How you like me now, Lemann?

Andrea Batista Schlesinger

How you like me now, Lemann?

"Amateur Hour" is what Nicholas Lemann, dean of the Columbia School of Journalism, calls the rise of Internet journalism and the blogosphere in last week's New Yorker.

I can't help wondering if Ned Lamont's primary victory in Connecticut has influenced his thinking.

What Lemann missed in his piece was a recognition of the way in which blogs function not as online newspapers, but as catalysts in framing the public discussion towards the end of creating change. In missing this, he also overlooked the fact that independent bloggers are filling this function because a corporate-driven media has not.

Lemann's dismissive contention that we must "hold up original reporting as a virtue and use the Internet to find new ways of presenting fresh material--which, inescapably, will wind up being produced by people who do that full time, not 'citizens' with day jobs" neglects the role that blogs can play in forcing journalism to fulfill its promise by transcending its reality. If traditional journalism wants to survive, it will have to do so not by moving its content over to the Internet, but by reclaiming its mission.

Now can these bloggers also force the issue when it comes to public policy, as they've done with politics? That question remains to be answered. But either way, "Amateur Hour" is looking pretty prime-time.

Posted at 10:14 AM, Aug 10, 2006 in Media | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Comments

There are two separate issues here:

1) Boggers as reporters, doing what newspapers are supposed to do (aggressively investigating and reporting facts even if they disturb the status quo) but are failing at. I think we could see a new level of professionalism among bloggers as reporters that would not sacrifice their muckraking integrity, but maybe that's wishful thinking.

2) your point that "blogs function not as online newspapers, but as catalysts in framing the public discussion." This is different than newspapers not only because the press is corporate-dominated but because of the interactivity of the medium. Blogs are like a conversation in public space, and anyone can have a conversation, not just professionals. To the extent that conversation is about public affairs, it promotes civic engagement and sometimes also change at the ballot box. This type of conversation should always be "amateur hour" -- democracy demands that we not leave discussions of public affairs just to the politicians or academics -- or think tanks!