Friday, July 25, 2003

Weblog journalism on local news: Monkeytime scorches the Durham paper for its coverage of a high-profile murder trial. 2:55:09 PM    comment []

Radio jerk Tom Leykis has named the woman who was allegedly assaulted by Kobe Bryant. Whatever justification exists for doing that – and some serious people are in favor of it – Leykis comes across as another loudmouth who thinks that his opinion is a substitute for fact.   According to Reuters, “[Leykis] said he believes the woman was seeking attention and money and that Bryant could be the "real victim" in the case.”   How does Leykis know that? He doesn’t. But it jibes with his point of view, so he’s ready to take it to market and let the facts come later.  He just thinks it, and that’ s enough for him.   Leykis is hardly alone. There is an epidemic of uninformed opinioneering, the facts be damned, on weblogs and talk radio and cable news. People fret about the decline of objective journalism, but opinion journalism ain't doing so great, either.   A strong opinion piece about any event external to the writer's own personal taste needs to be grounded in fact, so that the attitude has something solid to stand on.   Here’s an example of using facts to support an opinion: Tom Leykis is a wife-beater (fact). According to this bio, he is a sophomoric boob (observation based on documentary evidence). See, now when I come to my big wrap-up conclusion – Tom Leykis is an asshole with some serious issues about women –- it’s got some heft to it.   2:44:25 PM    comment []

BloggerCon has a logo. 2:02:47 PM    comment []