You may recall:
There was a time when blogs were used for commentary on stories that had appeared in that days paper or on the TV news. Now TV, radio and the newspapers are being scooped regularly by the blogging community.In the time since, the media has shot out against local blogs, criticizing them as being unsourced rumors ill-fit for human consumption. Blogs came under fire due to the breaking of a story about Sam Hoyt's affairs with two women by the website PoliticsNY.net.
Of little importance to the likes of the Buffalo News and WBEN is the fact that PoliticsNY.net isn't a blog ... and Joe Illuzi, the penman of the "articles" that appear on it isn't a blogger. He's a paid smearmerchant, but that's neither here nor there.
What the News and Buffalo's biggest talk station knew was that they got scooped ... by some guy. Some Joe ... quite literally. So rather than refute the facts on Illuzi's website, they took the opportunity to shred his character and question his motives.
Granted, Illuzi seems to have a rather colorful past which gives them a lot of fodder to shred him with. And his motives are definately not of "journalistic" nature.
But it doesn't negate the fact that PoliticsNY.net broke a story that the "reporters" at Buffalo's biggest newspaper and biggest news radio station couldn't break. And it doesn't negate the fact that his report has been shown to be factual.
Much more factual than the story that lead the paper ... and that WBEN ran with all morning long on Monday. I'm talking about the story in which Nicole Kidman was working to save Buffalo's Studio Arena.
It later came out that Nicole Kidman "has never heard of Studio Arena."
How oh how could WNY's most powerful media outlets get a story like that wrong? What was their source? "Show business web sites," the Buffalo News said on Monday. WBEN, meanwhile sourced "The Mirror," a web site from the UK. Earlier today, the Buffalo News blamed the story on PR-inside.com.
Local bloggers have had trouble maintaining their glee over the MSM's faux pas.
- The Buffalo Bean headlines a post about the snafu: "Who looks stupid now?"
- Buffalo Pundit headlines a similar post: "The assault on blogs backfires (or Buffalo mainstream press gets PWN3D)
Bloggers typically get their information from sources ... just like the MSM. Sometimes they get their information from press releases ... just like the MSM. And often, they opine about what they've heard/learned/seen ... just like the MSM.
The primary difference? Most bloggers do what they do because they have a passion for getting information in front of as many eyes as possible ... while the folks at the Buffalo News and WBEN are in it for a paycheck.
I'm not saying there's something wrong with getting paid ... or even getting paid as a member of the media. That is, afterall, my primary job.
But some of us in the media have realized that there is a new game in town ... and they don't like it. They're afraid it's going to eat their paycheck.
Ironically, The Buffalo News has been begging people to blog ... on their website. Driving people to their advertisers. Then, blogging is okay. But when WNY's "alternative media" do it, it can't be trusted.
It's almost like they're promoting their own demise.
3 comments:
FYI - Joe Illuzzi didn't "break" the story...he created it. The Buffalo News et al. reported on the fact that Sheldon Silver sent the allegations against Sam Hoyt by Joe Illuzzi to the Ethics Commission...not on the affair. While this may seem like splitting hairs, it is a crucial difference. There is no reason to believe that the person(s) who supplied Joe Illuzzi with his information did not also try to supply Buffalo News reporters and this information was "shopped" around for years. However, allegations are not news and no respectable periodical ran with the story. It was not until the official action of the State Assembly, ie sending the matter to the Ethics Commission, was there anything newsworthy about the matter whatsoever.
WBEN is not a news station. Neither are any of the local TV stations. They all get their news stories from the Buffalo News. TBN deserves a lot of criticism for a lot of things, but at least they have reporters out there. The local TV and radio stations check out what's in the paper and then send their reporters out to re-cover those stories. Journalism in WNY is a joke.
What's funny about the MSM is something you touched on Scott, but there's more to it. While the MSM attacks bloggers, they do encourage the same type of activity on their sites, as you noted with the Buffalo News. But the MSM has in fact adopted other practices of bloggers, just not ones they really should be adopting. More and more today, it is impossible to get a straight news report. Scott, you and I have vast political differences, but regardless of that, it is nearly impossible to watch, listen, or read the MSM and actually get objective "news." It happens on both sides of the political debate, though I happen to believe MSNBC is the most disgraceful with this. All the cable stations have heavy doses of opinion, but they all let it bleed over into their news coverage. This is also happening on the broadcast networks and in newspapers. There should be a discrete line between news and opinion. Reporters are people and obviously have opinions, but they should work overtime to make sure they have covered a story fairly and do not allow their personal opinions to influence their work. Bloggers have gained in popularity partly because the MSM isn't delivering a solid news product. In essence, they are a blog with TV, radio or print support. And they are losing the fight because they then try to apply some form of journalistic standards to it but people can see right through it. It's blogging masked as traditional journalism.
As for Joe Illuzzi "creating" the story, as Brian says, I say one man created the story. Sam Hoyt.
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