An interesting article in the new Atlantic, “The Story Behind the Story.” Mark Bowden comments on the lightning fast investigative response to the Sotomayor nomination and the blogger influence behind the national news media coverage. It’s a strong critique of the screaming, partisan mess that democratic access to the online printing press has wrought:
I would describe their approach as post-journalistic. It sees democracy, by definition, as perpetual political battle. The blogger’s role is to help his side. Distortions and inaccuracies, lapses of judgment, the absence of context, all of these things matter only a little, because they are committed by both sides, and tend to come out a wash. Nobody is actually right about anything, no matter how certain they pretend to be. The truth is something that emerges from the cauldron of debate. No, not the truth: victory, because winning is way more important than being right. Power is the highest achievement. There is nothing new about this. But we never used to mistake it for journalism. Today it is rapidly replacing journalism, leading us toward a world where all information is spun, and where all “news” is unapologetically propaganda.
Bowden’s article is successful as it walks us through a personal blogger’s progress from late night computer searches to every TV screen in the nation. This modern citizen journalist’s tale of Morgen Richmond is pared well against the author’s own memories of his cub reporter days spent learning the power his typewriter wielded.
But, in the end, all we are left with is laments:
Journalism, done right, is enormously powerful precisely because it does not seek power. It seeks truth. Those who forsake it to shill for a product or a candidate or a party or an ideology diminish their own power. They are missing the most joyful part of the job.
As a young writer – not necessarily interested in covering national politics but with being read, at least – I’m growing tired to good-old-day yarns. I know the history. I fell in love with writing partly because of the romantic myths of the rough and tumble journalist.
Right now, I’m more into new ideas.
