N&O news editor and a media critic disagree

N&O executive editor for news and blogger Melanie Sill had a lot to say yesterday about journalism and bloggers.

What got Melanie going was what she’d learned from N&O public editor Ted Vaden about remarks made by media critic, blogger and New York University journalism professor Jay Rosen at a conference last Saturday in Greensboro. Melanie didn't attend the conference.

Here’s part of what Melanie posted:

(Vaden) quotes media critic Jay Rosen (as) saying journalists are "used to being the filter from God, but people don't accept that anymore."

Heavens. Perhaps Rosen has spent too much time peering at journalism through the lens of his computer screen. He ought to take a tour through some of the material in the latest American Journalism Review, which reports on how journalists covered Hurricane Katrina -- including blogs and online journalism. He ought to be out with a reporter trying to get a reluctant local sheriff to share a report that is public information but that the sheriff controls. Rosen ought to be out driving toward a disaster zone, instead of away from one, trying to find out what happened and why. He ought to be at the tail end of a 12-hour day with an assistant city editor at any newspaper, editing stories on deadline and trying to make them clear and cogent.

Rosen responded in the Comments section. He began:

Huh? You have taken a comment that was offered in a specific context--the act of filtering, and the kind of knowledge that lies behind the act--and fuzzed it up it so that I appear to be expressing some type of general disrespect to working reporters. All so you can turn in a cliche about ivory towerism.

Rosen ended with:

You got it wrong, Melanie.

In between, Rosen provided a point-by-point response to Melanie.

There are lots of excellent comments besides Rosen’s, including ones from bloggers Bob Owens and David Boyd.

My favorite comment to date is this one from Visitor Jim:

Melanie -- Too funny. You are editorialzing about the scrupulous newsgathering skills of local newspapers by commenting on a second-hand quote you never bothered to verify with the actual speaker, but nonetheless use as a basis for making juvenile accusations about getting a life beyond the computer. You have made your point, albeit not the one you intended. Hysterical.

(Jim, If you’re not a blogger, I hope you think about it. JinC)

Be sure to take a look at Melanie’s post, Real life journalism, and read all the comments. Maybe leave one yourself.

Also, visit the blog of Ed Cone, Greensboro News & Record editor. who actually heard Rosen’s remarks. Scroll down to his posts for October 11. Read the one that begins: “You got it wrong, Melanie.” It's very brief and very interesting.

Update: David Boyd just informed me Ed Cone is not an editor at the Greensboro N&R. Ed's bio at his blog says he's an opinion columnist for the paper. Sorry for the error, Ed and readers. And thanks for the heads up, David.