September 29, 2004
Blogger Credibility
Roger L. Simon has a pretty good riposte to the query about the credibility of bloggers. Comments. While perhaps not a complete answer it does have some benefits over and above what we see at most mainstream media outlets. Also, there are other bloggers. Bloggers don't move as a unified source. Actually I'd say quite the opposite. If I post something that is incorrect another blogger can post on his own blog pointing out my error. On top of this there is the trackback function which allows me (and many bloggers) to see who is linking to the post and what their take on the issue is. And last but not least there is e-mail. Many bloggers post their e-maill addy and it usually goes right to the blogger (not some underpaid, overworked flunky who really doesn't give a shit).
All-in-all, I'd say that blogs are better at addressing errors, omissions, and so forth than the mainstream media. Is it perfect?1 No far from it, but I see it as a drastic improvement over what is currently in place at most mainstream media operations. The mainstream media will have to evolve to account for this or face extinction, IMO.
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1Here is a good example. I posted on the electronic election markets and the prices therein being probabilities. Prof. Bainbridge saw the post, and another one disputing it, and made a post pleaing for help. This brought to the fore the paper by Charles Manski on this topic which spawned even more posts by even more people who offered differing views on the topic. Can you get that with a newspaper or television news program? Hell no, and right now you never will. You only get this kind of rapid response, and counter-response with blogs.
IMHO, trackbacks are more important than comments. You probably remember that I don't care for unmoderated comments; too much drift, hijacking and flamage, and too much work to keep any of that from happening.
On the other hand, trackbacks are comments with a clear distinction in authorial/editorial voice. No problems -- or at least fewer problems -- with idiots who confuse the statements of commentors with the statements of the site owner.
(That said, I leave comments open on my site for a week or two after the post was made.)
Posted by: Robert Crawford on September 29, 2004 12:27 PMWhat most mainstream critics are missing is that the blogosphere is a network (or rather a network of networks.) As you and Robert say, we have mechanisms for being kept honest as individuals. The evolving ethos is that we link sources, allow readers to follow our logic, respond to honest criticisms and admit error promptly. Violating it means losing credibility and readers (at least the readers that matter).
A more important observation is that the network rewards integrity and accuracy with traffic, links, cites, etc. In the CBS documents case, "the blogosphere" may have been posting like crazy on the issue, but a handful of blogs actually moved the story along. The story jumped to mainstream media through bloggers with a record of trust. There may have been hundreds of thousands of items posted on the issue, but the relatively small handful by sites collectively identified as influential were the ones that counted. They earned their trust the same way CBS did -- a track record of dealing with issues in a forthright manner. Sure, individual bloggers will and do fall short. They might be able to thrive in a sub-network of ranters and conspiracy theorists, but won't, in general, become part of trust networks whose work is taken seriously enough to matter.
Posted by: Dave Sheridan on September 30, 2004 10:05 AMCrawford and Dave,
Good points. I too put a lot of store in trackbacks. A trackback, IMO, shows a bit more effort being put into the response than a mere comment (for one thing it eats up the bandwidth of the responder vs. my own).
As far as blogs as a network I agree. The give and take of the blogs is a competitive environment that I think will tend to reveal the truth vs. obscure it (or get closer to the truth than the MSM has at least recently).
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