Posted on 09/27/2004 9:29:55 PM PDT by Jonah Lomu
Winders: Cry havoc! And let slip the blogs of war
So, you ever get that feeling in the back of your brain you're about to become way too familiar with a buzz word you happily could have lived without? You know, it's that inkling the world is going to force you to get a bit hipper, make you a tad more in tune, feed you just one more catch phrase.
It's a feeling not unlike being trapped on one of those VH1 nostalgia shows.
Such was the case for myself last week.
I mean I was perfectly satisfied with my life before reading my first blog; had plenty of pals before meeting my first blogger; full of enough adventure before setting my first foot into the blogosphere.
But there I was knee-deep in blog buzz trying to play catch-up last week.
Now I don't mean to spin wax in an iPod world here, but I guess if there's one lesson Danny Rather and CBS taught us last week it's that the Internet plays host to more than porn. Seems it also contains a good number of bored political zealots as well.
OK, so they're not all zealots.
Now understand that a blog - a shorter, cooler way of saying Web log - is an on-line pursuit equal in status to writing in your diary then shouting its contents out from the middle of a busy intersection. Readers of such tomes enjoy the voyeuristic pursuit allowing them to take a break from the dull nature of their lives and pull a peeping Tom into the dull nature of other people's lives.
Basically, most bloggers just need a little attention for one reason or another - maybe they haven't picked up "The Sims 2" yet; perhaps face-to-face contact with a real, live person poses way too many challenges; or maybe it just gets too lonely in their parent's basement.
But know blogging is gaining buzz.
While still in its infancy, most citizens of the blogosphere - that's right, they named their own little world as well - have nothing to say beyond day-to-day ramblings on the level of a grocery list. But there are some among them, nattering and chattering back and forth, who consider themselves a sort of citizen journalist.
And these folks love nothing more than poking Big Media with a sharp stick.
Now know this whole "60 Minutes" credibility issue first was raised by a blogger screen-named Buckhead, who later was outed as Harry MacDougald, a University of Georgia School of Law grad and Atlanta lawyer.
Our boy packs some serious right-wing credentials including membership in the conservative Federalist Society and Southeastern Legal Foundation, a hand in drafting a petition urging the Arkansas Supreme Court to disbar President Clinton and some tag-team work with Kenneth Starr.
Wow. This guy actually worked with Kenny Starr.
So you know this guy is all about facts.
Anyway, even though his original assertion was incorrect (that 1970s-era typewriters couldn't form the superscript that appears on the documents), MacDougald will not be known for being wrong. He will be known for bringing blogging into the mainstream.
Folks, nothing is mainstream until you hear your grandparents comment on it.
Honestly, until last week, I thought blogging was how folks either kill time at work or keep others up to date on fresh Kirk vs. Picard arguments. Not only was I pretty close with that assumption, but I also was not alone in my opinion.
I mean you just gotta love Jonathan Klein.
Facing mounting questions regarding "Rathergate," this former CBS executive lashed out at those he blamed for his network's crumbling. "You couldn't have a starker contrast between the multiple layers of checks and balances (at '60 Minutes') and a guy sitting in his living room in his pajamas writing," Klein said.
Bloggers raised their backs at that implication, saying many of their ranks are lawyers, professors and frustrated journalists hoping to poke at the system from the unemployment line. And to a point, that's true.
By keeping stories in play for longer than normal news cycles, bloggers have scored past victories in toppling Sen. Trent Lott and, in part, Howell Raines at the New York Times. Now they've bagged themselves a prized Big Media rhino in Dan Rather.
But let's be honest here, it takes more than a laptop and an Internet connection to become Bob Woodward. They have no checks. No balances. No names. And no legal framework to face.
Wait until the law catches up and a blogger faces his first libel lawsuit.
In fact, bloggers fill the armchair quarterbacks slot of the Big Media game. Sure they can pick apart every nano-decision down to Aaron Brown's tie-shirt combo selection, but they have no capability of gathering the news.
They're the spitball shooters in the back of the class. Sort of like newspaper columnists, only with cooler, CB handle-like names.
But cheers to the bloggers among us on their week in the sun. Their day may one day come, but it's not here just yet.
So until it arrives, sit back and enjoy being able to work in your pajamas.
* Jason Winders is executive editor of the Athens Banner-Herald. He can be contacted at jason.winders@onlineathens.com
Pray for W and Our Troops
oh thats a h00t!!
Marking this for a later read L0L
You can almost smell the naked fear, masked behind the cheap cologne of condescension.
I surmise he must be upset that his parents spent so much hard-earned money sending him to journalism school and nobody has heard of him. In fact, some lawyer, nicknamed Buckhead, is more famous for his journalistic pursuits than is Jason. You know it must really hurt the "professional" journalists when hobbyists are better at the craft than the professionals.
I give this "journalist" 15 seconds to see how long his trash can stand up to the "checks and balances" of Free Republic. I doubt he would last that long.
Ok I could resist reading it all, seems that Jason Winders is a frustated wordsmith and not a reporter at all.
Buck up Jason, there is still room in the world for your likes, some where way down on the bottom.
Amazing isn't it? They laugh at the "bloggers" in pajamas and they are the ones who are technically ignorant. Mr. Winders sounds like a rube.
Beautifully stated! New silk pj's gotcha waxing poetically?
Are we are being hard on the "hardnosed" reporter from Athens GA...hippy town USA? L0L
Panelists and production crew prepare to tape the first installment of the new radio program Athens News Matters at the WUGA studio. From left to right are host Mary Kay Mitchell and panelists Brad Aaron of Athens News Weekly, Jason Winders of the Athens-Banner-Herald and Sarah Thuerk of the Oconee Enterprise. (Photo by Peter Frey)
For the record, what's the actual title of this masterpiece of scrivening?
"You just have to love Jonathan Klein.."
No I don't, what a weasel. And though there are some inexperienced people here,including myself, most just want to find the truth, something that has been lost in the MSM..And who says we have no way of finding out facts, I think that this guy, needs to spend more time here....
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I surmise he must be upset that his parents spent so much hard-earned money sending him to journalism school and nobody has heard of him. In fact, some lawyer, nicknamed Buckhead, is more famous for his journalistic pursuits than is Jason. You know it must really hurt the "professional" journalists when hobbyists are better at the craft than the professionals.
Youve nailed it.
Jason Winders, Executive Editor, Athens Banner-Herald
Stinks when the people on Free Republic are more informed than you!
But Jason, you must really be slow. I believe the others in the MSM were caught up at least a week before you were.
Email sent----=
"Wait until the law catches up and a blogger faces his first libel lawsuit."
So you are saying we should sue CBS NEWS for libel?
WHAT A GREAT IDEA!!!!
Keep of the good work fellow blogger want to be!
after reading that ...seems to me the only thing he thought the internet was for was PORN. hehe
Damn straight, punk.
And I'd bet my house it's a Generation Xer.
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What's funny is that more people will read his ignorant screed here than will ever see it in his newspaper. This guy really doesn't get it.