The Great Blog vs. Journalism Debate

In giving a talk today about blogging (which weird since I'm a hack, at best), I got asked a number of questions about things like where lines are drawn, etc, etc.  It was, of course, an area best left to the masters in this space (aka Jeff Jarvis, etc) but I took a shot at some answers.

One item was the notion of research.  The question from the student was how much responsibility does a blogger have with respect to 'facts' or being complete with whatever they were writing about.  This was math major, just so you know.

I said that I believe a blogger, in general, is starting/maintaining conversations so I'd expect, personally, no more or less than what I'd get in social setting.  Unless somebody specifically calls themselves out as an expect and is doing a blog dispensing advice, etc, my basic rule was good enough for me.

The helpful example I used was Cory Doctorow, commander in chief of Boing Boing.  (co-commander to be precise)

Today, Cory wrote about Fuji and this new high end camera which has a goofy EULA around it.

"Edie sez, "I'm in the market for a digital SLR, and found something rather disturbing. B&H Photo says that to purchase a Fujifilm IS-1 camera, you must fill out an end user license agreement. Even weirder is the EULA itself: It asks what 'legitimate business purpose' (their words, not mine) the camera will be put to."

The EULA is a bit weird, for sure.  And, there are a bunch of comments going all over the place; everything from 9/11 stuff to secret hacks on other cameras.

It turns out that this camera is special purpose camera for Military, Police and other uses. They, for whatever reason, have paperwork they want filled out before you buy the camera.

The camera and the silly EULA wasn't my point.  I made the observation that "News" or whatever non-blog stuff is called these days might have reported the same item but I'm pretty sure they would have given you context for the EULA. They would have mentioned the special use or quoted from the press release, etc.  Cory didn't do any of that and, in my opinion, shouldn't have to.  When I read stuff like this, it is no different then being with a group of friends with somebody saying "did you hear about" whatever. Then, like in the comment section, a discussion will happen and probably go off-topic.  Again, just like real conversations with your friends, etc.

People seemed to like that explanation and one person thought I should share this with my readers (yeah, you two over in the corner).  So, here you go.

University talks are always great and I appreciate the invite.

Comments

[Henry Posner]

"Edie sez, 'I'm in the market for a digital SLR, and found something rather disturbing. B&H Photo says that to purchase a Fujifilm IS-1 camera, you must fill out an end user license agreement.'"

More accurately, B&H is advising customers that Fujifilm USA (not B&H) requires the EULA. While I cannot be 100% certain of this, my suspicion is this is to comply with US security or Dept of Homeland Security regs. But, whatever the reason, this is a Fujifilm USA and not a B&H requirement.

Henry Posner
B&H Photo-Video

[Brooks Moses]

I do think that bloggers ought to take some responsibility for making sure that what they repeat is at least reasonably accurate, and that they're not just repeating salacious rumors that could be found to be falsehoods with a little bother at fact-checking.

However, I don't think that's a disagreement with you -- I would expect the same sort of responsibility in a social setting; repeating potentially-damaging rumors as if they're facts is not something I appreciate from my friends either.

Also, with blogs, and especially with popular ones (like Cory's), I think the author should be mindful of the fact that they do have the potential to do a lot more damage with false rumors than they would in a social setting. It's one thing if I'm responsible for three of my friends thinking RandomCorp is doing some evil they didn't do; it's another thing if thirty thousand people think it because of my being careless in a way that I could easily have avoided with a few minutes of checking.

Meanwhile, I'd like to hold up Henry's comment above as an example of a well-done corporate reply. Simple, to-the-point, polite, and professional -- and not arguing the point, just clarifying.