First Draft by Tim Porter

Grazing the Blog Buffet

A lot gets said about journalism in the Blogosphere. Here are some recent topics I haven't written about:

 Media Bias -- Slate media columnist Jack Shafer kicked up a dust storm with two columns [ Part 1; Part 2 ] on bias in the news media. The first began: "Political bias - raw and wicked - blights American newspapers and TV news. Upon this bold declaration, press critics of both the left and right are able to agree."

Read commentary from Rhetorica's Alan Cline (who often writes about the inherent nature of bias), MediaMinded and Bill Dennis.

Also, Eric Alterman of MSNBC and Brent Bozell of the Media Research Center debate the question: Are the Media Liberal?

 Nano Publishing - SiliconValley.com's Dan Gillmor sees micro-content as "an emerging brand of Internet-based journalism that is helping shape the future of news." He cites Gizmodo and Gawker (both Nick Denton creations) as narrow-focused blogzines with a chance for commercial success.

 Journalism Education - Village Voice reporter Nat Hentoff caused a ruckus by deciding to use the controversial book "Coloring the News: How Crusading for Diversity has Corrupted American Journalism" in a graduate course he teaches at NYU. The National Association of Black Journalists objected.

Read commentary from Rhetorica ("This is an example of the exceedingly silly notion that a professor's choice of books equals promotion of said book's ideas.").

 Investigative Reporting - IRE launched a blog this week that highlights good investigative work. It's put together with the help of Derek Willis of thescoop.org.

Posted by Tim Porter at February 14, 2003 09:49 AM