitizeNews is gone
You just made a comment two days ago that news in this format does not work.
You are yourself trying and pushing more conventional production methods.
Let take a look in your own backyard.
The Newark Star Ledger, they have hundreds of videos but they don’t have a view count; no kidding why have one and be embarrassed that nobody is looking at those crappy little meaningless videos. Look at the viewers participation or replies, none.
Somebody just told me that the Travel Channel Academy actually posts their videos on Youtube, so this morning I went there. I would like to use the word embarrassing but pathetic is probably more appropriate. I have never seen on your tube a lower number of views, most of those video hardly break the 100 mark and some of these have been there for over a year. You figure that with over 1000 graduates at least those would be interested in seeing other graduates work, they are not even interested, never mind the general public.
The only one that I’ve seen went over the 10,000 mark was one about skinny dipping; so maybe my suggestion for you to create a new category of PJ (porno journalists) might not be such a bad idea if you are really trying to get the numbers up.
Just to give you something to compare with, I also just found out that ESPN also posts on Youtube, or somebody does, I don’t think is official. A short feature that I did with Tim Tebow on Friday morning and wasn’t broadcasted until Saturday Morning; by Saturday PM it had received over 20,000 hits.
How much more proofs do you need to finally realize that the public do not want and do not have the time to look at those cheap crappy videos. And if the public is not interested neither are the sponsors and advertisers.
But you are a smart boy, you already know all this.
digger December 03, 2009
you are a lucky man!
Michael Rosenblum December 03, 2009
Love the DM. That’s why my wife calls me Daily Male.
digger December 03, 2009
Had not checked the DM for a long time. And guess what I found:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1232968/Monkey-business-Photos-taken-orangutan-prove-Facebook-sensation.html
A story about an orangutan that takes photos with a special camera that dispenses raisins every time he clicks the shutter.
Now – if we could get the camera to dispense peanuts instead of raisins could you use them in the Travel Channel Academy?
Avery December 03, 2009
Michael,
You are right on the mucking funny! People with the inclination, armed with cameras, recoding and “reporting†whats going on, a free press!
When any news organization is beholding to advertisers, political philosophies, corporations, family dynasties, whatever- the press is not free.
“Wait! Who will be the gate keeper of “All Truth and Accuracyâ€?â€
The CONSUMER thats who!
“Oh but what if some shyster tries to mislead the the poor-dumb-public?â€
There will always be people like Al Gore and Bernie Matioff who try and deceive people for profit and others but they will be found out and ignored (in these two guys cases jailed, I hope).
It’s Ayn Rand- Atlas Shrugged, it unfettered capitalism, hands off the market, get out of the way, reap the rewards of your labor, and let it roll!
One of the problems is the notion the you MUST be a “credentialed†reporter, trained in the high art and mysticism of high journalistic standards by those who know what is best for the unwashed masses. That is crap and must be overcome.
This past weekend I wandered down to Southern Arizona to scout for a place to do some time lapse photography of the night sky. Its supposed to be remote, dark and empty down there. What I found shocked me.
I encountered at least 3 different Government agencies (Municipal, County and Federal)racing around on the dirt roads or parked sitting in their vehicles staring out into the landscape. Every one of them that I spoke with warned me about camping alone saying it was dangerous.
It was a frigging zoo, the point of this activity was our Governments attempt to try and curtail the influx of drug smugglers and illegal aliens which, by the way, are pouring through the border like water through a broken levy.
I had a HDV camera a good shotgun microphone (I even brought a set of lav’s) and thought I would follow around the Border Patrol around and document a little of this activity.
Yeah, it been done before but what I remember seeing on TV and what was actually going on was not the same.
Me: “Hey, can I follow you guys around for a few hours and video it?â€
Official: “Uhhh, are you the press?â€
Me: “Well, no, not really, I guess you could say I’m a citizen journalists. I’m just an independent producer who thinks what is going on down here is interesting and I may want to put it on my website, bigavetv.com.
Official: “No, I don’t think we can allow that. You will need to contact our public relations office.â€
I’m still waiting for the call back…
I love it Michael, for a New York lefty you really surprise me-
Keep beating the drum!
Avery
digger December 03, 2009
So the bastions of control occupy a prominent role in your news universe. Relieved to hear you don’t take that freemarket claptrap seriously.
The Telegraph is great, heavy doses of smut liberally covered with puritanical outrage. You don’t need to be embarrassed when caught reading it, but you still get plenty of titillation. Like Fox news.
Michael Rosenblum December 03, 2009
Actually on a daily basis I read The New York Times, The Guardian, The Daily Mail and The Telegraph. I also watch BBC News on BBC America on TV. I listen to NPR in the morning. So it’s pretty much all of them. I buy both the DM and The Guardian in paper every morning which I read over breakfast.
digger December 03, 2009
What about the Telegraph? It’s run by the Barclay Brothers – yes of course! You must love them!
But you might not be happy with the Guardian Trust, The BBC governors, or the NPR Philanthropists.
Of the four news orgs cited above, which, if any do you consult on a daily basis?
Nino December 03, 2009
“What you get is a free press.
But who will guarantee the accuracy, Brian wanted to know.
It’s a question we hear a lot.
Who will be the guarantor of the accuracy of the journalism.
Well, no one. Which I think is a healthy thing.â€
HEALTHY Michael?
For whom?
Freedom of the press and free press these days has different meanings.
Freedom of the press is the ability to say (almost) anything without the fear of government retaliation or interference, that’s all it does.
Of course there are plenty of greedy lawyers out there assuming the role of watchdogs of accuracy. Say anything wrong about somebody and lawyers can screw you up much worse that the government ever would. As it has been happening with brainless bloggers who totally misunderstood the meaning of “freedom of the press†and have become an easy hunting ground and great profit makers for lawyers.
Then there’s the new meaning of “free pressâ€. Today it means that nobody is paying for news and nobody is making any money. The inevitable result of this financial disaster is that those with intelligence that would make the best news reporters and elevate the quality of the news industry will opt to pursue other careers that will adequately compensate them for their intelligence. I seriously doubt that any career or guidance counselors in any school will guide anyone with average or above average intelligence toward the field of journalism considering the mess that it is right now and with absolutely no plans whatsoever to improve it in the foreseeable future.
What we’ll have left reporting the news are those who can not make it anywhere else.
Not a very bright outlook for the news industry isn’t it?
I bet that last night you never discussed the quality of people that in the future will report the news.
Michael Rosenblum December 03, 2009
What about The Telegraph?
digger December 03, 2009
BBC, NPR, and The Guardian need to die NOW!