About a week or so ago I praised Roland Martin and his paper The Chicago Defender for finally jumping into the 21st century by getting into podcasting. Fortunately, he takes one step forward with that. Then all of a sudden, he takes a giant leap backwards in his latest article. Here are some excerpts from his latest piece:
I’ve taken the time to peruse a number of blogs, and folks, it’s not all that it’s cracked up to be. In fact, I see blogs as nothing more than a glorified, 21st century diary. Now be honest: how many of you are dying to read what’s in your next door neighbor’s diary or some insomniac from across the globe?
…A lot of those website owners thought that because they had a site, all of a sudden they should be afforded the same access to news events as real journalists. And I hated standing next to one of these wanna-bes. They didn’t know how to ask questions, were often uninformed on the issue, and couldn’t write worth squat. Call me a media snob, fine. But at least if you want to be taken seriously, learn the rules and ethics of the business!
…I think it’s great that technology has changed so much that what was cost prohibitive can now be accessed by the masses. Being able to cart around a mini-DV camera, edit video on Apple’s iMovie or Final Cut Pro, record soundbites on a MD-Walkman and edit with Peak or Cool Edit Pro, is too cool. But folks, come on, there are some things we must leave in the hands of professionals. If your blood pressure is sky high, you don’t go to a schoolteacher for advice…more
He does have a point about the amount of online journals that are in the blogsphere, but who cares. Personally, I tend to stay away from those blogs where the only thing that is talked about is how someone got into an argument with their pet cat. If someone wants to put all of their business out in the street (no matter how strange it sounds), that is his or her prerogative.
(sigh) As much as I respect Martin as a “professional”, I strongly disagree with his assessment of the blogsphere.
A while ago, I did a piece on what I believe is in the future of blacks in the blogsphere versus the traditional black press:
The New Black Press?
When I started this blog (www.blackinformant.com) back in August of last year, I was very hard-pressed to find many black blogs. Today, I am beginning to see the landscape begin to look more like the ‘hood in a good way. Now don’t get me wrong, we are still the minority (even here in cyberspace), but to see this kind of growth in such a short period of time is quite impressive as far as I am concerned.
Just as the blogsphere in general has rocked big news organizations like CBS, Reuters, etc., I truly believe that we will begin to see the same thing happening to many black publications. No, I am not just talking about some witch-hunt about what black newscaster is “coloring” the news. Instead, I have noticed that unlike many online black news publications, the blogsphere in general is updated daily where black news sites like blackpressusa.com appear to have a longer lag-time refreshing their content.
Blackpressusa.com serves as the sole web portal to the vast majority of black-owned newspapers that are still in existence today. Due to reasons such as staffing, finances, and a lack of other much needed resources, most of our nation’s black-owned newspapers are only able to function as a weekly or monthly (unfortunately, to compete in today’s rapid pace of the information superhighway, information needs to be dispensed at a much faster rate to survive in the newspaper sector). For more current and up to date news, many black Americans have turned to their local daily news sources such as radio, tv, newspapers, and most importantly, the Internet. This is where the usefulness of blogs comes in.
As you know, in the blogsphere you will find sites that will provide news and commentary on a daily basis. In addition, on many blogs the readers are able to interact with the source of the posted material as well as with other readers. No longer will black Americans who want to stay up-to-date on current events from a black perspective have to wait a week or so to hear the thoughts and opinions from others in our community. As you can imagine, this capability alone places great pressure on the current black newspaper industry.
So do you believe that black newspapers will become obsolete?
Without becoming a daily operation, I just cannot see how black newspapers can gain any additional ground in the media industry (and as you know, in the world of media, if you are not gaining ground, you are losing it). Perhaps a wise move would be to consolidate resources so that the best possible product is made available to their readers.
The reason why I specifically call out newspapers is because typically magazines have built their readership on a monthly basis. So magazines like Ebony, Jet, Savoy, Black Enterprise, Source, Vibe, etc. although not immune to the ever-changing current of the Internet, I believe have established themselves as permanent fixtures on the black media landscape. I will add, however, that black-oriented magazines need to continue to develop their web presence. It is simply not enough to have a website. Based on my observations, these publications are definitely on the right track with this point.
As I mentioned on this site not too long ago, black folks are beginning to get tired of hearing about the same things over and over again on a weekly basis via our newspapers. Most of OUR newspapers spend way too much time covering issues that pertain to racism, discrimination, injustice, etc. (not to mention that many of these papers are nothing more than an extension of the Democratic party, but we will not go there today). The existence of racism is just as real as passing gas. However, you will not find most people trying to get their sniff on everyday. So with all the good things that blacks are doing all around the world, why do our newspapers tend to stick to the general theme of never-ending racism?
Honestly, I do not know of any blog out there that is set on taking down a black newspaper. What Martin has failed to acknowledge in his piece is that the blogsphere has raised the stakes for fair reporting and journalism that looks beyond its own playbook. Black newspapers across the country need to take note; otherwise many of them may soon be yesterday’s news.
Hopefully, it will not come to that.
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