Om Malik Blows it
Alot has been hinted at about the session Om Malik hosted at WordCamp. I think I gave him the hardest time publically, though there were a few such as Loren Feldman and Chartreuse who also took him to task. Om Malik is one of the finest tech writers in the industry, and my criticism of him should in no way diminish that fact. He is skillful in his words, mostly neutral in his opinions and fact-checks stuff to a fault.
But at WordCamp he was a windbag.
Going into the session with Om, I had no preconceived notions. I have never had any public disagreements with him. Not like I have with Scrivs or a handful of others. It was a clean slate and I wanted to hear his ideas on blogging and journalism.
And he blew it.
Om made some notable comments about “blogging being personal” in which I think he probably meant “blogging is opinion”, but despite having the opportunity to clarify failed to do so. He tried to make the point that bloggers are not journalists but rather the “journalists” who are bloggers simply leverage blogging tools such as WordPress.
I’m not sure whether Om has paid attention to Charles Johnson over at Little Green Footballs, who made waves this weekend breaking the story of the Reuters-Hezbollah photo doctoring scam. Not that LGF has done this for the first time. They were on the case of Dan Rather in 2004.
While I sat in the session at WordCamp, I questioned my own sanity. Was I hearing Om correctly? Was he simply just not making his point eloquently? Was I really hearing him try to have his cake and eat it too by talking down at bloggers and at the same time embracing blogging for himself? Was he simply trying to be diplomatic because he just recieved VC money and couldn’t come out and say any blogger could be a journalist without risking his own credibility? Why was he keeping a room of bloggers at arms distance without embracing the power and yet still trying to reap the rewards?
When I raised my hand to ask him my questions, I did so hesitantly not really knowing what was happening there. I gave him all the wiggle room I could spare to him. “Om, can you clarify what appears to be worded comments that appear to put a wall between us as bloggers and you as a journalist? Are you trying to have your cake and eat it too? Are you saying there are special qualificiatioons, such as educational requirements, to be a ‘journalist’?”
You see? Plenty of space to wiggle. Plenty of backdoors to slip back through. But did he?
Absolutely not. He obfuscated his statements even more, perhaps taken aback that anyone would question the great GigaOM. I don’t know.
The reality is that being a blogger and being a journalist are not mutually exclusive. Sure, not all bloggers are journalists. In fact, the vast majority, the long tail, comes nowhere near to journalism. And in my view “news” does not constitiute journalism. I think Opinion pieces play in as well. Look at Fox News. Or the NYT op-ed page. There’s lots of investigative reporting going on. Journalists CAN be bloggers and bloggers CAN be journalists.
I hope this is what Om was trying to say without sounding like a mainstream media sellout. He never clarified his statements.
What makes someone a journalist is not a degree, and thats what traditional media hates. Where they had to go to years of journalism school and perform all sorts of favors for upper management to get where they are, bloggers are coming in with a bang and making a real difference. See LGF. What makes someone a journalist is the accuracy, research and a fair degree of networked people to figure out what’s a good story and what is not. That’s journalism redefined.
Om missed it. Big time.
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Written by Aaron Brazell on August 8, 2006
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Oops. :) Corrected…
Oops. :) Corrected…
Om doesn’t always communicate his thoughts as well as he could. Not having been there, I won’t speculate on what he meant to say. But it could be a simple communication issue.
Om doesn’t always communicate his thoughts as well as he could. Not having been there, I won’t speculate on what he meant to say. But it could be a simple communication issue.
Om doesn’t always communicate his thoughts as well as he could. Not having been there, I won’t speculate on what he meant to say. But it could be a simple communication issue.
Om doesn’t always communicate his thoughts as well as he could. Not having been there, I won’t speculate on what he meant to say. But it could be a simple communication issue.
Om doesn’t always communicate his thoughts as well as he could. Not having been there, I won’t speculate on what he meant to say. But it could be a simple communication issue.
Om doesn’t always communicate his thoughts as well as he could. Not having been there, I won’t speculate on what he meant to say. But it could be a simple communication issue.
Om doesn’t always communicate his thoughts as well as he could. Not having been there, I won’t speculate on what he meant to say. But it could be a simple communication issue.
Om doesn’t always communicate his thoughts as well as he could. Not having been there, I won’t speculate on what he meant to say. But it could be a simple communication issue.
Om doesn’t always communicate his thoughts as well as he could. Not having been there, I won’t speculate on what he meant to say. But it could be a simple communication issue.
Om doesn’t always communicate his thoughts as well as he could. Not having been there, I won’t speculate on what he meant to say. But it could be a simple communication issue.
Om doesn’t always communicate his thoughts as well as he could. Not having been there, I won’t speculate on what he meant to say. But it could be a simple communication issue.
Om doesn’t always communicate his thoughts as well as he could. Not having been there, I won’t speculate on what he meant to say. But it could be a simple communication issue.
Om doesn’t always communicate his thoughts as well as he could. Not having been there, I won’t speculate on what he meant to say. But it could be a simple communication issue.
Om doesn’t always communicate his thoughts as well as he could. Not having been there, I won’t speculate on what he meant to say. But it could be a simple communication issue.
Om doesn’t always communicate his thoughts as well as he could.
That’s a shame for a blogger – but just plain unconvincing for a journalist.
Om doesn’t always communicate his thoughts as well as he could.
That’s a shame for a blogger – but just plain unconvincing for a journalist.
Om doesn’t always communicate his thoughts as well as he could.
That’s a shame for a blogger – but just plain unconvincing for a journalist.
Om doesn’t always communicate his thoughts as well as he could.
That’s a shame for a blogger – but just plain unconvincing for a journalist.
Om doesn’t always communicate his thoughts as well as he could.
That’s a shame for a blogger – but just plain unconvincing for a journalist.
Om doesn’t always communicate his thoughts as well as he could.
That’s a shame for a blogger – but just plain unconvincing for a journalist.
Om doesn’t always communicate his thoughts as well as he could.
That’s a shame for a blogger – but just plain unconvincing for a journalist.
Om doesn’t always communicate his thoughts as well as he could.
That’s a shame for a blogger – but just plain unconvincing for a journalist.
Om doesn’t always communicate his thoughts as well as he could.
That’s a shame for a blogger – but just plain unconvincing for a journalist.
Om doesn’t always communicate his thoughts as well as he could.
That’s a shame for a blogger – but just plain unconvincing for a journalist.
Om doesn’t always communicate his thoughts as well as he could.
That’s a shame for a blogger – but just plain unconvincing for a journalist.
Om doesn’t always communicate his thoughts as well as he could.
That’s a shame for a blogger – but just plain unconvincing for a journalist.
Om doesn’t always communicate his thoughts as well as he could.
That’s a shame for a blogger – but just plain unconvincing for a journalist.
Om doesn’t always communicate his thoughts as well as he could.
That’s a shame for a blogger – but just plain unconvincing for a journalist.
Great conversation going on here Aaron, thanks. It’s a perplexing topic.
I for one am certainly no journalist. But if I don’t take care when stating things outside the scope of opinion, I know someone will certainly catch it.
So even if I wasn’t naturally anal, the blogosphere is a pretty powerful fact checker in itself.
On the other hand, I see things slip by as fact on blogs all the time. For example, I’ve given up trying to correct people’s inaccurate recitations of law in too many contexts to count. I feel like I should correct this stuff, but it’s exhausting and certainly not a productive use of my time.
Credibility is important; in fact, more and more it’s really all we have. Degrees don’t guarantee accuracy, neither do institutions.
Great conversation going on here Aaron, thanks. It’s a perplexing topic.
I for one am certainly no journalist. But if I don’t take care when stating things outside the scope of opinion, I know someone will certainly catch it.
So even if I wasn’t naturally anal, the blogosphere is a pretty powerful fact checker in itself.
On the other hand, I see things slip by as fact on blogs all the time. For example, I’ve given up trying to correct people’s inaccurate recitations of law in too many contexts to count. I feel like I should correct this stuff, but it’s exhausting and certainly not a productive use of my time.
Credibility is important; in fact, more and more it’s really all we have. Degrees don’t guarantee accuracy, neither do institutions.
Great conversation going on here Aaron, thanks. It’s a perplexing topic.
I for one am certainly no journalist. But if I don’t take care when stating things outside the scope of opinion, I know someone will certainly catch it.
So even if I wasn’t naturally anal, the blogosphere is a pretty powerful fact checker in itself.
On the other hand, I see things slip by as fact on blogs all the time. For example, I’ve given up trying to correct people’s inaccurate recitations of law in too many contexts to count. I feel like I should correct this stuff, but it’s exhausting and certainly not a productive use of my time.
Credibility is important; in fact, more and more it’s really all we have. Degrees don’t guarantee accuracy, neither do institutions.
Great conversation going on here Aaron, thanks. It’s a perplexing topic.
I for one am certainly no journalist. But if I don’t take care when stating things outside the scope of opinion, I know someone will certainly catch it.
So even if I wasn’t naturally anal, the blogosphere is a pretty powerful fact checker in itself.
On the other hand, I see things slip by as fact on blogs all the time. For example, I’ve given up trying to correct people’s inaccurate recitations of law in too many contexts to count. I feel like I should correct this stuff, but it’s exhausting and certainly not a productive use of my time.
Credibility is important; in fact, more and more it’s really all we have. Degrees don’t guarantee accuracy, neither do institutions.
Great conversation going on here Aaron, thanks. It’s a perplexing topic.
I for one am certainly no journalist. But if I don’t take care when stating things outside the scope of opinion, I know someone will certainly catch it.
So even if I wasn’t naturally anal, the blogosphere is a pretty powerful fact checker in itself.
On the other hand, I see things slip by as fact on blogs all the time. For example, I’ve given up trying to correct people’s inaccurate recitations of law in too many contexts to count. I feel like I should correct this stuff, but it’s exhausting and certainly not a productive use of my time.
Credibility is important; in fact, more and more it’s really all we have. Degrees don’t guarantee accuracy, neither do institutions.
Great conversation going on here Aaron, thanks. It’s a perplexing topic.
I for one am certainly no journalist. But if I don’t take care when stating things outside the scope of opinion, I know someone will certainly catch it.
So even if I wasn’t naturally anal, the blogosphere is a pretty powerful fact checker in itself.
On the other hand, I see things slip by as fact on blogs all the time. For example, I’ve given up trying to correct people’s inaccurate recitations of law in too many contexts to count. I feel like I should correct this stuff, but it’s exhausting and certainly not a productive use of my time.
Credibility is important; in fact, more and more it’s really all we have. Degrees don’t guarantee accuracy, neither do institutions.
Great conversation going on here Aaron, thanks. It’s a perplexing topic.
I for one am certainly no journalist. But if I don’t take care when stating things outside the scope of opinion, I know someone will certainly catch it.
So even if I wasn’t naturally anal, the blogosphere is a pretty powerful fact checker in itself.
On the other hand, I see things slip by as fact on blogs all the time. For example, I’ve given up trying to correct people’s inaccurate recitations of law in too many contexts to count. I feel like I should correct this stuff, but it’s exhausting and certainly not a productive use of my time.
Credibility is important; in fact, more and more it’s really all we have. Degrees don’t guarantee accuracy, neither do institutions.
Great conversation going on here Aaron, thanks. It’s a perplexing topic.
I for one am certainly no journalist. But if I don’t take care when stating things outside the scope of opinion, I know someone will certainly catch it.
So even if I wasn’t naturally anal, the blogosphere is a pretty powerful fact checker in itself.
On the other hand, I see things slip by as fact on blogs all the time. For example, I’ve given up trying to correct people’s inaccurate recitations of law in too many contexts to count. I feel like I should correct this stuff, but it’s exhausting and certainly not a productive use of my time.
Credibility is important; in fact, more and more it’s really all we have. Degrees don’t guarantee accuracy, neither do institutions.
Great conversation going on here Aaron, thanks. It’s a perplexing topic.
I for one am certainly no journalist. But if I don’t take care when stating things outside the scope of opinion, I know someone will certainly catch it.
So even if I wasn’t naturally anal, the blogosphere is a pretty powerful fact checker in itself.
On the other hand, I see things slip by as fact on blogs all the time. For example, I’ve given up trying to correct people’s inaccurate recitations of law in too many contexts to count. I feel like I should correct this stuff, but it’s exhausting and certainly not a productive use of my time.
Credibility is important; in fact, more and more it’s really all we have. Degrees don’t guarantee accuracy, neither do institutions.
Great conversation going on here Aaron, thanks. It’s a perplexing topic.
I for one am certainly no journalist. But if I don’t take care when stating things outside the scope of opinion, I know someone will certainly catch it.
So even if I wasn’t naturally anal, the blogosphere is a pretty powerful fact checker in itself.
On the other hand, I see things slip by as fact on blogs all the time. For example, I’ve given up trying to correct people’s inaccurate recitations of law in too many contexts to count. I feel like I should correct this stuff, but it’s exhausting and certainly not a productive use of my time.
Credibility is important; in fact, more and more it’s really all we have. Degrees don’t guarantee accuracy, neither do institutions.
Great conversation going on here Aaron, thanks. It’s a perplexing topic.
I for one am certainly no journalist. But if I don’t take care when stating things outside the scope of opinion, I know someone will certainly catch it.
So even if I wasn’t naturally anal, the blogosphere is a pretty powerful fact checker in itself.
On the other hand, I see things slip by as fact on blogs all the time. For example, I’ve given up trying to correct people’s inaccurate recitations of law in too many contexts to count. I feel like I should correct this stuff, but it’s exhausting and certainly not a productive use of my time.
Credibility is important; in fact, more and more it’s really all we have. Degrees don’t guarantee accuracy, neither do institutions.
Great conversation going on here Aaron, thanks. It’s a perplexing topic.
I for one am certainly no journalist. But if I don’t take care when stating things outside the scope of opinion, I know someone will certainly catch it.
So even if I wasn’t naturally anal, the blogosphere is a pretty powerful fact checker in itself.
On the other hand, I see things slip by as fact on blogs all the time. For example, I’ve given up trying to correct people’s inaccurate recitations of law in too many contexts to count. I feel like I should correct this stuff, but it’s exhausting and certainly not a productive use of my time.
Credibility is important; in fact, more and more it’s really all we have. Degrees don’t guarantee accuracy, neither do institutions.
Great conversation going on here Aaron, thanks. It’s a perplexing topic.
I for one am certainly no journalist. But if I don’t take care when stating things outside the scope of opinion, I know someone will certainly catch it.
So even if I wasn’t naturally anal, the blogosphere is a pretty powerful fact checker in itself.
On the other hand, I see things slip by as fact on blogs all the time. For example, I’ve given up trying to correct people’s inaccurate recitations of law in too many contexts to count. I feel like I should correct this stuff, but it’s exhausting and certainly not a productive use of my time.
Credibility is important; in fact, more and more it’s really all we have. Degrees don’t guarantee accuracy, neither do institutions.
Great conversation going on here Aaron, thanks. It’s a perplexing topic.
I for one am certainly no journalist. But if I don’t take care when stating things outside the scope of opinion, I know someone will certainly catch it.
So even if I wasn’t naturally anal, the blogosphere is a pretty powerful fact checker in itself.
On the other hand, I see things slip by as fact on blogs all the time. For example, I’ve given up trying to correct people’s inaccurate recitations of law in too many contexts to count. I feel like I should correct this stuff, but it’s exhausting and certainly not a productive use of my time.
Credibility is important; in fact, more and more it’s really all we have. Degrees don’t guarantee accuracy, neither do institutions.