Patterico's Pontifications

8/21/2006

On Trusting Big Media Over New Media

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 3:00 pm



Editor and Publisher reports:

Traditional media brands like newspapers and television are far more trusted by the public than Web sites and blogs, accordign to a survey this week by British interactive marketing company Telecom Express.

1000 respondents were asked what percentage of the information they received fro mvarious sources was accurate, true and unbiased, according to Telecom Express.

Oh . . . those two typos in bold? Yeah, those are from the original, trustworthy Editor and Publisher piece. If they fix it, this blog has the screenshot, as does Hot Air, where I found the link.

OK, I’ll admit it: a lack of typos is not the best measure of trustworthiness — and with any luck, there are numerous typos in this very post, doubling the irony. (If there are, it will probably take about two seconds for someone to point them out — an embarrassing little side benefit of the structure of New Media!) But there are some other issues besides the typos that seem relevant to this Editor & Publisher article.

Like: the company that did the survey has a conflict of interest — something that New Media guy Dan Riehl uncovered, but which Editor & Publisher failed to tell you about.

By the way, I forgot to post about the last time an Editor & Publisher piece came onto my radar screen, but now seems like as good a time as any to rectify that oversight. It was this piece about Michael Hiltzik. The piece contained this passage:

Then there’s the recent case of Los Angeles Times Pulitzer Prize-winning business writer Michael Hiltzik. His gig at www. latimes.com was canceled because he was caught sending messages to his own “Golden State” blog under an assumed name, but his print column continued to appear twice a week. There was an important subtext: The print column was overseen by an editor, whereas the blog was not.

I have another “important subtext” for you: that is not true. Hiltzik’s column was suspended just after I revealed his sock-puppetry, and never appeared again. That’s something you already know, if you read (and trust) New Media — like the blog you’re reading right now, which reported the discontinuation of Hiltzik’s column here, here, and here.

Other than that, carry on, Editor and Publisher! May your reputation for trustworthiness continue to prosper!

20 Responses to “On Trusting Big Media Over New Media”

  1. Editor and Publisher isn’t all bad. Recently it printed a good column by David Perlmutter, on the topic of fauxphotography. Of course, one sparrow doesn’t make a springtime, but Perlmutter’s column is worth reading.

    http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/columns/shoptalk_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003019475

    “(August 17, 2006) — The Israeli-Hezbollah war has left many dead bodies, ruined towns, and wobbling politicians in its wake, but the media historian of the future may also count as one more victim the profession of photojournalism. In twenty years of researching and teaching about the art and trade and doing photo-documentary work, I have never witnessed or heard of such a wave of attacks on the people who take news pictures and on the basic premise that nonfiction news photo- and videography is possible.

    I’m not sure, however, if the craft I love is being murdered, committing suicide, or both.”

    Black Jack (5e3718)

  2. As someone who is not dyslexic, but suffers from dyslexic typing (you have no idea how many times I spell “the” and “that” as “teh” and “taht”), I am more than willing to forgive typos on the part of other people!

    Dana (71415b)

  3. Kinda like the dinosaurs watching those furry little mammal-thingies when they first showed up: no prob; we’re still dominant. Getting kinda chilly, tho.

    ras (f9de13)

  4. That reminds me of this cartoon: Down From The Mountain

    aunursa (776d9d)

  5. Dana,

    Two words:

    Spell check and copy editors.

    😉

    diffus (676f0a)

  6. Diffus:

    Those are four words (not counting the “and.”). 🙂

    Dana (71415b)

  7. I suspect the more likely reason, is someone MAY have spent toooo much time at the hydraulic lunching console and it looked correct at the time.

    SlimGuy (ea6549)

  8. Predator & Punisher: Another Hilt-Piece

    Dan Collins (208fbe)

  9. joining the more than 40 million blogs already populating cyberspace.

    One wonders how long BEFORE Aug 15 this article was written they are only off by about 10 Million blogs.

    Today on Technorati Currently tracking 51.8 million blogs

    Dan Kauffman (b494d1)

  10. Oh and as far as proffesional Editors giving more accuracy?


    Japan To Conquer China by 2024

    How about the CBS Article on China making it to the moon by 2024 which had a photo of a different moon with the Flag of JAPAN on it? Rotflmao

    Dan Kauffman (b494d1)

  11. […] For fans of the popular lefty web site Editor & Publisher, Patterico trashes them a bit this morning. Other than that, carry on, Editor and Publisher! May your reputation for trustworthiness continue to prosper! […]

    Rathergate.com » On E&P, typographical errors, and trustworthiness (879659)

  12. @dana:
    i saw “teh” on the internet so often i asked about it, and was informed that there are people out there who spell it like this on purpose, and that it has some kind of special meaning that i am too old to comprehend. whatever, i wish it would go away.

    assistant devil's advocate (14009e)

  13. teh heheheheh

    Dan Collins (208fbe)

  14. As someone who gets 90% of his news and information from the internet, I’m afraid E&P does have a point. There is a lot of bad info published in blogs. There are a vast numbers of liars, propagandists and sociopaths writing blogs. The key is finding the reliable ones.

    Blogs have two advantages. First and foremost, bias is admitted. Right wing blogs say so as do the lefties. The old media never admits any bias whatever. Blogs also have more extreme conditions of truthfulness. Most old media outlets cluster toward the middle ( about 75 % truthful ). Blogs have more 100 %ers ( and more zeroes ). Media bias is usually subtle, blog bias is open and obvious.

    Blogs also cover the whole political spectrum from Kos and DU to Misha and Coulter. Media outlets tend to cluster somewhere near Teddy Kennedy.

    E&P is right in that there are a lot of unreliable blogs. And some of them are beyond belief. I’ll take my news with known bias, thank you.

    Ken Hahn (02bc28)

  15. You cant trust the liberal left-wing news media to ever tell the real news they still continue to lie or give us just half the truth

    krazy kagu (f63577)

  16. The NYTs once claimed that FIDEL CASTRO WAS NOT A COMMUNISTS

    krazy kagu (1f0194)

  17. […] P.S. I had a little piece about the trustworthiness of Editor & Publisher just the other day. […]

    Patterico’s Pontifications » Allah Blasts Editor-in-Chief of Editor & Publisher on Reutersgate (421107)

  18. […] Then go to Patterico for more thoughts. […]

    The Anchoress » Trusting New Media over Big Media? (1b383c)

  19. Dear Editor in chief Of Editor & Publisher magazine,

    When you attempt to take on bloggers (who are skilled with electronic informational resources and logical minds) with bullshit, they will cut you to pieces. Every time.

    You’d best learn how to perform research via informational computing. Real fast. Although it will severely limit your ability to publish bullshit, if you pay critical attention to whay you find.

    S. Silverstein
    Information Scientist

    S Silverstein (1ae597)


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