Mississippi Public Broadcast reporter Sandra Knispel had a story this morning that delves into the issue of bloggers vs. reporters, she spoke with www.folo.us blogger Tom Freeland and David Rossmiller over at http://www.insurancecoverageblog.com/.
Both bloggers bashed print media and boasted how bloggers covered the Dickie Scruggs case far better than any newspaper covering the story. While I can not deny bloggers were able to get news out faster than newspapers, I don’t really think bloggers have done a better job.
When someone decides to make a post on their blog they write it, maybe they read it and then put it on-line. There are no copy editor’s to revise posts, no editor to decide the newsworthiness of a story, and it tends to be very subjective. A fact Rossmiller or Freeland admits to. News is supposed to influence public perception, but through reporting the facts and letting readers decide what they think. In my opinion blogs influenced people against Scruggs well before all the facts of the case came to light, whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty?
Because bloggers have nobody to answer to, getting news on the page can go much quicker. When it came to Scruggs news most stories were only mild updates discussing the latest motion in U.S. v. Scruggs. News only a select few in Mississippi really cared about. Yet when new motions were filed, and evidence released I know Scruggs reporters were sifting through the new information as fast as possible trying to figure out the general gist of the new information. We would be looking for quotes involving sweet potatoes, bodies buried, and other such incriminating news. Then we have to write the story, get it edited, and wait for the on-line guy to post it on the website (or wait to till 5 a.m. for the paper to get delivered).
While many people read the blogs and go to them first for Scruggs news, most people in Oxford simply didn’t care that much to go find the news on-line. People love picking up the paper and seeing all the different news as part of their day starter. Folks drinking a cup of coffee and reading the Daily Mississippian is a common place on the Oxford Square And students grab the paper so they have something to read while the teacher sets up for class.
My audience was not the 500 lawyers out there following the cases every twist and turn, it was the students faculty, and alumni at Ole Miss, and that’s who I wrote for. The 500 lawyers closely following the case would be an added bonus to my readership.
Knispel called me up and interviewed me at her house last Thursday as part of her story. I have gone back and forth on the question blog or not to blog. What I decided was limit what you say on other blogs, so not to come across as an un-fair reporter, if it is an aspect of the case I am only covering for my blog its ok to write but do not go beyond the hard facts, and always keep breaking news to myself untill it hit the newsstands (all advice Knispel told me months ago).
The wise reporter/teacher/author Curtis Wilkie once told me blogs are the equivalent to talk radio and I tend to agree, let the bloggers talk and the reporters report.
