Dan Gillmor on His Move to "Citizen Journalism" 109
tct25 writes "Tech journalist Dan Gillmor gives OhmyNews International his first interview since announcing that he will leave the San Jose Mercury News next month in order to start a citizen-journalism venture. Many insiders are scratching their heads. Why is the much respected tech writer leaving what he described as 'greatest gig in the world' for the perilous journey of developing an entrepreneurial idea in citizen-journalism? He spoke to OhmyNews at Harvard Law School in the middle of the final day of the College's Berkman Center-sponsored 2004 Internet and Society Conference last Saturday."
I know why he would leave (Score:1, Interesting)
Today, to get away from the liberal elites, you need to find alternative outlets. Look at talk radio, a medium where conservatives can find refuge from the politically correct.
Uhhh duh... (Score:5, Interesting)
I can think of two reasons...
1. almost all big media is corupt these days, and spin the news to their liking just for ratings with the readers, or to get money from the sponsors. Maybe he's just sick of it.
2. MONEY...he has a chance to "get rich quick" with his entrepreneurial venture. Why not take the risk? If he fails, he can always go back to something similar since he'll still has his good rep (unless he does something really terrible between now and then)
Comment removed (Score:1, Interesting)
He gives a damn, that's why (Score:4, Interesting)
Changing minds in changing times (Score:1, Interesting)
Thereby raising the collective IQ of ... no, that doesn't fit and it's mean to this guy, who appears to be sharp.
"Journalism" on the Net seems to mean learning how to google and then exchanging email with someone to get a quote or two.
While sometimes those pieces are well done, they still suffer from narrow focus. I hope Mr. Gillmor doesn't forget how to use the old fashioned tools of journalism, such as the telephone and the taxi.
He'll have a tough time, though. Information dissemination on th Net follows the Open Source model: release early and release often, and let your mistakes be corrected by many eyeballs. That runs completely counter to the principles of old school journalism, which say to get it right first, so no one sees you make a mistake. After all, your credibility is at stake, so bury your retractions on page 6, with the obits.
It'll be interesting what he comes up with.
This is not really surprising (Score:4, Interesting)
In the last year, his column has become a bit more activist and strident. And it seems that he is likely unhappy talking about computers and the Net, when there are more mundane social affairs occurring with which he would rather be involved.
I also miss the days of cold and clinical reporting of facts in journalism. I hope that he can avoid the pitfalls of many alternative news outlets who bemoan unfairness in the media, either from the left or right. It is so common in the many conservative blogs, or at the liberal end of the spectrum at FAIR or Indymedia, to complain about the biased media when they perceive a lack or fairness to their own side of any given issue. And it is the almost universal remedy given by them to balance this perceived unfairness, not by giving both sides of a story, but by balancing the pool of thought by only promoting their side of an issue. So in reality they are not battling biased media but supporting it.
One quote I heard once (sorry if I get it wrong) is that impartiality in a journalist is not a character trait, but a professional skill. I like that idea. Of course newspeople have opinions like everyone else, but that should not be a factor when striving to create a quality product.
More power to him, if he can make this work.
He's not your average journo (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:I know why he would leave (Score:3, Interesting)
If we had one of those, the President would have been impeached and exiled to Siberia long ago.