Internet v. Paper: Dana Milbank Turns David Simon’s Fiction into News
Posted in: Citizen action, Media
There was a chunk of Jane’s post on the Kerry hearing on journalism that really stood out for me. It was the part where she quoted David Simon, creator of the award-winning TV series The Wire, and his attack — favorably cited by the WaPo’s Dana Milbank — on online media:
"The day I run into a Huffington Post reporter at a Baltimore zoning board hearing," added the casually clad Simon, "is the day that I will be confident that we have actually reached some sort of balance."
Well, for starters, the Huffington Post is — as Mr. Simon would know if he ever actually read it — much like the New York Times and USA Today in that it doesn’t have a regional focus, but a national one. (In fact, the New York Times recently slashed what pitifully-thin local coverage it does do by folding its Metro section into the first part of the paper.)
If David Simon wants to see a blog covering Baltimore zoning board meetings, he should check out the bazillion local blogs over at http://www.blogtimore.com. One of their featured blogs is an outfit called The Dagger — and guess what? They’re looking for people like you to go cover local news:
The Dagger is looking for…
Writers, reporters, bloggers, critics, photographers, videographers, comedians and neighborhood busybodies who are interested in telling the rest of our community what you know. While our home base is the Central Maryland region, we are always looking to grow and are interested in expanding our horizons and minds. Email us for more information, or drop us a note using our contact form.
How is The Dagger different?
Citizen Journalism. Although most of us at one time worked as professional journalists, most of us are not presently employed in the media industry. We like to think we’ve retained the best the newspaper world has to offer (objective reporting, biting writing, quality storytelling) while being able to jettison some of the problems of the profession (attachment to media conglomerates, refusal to adapt to modern technology/society, stubbornly wrong-headed traditionalist thinking).
What’s more, we’ve torn down the boundary between reporter and reader. We are all citizen journalists. There is no longer a need to filter information through a reporter and editor. No one can tell the story like someone who lived it. No one can report on community happenings like someone who resides there. Our readers are our writers and vice versa. Through submissions, open commenting and our forum, there is nothing preventing you from telling your story anymore. No deaf-eared editor will tune you out and effectively mute you.
Tell us. Join us.
Oh, and by the way, I found this out simply by typing the search terms "baltimore blogs" into Google. That got me to Blogtimore, which got me to The Dagger. Total time spent: Five minutes. . . which is probably five minutes more than Mr. Simon has spent researching the subject.
Your move, David. Be the change you want to see.
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