Leonard Pitts Jr. of the Miami Herald penned a column which appeared in Murfreesboro's local newspaper, the Daily News Journal, on what he calls 'citizen journalism.' Under this umbrella, he included bloggers. He opened with this salvo, "[Yet] I remain convinced that, with exceptions, citizen journalism is to journalism as pornography is to a Martin Scorsese film; while they may employ similar tools — i.e., camera, lighting — they aspire to different results." His very significant example of what he feels is a fad revolves around one James O'Keefe III, a blogger/filmmaker who employs journalistic-type practices, and last year garnered attention via an undercover camera sting operation of the ACORN group. Among other things, ACORN helped poor and middle income folks, and was rumored to have a hand in irregular voting.
I remember seeing this in the news though he does not report for any news organization. (No longer required to get the exposure.) O'Keefe posed as a pimp and his video shows him supposedly getting advice on how to run his business. A female cohort was trashily clad as one of his prostitutes. The ladies on 'The View' had a lively discussion about it. News organizations everywhere ran clips. That's about the extent of my memory.
But based on what Mr. Pitts had written, I thought to dig further. Online, of course, because that is what's at my disposal. The hits on O'Keefe are far too numerous to mention, though it is significant to note that the House of Reps and FOX news considered him to be somewhat of an investigative journalist hero after the story broke. And, being the right-wing media darling that he became for a time, the bias on either side could fill two separate library wings. However, I read enough, both in my online hunting and in this mentioned article itself, to discern what's at the heart of the matter. The sharp-edged object which sticks in the craw of the columnist, was, and is, the foundation from which O'Keefe's work springs and how he goes about the business of gathering his information and disseminating it. Near the end of the October 10th, 2010 column which started this whole blog entry of mine, I came across the perfect summation by a trained and practicing writer for the public, "You cannot be a journalist — citizen or otherwise — if credibility matters less to you than ideology."
There is evidence that young O'Keefe is not above possibly breaking the law by misrepresenting himself as a telephone company employee to gain access to a public officials lines, or trying to pull an elaborate prank on a female CNN reporter who he considered a vacuous blond only out to make him appear stupid in the liberal press. His ACORN footage, or rather the cut-and-paste job, is also in question. His brain power is not in question. His eagerness is not at fault. But he should probably decided if he wants to be taken seriously or not because there are people out there who were taking him at his word.
There's research, and then there's backing up that research with facts. There are interviews, and then there are the countless contacts with the interviewee subject(s) to clarify points. There often exists video documentation; it must be edited responsibly and without omitting key images, without the intent to mislead or further a cause. At least, that's the case in journalism. The model, let's say.
But maybe that's where it all goes wrong in the point of this article. Or maybe it was just a missing point. Or, more likely, the designated word count for the column space kept Leonard Pitts Jr. from venturing any further into the fray he so, for the most part, dislikes.
While in my role as a blogger I write for practice and to express opinions and feelings to a rather small group of readers, countless bloggers have more specific and finite purposes behind their Internet ventures. Quite often, that drive is generally spurred by a need to be widely seen and heard, and inflammatory language and provocative methods are enacted to further this cause -- whether that cause be political, religious, etc.
Case in point is Perez Hilton, a pop-culture blogger enjoying widespread fame and attention; he largely lambastes the famous and the closeted gay community without any reining in of expression. But recently he appeared on Ellen Degeneres' show and promised to turn over a new leaf, not wanting to appear bigoted or hypocritical any longer in light of recent stories in the news about youth suicides stemming from bullying, some of them gay kids. Now, though not a fan of his, I did like something he said about the future of his website, "I'm not going to go the mean route. I'm going to force myself to be funnier or smarter . . . not out people."
Because bloggers don't have any rules they must follow, the content of any site is only edited by the writer. This allows enormous openings for ego, slant, full-on lies, and all manner of personal perspective unfettered by possible discipline or loss of employment. And off of these qualities, more than a few individuals have managed to capture the attention, and intelligence, of the American reader. (I'm NOT addressing the entire planet here. Nor do I include the multitudes of delightful blogs on art, cooking, family, etc.)
In my writing, I attempt to research before I write on a subject outside of my own experience. Further, there is never an intent to inflict emotional harm on a person or group of persons to make my own writing sound juicier or more interesting. And guess what?! Even with those guidelines, I have managed to unwittingly injure a reader or two by crossing a line I didn't see; I absorbed those stings with a lesson learned, eager to fold it into my craft, ready to improve as necessary. Even apologizing as needed.
But in this day of 24-7 news and bully-pits, we are all subjected to vast amounts of information, not all of it good or healthy or worthy. It requires us to exercise insight to read between the lines. And more than a few pairs of sturdy canvas gloves to weed through the invasive overgrowth of pseudo-news. Where's the line, anymore? More than that, when did fairness and fair play, on all sides and the middle, go out of fashion? Not to mention true humor and circumspect intelligence, which is what Mr. Hilton intimated per his own desire to alter his methods. Honestly -- and quite surprisingly to me as I never saw myself praising Perez Hilton for anything -- the gauntlet has been thrown down. Whether it's in the rule book or not, bloggers should bear the burden of their writing in the enormous public forum of the Internet. It's been a free-for-all for far too long. Surely our brain cells can be stimulated without titillation every time we focus our eyeballs on the screen?!
Interesting, really. Smart and funny seems to be what a majority state as qualities they seek in a good friend or mate. It appears they can be applied elsewhere with the same effect. Hmmm.
Kudos to you AND Perez.
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