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April 03, 2005
Trickling and shuddering . . .
Is blogging the new investigative journalism? I've thought so for some time. It's much-needed, because the "old, original" 60 Minutes-style investigative journalism -- once touted as a guardian of democracy -- eventually became so one-sided and elitist that coverups became its stock in trade. Whereas investigative journalists once exposed coverups, this complete role reversal created a need for a brand-new breed -- not investigative journalists, but investigators of journalists. The new breed has a name, of course. And it has sent many shudders through the ranks of the once-vaunted investigative journalists. Who else is shuddering? When I was a kid (way back in the days before Michel Foucault and the deconstructionists) there used to be people known as intellectuals, who believed that there existed a thing called Truth. In the search for the latter, the former used to engage in things like open discussion, they encouraged intellectual diversity, and they were often willing to question their most basic premises. But eventually, the intellectual class succumbed (in much the same way as the investigative journalist counterparts) to a decadence grounded in the abandonment of truth itself. While there's always been a gap between the intelligentsia and the citizenry, in my view this abandonment of truth (often accompanied by uncompromising politicization) created another serious credibility gulf. A gulf that once again, bloggers are stepping in to span. A guy named Tim Dunlop is convinced that, by stepping into this intellectual vacuum, bloggers are obliterating the increasingly anachronistic distinction between intellectuals and the citizenry. ....[T]he distinction between "the" intellectuals and the citizens is often overstated and tends to be anti-democratic, assigning the vast mass to the passive role of spectator in most societal debates.This is one hell of an interesting piece and I don't know how I managed to miss it. That's one of the biggest problems for me.... How the hell am I supposed to filter information? Trickle down or percolation? Anyway, the Dunlop piece is a must read -- especially on the mechanics of how blogging makes people think: Blogging does not (and should not) try and emulate the sophistication of, say, an academic presentation or paper. It shouldn't even try and emulate the precision of a news report, though paradoxically, as I've said, one its best functions is to fact-check such news reports. The attraction and strength of blogging is that it is informal, first draftish, and more than a little breathless.Imagine. Free and open inquiry. Intellectual freedom. More trickling, more shuddering! posted by Eric on 04.03.05 at 01:05 PM
Comments
Good point! I try to stick with stuff I know, and I try to distinguish between fact and opinion. But despite the blustery nature of many blogs, they're the most self-correcting group of Americans I've encountered. Eric Scheie · April 3, 2005 05:57 PM I do not journal, I opine. Which makes me an opinist instead of a journalist. :) Alan Kellogg · April 4, 2005 12:18 AM |
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Interesting angle, altho the Schiavo morass showed the worst aspects of blogging: people instantly elevating themselves to experts & making idiots of themselves. It's easy to hit the Peter Principle in blogging, because there's no one to hold you back.
You end up with Andrew Sullivan & Jeff Jarvis telling the Pentagon how to run a war. What are their qualifications for such blithe decrees? None whatsoever! I was IN the military & wouldn't presume to tell the Pentagon how to run a war. For the same reason I avoided Schiavo, humbly acceding to the judges who've actually examined the records. Needless to say, some bloggers had no such humility.