Sifting Through A Tangled Web
Unless you're glued to C-SPAN watching the Alito hearings (or maybe not), here's a look at some of what we came across here and there on the Web that's worth a quick look:
We'd be remiss if we didn't share with you the news that our mothership, CBSNews.com, has launched a new feature on the site that culls the best of the best blog buzz – and not just that related to the media, that's what we're here for. This week, Blogophile, written by CBSNews.com's Melissa McNamara, rounds up 'spherians coverage of everything from the announcement that the messiah of fake news, Jon Stewart, will be hosting the Oscars to blog reax during Judge Samuel Alito's confirmation hearings.
Speaking of culling the best of the best, Henry Seltzer over at PressGaggle.com pores over the White House Press Briefing transcripts (occasionally, at least) in search of the finest in gaggle humor. Here's a nice bit from yesterday's gaggle:
Q Scott, I just want to come back to this point about irresponsibility, because there seems to be --Ah, woe is the White House reporter.MR. McCLELLAN: We're not talking about you.
Q Not today, anyway. (Laughter.)
Another launch caught our attention as well. We mentioned a few months back that the ever-growing trend of citizen journalism had begotten Newsvine, a news site that incorporates elements of information from various news organizations and wire services, blogs and Web sites. Users can also post their own stories on the site and vote for news stories' prominence on the home page. The site has now been launched in beta, which means, as Cyberjournalist explains:
…the site is controlling who has access by using the same approach G-mail used when it launched -- an initial number of beta testers get access, and then anyone who has access can invite others they know to join. So it's starting out with people who are likely to be most engaged in the site, and thus most likely to contribute to its success.Over at Slate, Jack Shafer comments on the Christian Science Monitor's recent request for a "news blackout" on coverage of the kidnapping of its reporter, Jill Carroll, in order to help authorities handle the case soon after the incident. While Shafer acknowledges that "Nobody can criticize news organizations for agreeing among themselves to embargo kidnapping information for few hours if it might save a colleague's life," he notes that other questions still arise.
"If the press should spike news to help a colleague, how long an interval is decent? Should it be 48 hours, as in Carroll's case? Until the local press reports the story? Until the abducted person's employer confirms the news? Until the U.S. Embassy does? Or until the kidnappers make their announcement on the Web? I don't have any easy answers, just easy questions."