Friday, January 21, 2005

Let the Games Begin

Things are getting interesting here at the conference, as the journalists vs. bloggers war rears its ugly head yet again.

Here's a snippet of an exchange between NY Times managing editor Jill Abramson and RSS inventor Dave Winer:


Abramson: "Do you know how much it costs to keep a New York Times bureau in Baghdad.

Winer: But there are bloggers in Baghdad - that's what you've got to deal with.

Abramson: I completely reject your premise, because I see the public service value of keeping a team in Baghdad.

Winer: Of course you do -

Abramson: Please let me speak

Rick Kaplan, to Winer: You need to be a little less defensive. Part of what is necessary in the coverage of Iraq is what a professional group of journalists can bring. Plus what the whole new world of blogging can be. It's not "instead of you".... We need as much information and as much reporting as you can get, and you can't do without what the New York Times and the networks [are doing]. She's not trying to exclude anybody. To get there in a professional and detailed way is very expensive.

3 Comments:

Blogger Jon Wright said...

Thank you very much for these updates from the conference. I am in the UK and wish I could get there. So this is fantastic and I hope you guys make it over to the UK as in the Pocast of the Fat Man Sings. All the best.

4:07 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Much depends on what each side means by 'professional'. When that word starts to mean simply 'people who went to journalism school', or 'people who receive paychecks from an established media outlet' or simply 'people who think and report like me', then we're into the realm of tautology. Like presidential privalenge, the 'professional' defense meant a lot more before Rathergate. www.democracywhiskeysexy.com

10:52 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Having "professional journalists" maintain a bureau in Baghdad has brought us what is widely known to be completely biased news about the situation in Iraq. The MSM are waging war against President Bush and Secretary Rumsfeld; they are NOT attempting to bring us objective news about the situation in Iraq.

I think Bloggers on the ground in Iraq would be a better situation for hard news.

11:01 AM  

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