Cutting Through The Blog, Part One
Thanks to BuzzMachine's Jeff Jarvis, the reaction to Public Eye within the blogosphere has begun to trickle in. In his pre-launch profile of our endeavor, Jarvis expressed some concerns and questions of his own and asked fellow bloggers to weigh in with their advice or opinions. And weigh in they did.
The most popular subject by far concerned “objectivity” and “opinion.” When meeting with Jarvis, and in a variety of other interviews, I have sought to differentiate PE from the more traditional role of an ombudsman.
The reason: We envision a more robust, dynamic and conversational dialogue — less “big J” journalism theory and more practical realism. In trying to emphasize that difference, I told Jarvis that this blog won’t be “opinionated.” Here is part of his response:
The most popular subject by far concerned “objectivity” and “opinion.” When meeting with Jarvis, and in a variety of other interviews, I have sought to differentiate PE from the more traditional role of an ombudsman.
(CBS/AP)
“Try this on for size: I think there’s no such thing as an objective blogger. Or you’re probably not blogging. You’re probably not talking with people, eye to eye. We’re about to kill the myth that journalists can be thoroughly objective; let’s not start trying to accrete that artificial ethic to blogs.”
