Democratic Data Dump
“Satirist Jon Stewart and activist Julian Assange are symbols of a world without journalism—a largely online marketing-based, consumer-driven world at odds with principles of democracy and freedom. Stewart is often considered a journalist because he holds people accountable when many metro media outlets no longer do so in their downsized newsrooms. The Daily Show does this often by following up on what newsmakers did or said in the past and then comparing that to current, contradictory actions and statements. Wikileaks purportedly holds people and governments accountable. It does so, however, by ‘WebThink.’ Whereas responsible journalists scrutinize motives of tipsters and fact-check authenticity of cables, WebThink just dumps it all on the Internet and lets computer chips fly where they may.”—Michael Bugeja, director, Greenlee School of Journalism,
Iowa State University, “Stewart, Assange and Journalism Education,” Inside Higher Education, Jan. 18, 2011
Iowa State University, “Stewart, Assange and Journalism Education,” Inside Higher Education, Jan. 18, 2011
Editorial Comment: Garbage In, Garbage Out?
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Before anyone buys into the argument that "WebThink," as Bugeja defines it in his article, is the future of journalism, I recommend reading this article by Bill Keller about how the NY Times dealt with Assange and the Wikileaks information:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/30/magazine/30Wikileaks-t.html