DISQUS

sharinlite · 2 years ago

Geez: fully 90-95% of "journalists" are on the left of the country. 90-95% of them, have become lazy. 90-95% believe in their own inevitability. 90-95% distrust the citizens of this country. And, they whine !
And, they are becoming Helen Thomases.

MLynnEH · 2 years ago

I find it just a tad ironic that none of the esteemed and highly competent professional journalists involved in the production of this article understand the difference between the word principal, the chief administrator of a school, and principle an accepted or professed rule of conduct, something my sixth grade teacher, Voorhis Hyde, drilled into me. But then, perhaps it is too much to expect that people who make communicating via the written word their profession to have a sixth grade level of mastery of the the English language.

coldwarrior415 · 2 years ago

Adhering to principals...sounds like something we'd like to avoid in our schools. Adhering to teachers, likewise.

sharinlite · 2 years ago

Spellcheck only goes so far....heh!

MLynnEH · 2 years ago

I should never try to type this early in the morning. In my previous comment, there should be a comma after the word principle, and the final sentence should read, "But then, perhaps it is too much to expect that people who make communicating via the written word their profession have a sixth grade level of mastery of the English language. Somehow, an extra to crept in there.

Mr. Hyde would be disappointed.

MLynnEH · 2 years ago

And now I've forgotten to close the quotation! I give up!

Kurt · 2 years ago

Ethical "principals"? When I was in HS my principal spent half the day at the local bar getting soused. He wasn't very ethical.

JeanneB · 2 years ago

His entire premise seems wrong to me. I can't recall a single instance where a blogger refers to himself as a "journalist". It's not that blogs are claiming a professional title.

Journalism trades on information. Blogs provide information. Thus blogs contribute to journalism. He has it completely backwards in his concern that blogs provide "false" information to journalism. The reality is that blogs are forcing journalists to be more accurate and honest. Many of the biases and distortions reporters used to get away with are now exposed before the proverbial ink has dried.

He obviously doesn't like the scrutiny.

Flighterdoc · 2 years ago

I must have missed the in-flight magazine of AF One. Which scandal was that?

Del_Dolemonte · 2 years ago

That would be The New Republic scandal with Beauchamp. TNR long boasted of being the inflight mag of AF 1.

Flighterdoc · 2 years ago

Ha. Not in the last 8 years, I bet.

Thanks

Bilby · 2 years ago

Interesting that he used the example of the general at the YouTube debate as if that faux pas was the fault of anybody but CNN.

Jazz · 2 years ago

We're going to talk to Fausta about this on Mid Stream today. I think some of the analogies offered by the author are kind of weak. Trying to compare a "citizen journalist" to a person carrying a scalpel being a "citizen surgeon" is disingenuous. The potential for abuse is obvioiusly there, but it's been abused by the MSM already, as you point out. But when people record sounds and images and then distribute that media, providing it was done honestly, that is still the same service that is provided by TV and radio.

He should have also covered the more recent trend of citizens' radio. Last night's Heading Right Radio is a fantastic example. Your interview with Huckabee offers more insight and information to potential voters than the entire debate earlier this week could. (And for anyone who missed it, download the archive and listen to the replay. it was great.) Citizen journalists will often have the willingness to ask tougher questions on subjects of interest to real voters than the recycled pablum we generally get from televised debate moderators. Your interview was an excellent example of that.

I'm wondering now if the article's author wasn't just trying to stir up some publicity for himself in the blogosphere with this piece? It's not like I recall hearing of him before and, hey... any publicity is good press if they spell your name correctly, right?

Stilicho · 2 years ago

Journalism is not a profession. It is merely an occupation, and not a reputable one at that.

Derek · 2 years ago

Again the MSM shows their arrogance and loathing of the “under classes”. As the (MSM) ship sinks around them they continue to straighten the seats on the quarterdeck. Michael Yon put together what I consider a Pulitzer prize winning body of work (both word and photography) in Iraq and he will never ever be considered for the prize because he is not in the club. On a daily basis Captain Ed puts together thought provoking commentary that is both fair and thorough that enlightens and questions motivations and intentions of our elected leaders. These are just two examples of the plethora of meaningful work that is accomplished on a daily basis in the blogosphere that is held in contempt by those who supposedly have better qualifications. On one hand I am incensed by the lack of regard these “professionals” give the bloggers, however, I am a firm believer in the free market system and have faith in the electorate that they will vote with their resources (time, money etc .). Over time, the MSM will either adapt to the changing landscape of journalism or perish. If it is the latter I cannot say that I will either be surprised or saddened.

MarkD · 2 years ago

My trust is earned.

Larry · 2 years ago

Hazinski needs to be pointedly reminded that in a standards-enforcing regime, the New York Times, CNN, CBS, et al, won't make the cut.

But a lot of bloggers will.

coldwarrior415 · 2 years ago

David Hazinski seems to have forgotten the history of journalism in America. And shows his disdain for we, the People.

It was independent citizen journalists in opposition to the established line who started our tradition of independent press in this country. The Courts tried to stop it. Going back to Peter Zenger and the official recognition in this country of a free press, the tradition has been, and hopefully will continue, that citizens make the best journalists.

David Hazinski also conveniently forgets the independence of the market place...over the past two hundred years we have seen newspapers come and go, we have seen established papers become rags, we have seen local news grow into national forums, and national news figures relegated to retirement or obscurity, not because some society, or association or, heaven forbid, some government agency decides who is and who is not "allowed" to report the news, inform the public, or keep a sharp eye on our leadership and government...but because the people make a decision every single day as to the veracity and accuracy of their sources of news in the society around them.

The blogs...this neat little segment of the internet...is indeed a "threat" to the establishment press, and for very good reason. The blogs are largely independent, and moreso are totally tied to their readership and most important, the accuracy of their reporting, commentary and take on issues of our day..and there is no lag time...instantaneous news and commentary within moments of any local or national figure making a statement on any subject at any time.

If the established press cannot do the job, then the blogs are the only alternative, using available technology to get the word out to the people, and proving that one does not need a multi-million dollar printing facility in the Jersey backlands to be a real journalist. One just needs eyes, and ears, and the ability to write, and the audience will decide, the readership will make the call...not the government, not the established societies and associations..but those who read and react....liek it should be and like it was when the first printing presses in colonial America started printing broadsheets.

Yet, David Hazinski is not alone in his stance. Ever since blogs de-railed Rather and Kerry, many have mounted the pulpit to ridicule the pajamahadeen, the nerds sitting at home pretending to be journalists, while ignoring their own plumetting circulation numbers, loss of advertising, and loss of credibility. This lashing out is just another symptom of a dying entrenched establishment press in America.

Usful_Ijit · 2 years ago

The retired general at the Youtube debate and the people circulating rumors alleging Barak Obama's secret muslim membership aren't examples of citizen journalists gone awry, these people are/were members of Hilary Clinton's campaign.

Hazinski demonstrates his superb journalistic credentials.

Rovin · 2 years ago

2nd Class Citizen journalist # 825742 ---logged in, scalpel sharpened, reporting for duty.

How nice to see our Burford march out the strawman "yeah, but, but, they do it too" argument. The fact that the "old media" have lost their ability to print anything that fits nicely into their biased agenda simply "frys their butts". Hazinski is free to return to his class reunion and whine about the dilution of "journalism", but the genie's out of the bottle and providing more (mostly accurate) information with more than one side of a story. Pass the keyboard------full steam ahead.

BurfordHolly · 2 years ago

I wasn't contradicting the Captain, but you had to drag your sense of of victimization and entitlement into it like a dung beetle rolling his ball of - well you know.

always_right · 2 years ago

This is the argument that normal people can NOT distinguish true or false, right from wrong, etc. Therefore, the great unwashed need the guiding hands of the "real" journalists.

And how can we trust them 100%? Well, you know, whatever they put forth went through "vigorous checking and double-checking".

Antoher victim of the old school, they used to get away with it, Not anymore.

Paul Linsay · 2 years ago

Journalism isn't a profession, it's a craft, and not a very difficult one. Every high school in the US has a newspaper and it's usually pretty good. It's also a no-knowledge business. Unlike being a scientist, engineer, doctor, or lawyer, real professionals, there's no body of knowledge that a journalist has to absorb and understand. All you have to be able to do is write a decent sentence, logic is a bonus. Accuracy of reporting has always been a major problem. As Mark Twain said, "If you don't read the newspaper you're uninformed. If you do, you're misinformed."

Larry J · 2 years ago

To add to your point, if a doctor or engineer makes a serious mistake, not only could he be sued but risks losing his license. Even lawyers can be disbarred. Would journalists really like to be held to the standards of real professionals? I think not.

Del_Dolemonte · 2 years ago

I fired off an e-mail to "Professor" Hazinski last night, and used some of his own words agianst him. To wit:

"Education, skill and standards are really what make people into trusted professionals"

To which I repllied:

"...one of your Atlanta-area "journalists" is CNN's Mika Brzezinski, who co-hosts that news network's, and I use the term news network loosely, morning program. She was an English major in college, and all of her "journalistic training" was acquired on the job. The only reason she got her first "journalism" job was because of her famous last name. I could cite plenty of other examples of people in the mainstream media who were never trained as journalists, but represent themselves as such. NBC News Washington Bureau Chief Tim Russert, for example, was trained as a lawyer and worked in politics before going to NBC. Likewise, CNN "journalist" Wolf Blitzer was nothing more than a history major in college. In more recent times, a scandal erupted this past year at the once-proud Columbia University School of Journalism, where a graduate class in Journalistic Ethics was apparently found to have been cheating-on a take-home exam. "

Mr. Hazinski hasn't replied to my e-mail. Wonder why?

hermie · 2 years ago

Russert and Blitzer are just a couple of examples where an individual can become an instant 'journalist' simply by having a member of the MSM declare them one. It's not a profession like the law or medicine where you have to pass a stringent test or face a regulating board. Yet those in the MSM have developed the attitude that they are far above those writing blogs.

Del_Dolemonte · 2 years ago

I also told the Professor that I had no knowledge of any blogger calling themselves "journalists". I mean, look at Captain Ed's masthead-he calls himself "a father and grandfather".

I've actually taken university-level journalism courses-including broadcast newswriting-but have never held myself out as a journalist. I'm just a guy in pajamas like everyone else LOL.

SwabJockey05 · 2 years ago

Sorry Del...but you had to mention it...some of us don't wear pajamas...

Del_Dolemonte · 2 years ago

This time of year it's long johns for me.

burt · 2 years ago

History appears to be the most relevant of these majors. Unfortunately English, journalism and history departments as well law schools are overrun by very liberal profs.

MarkTheGreat · 2 years ago

Standard liberal fare.

Quality consists of having the right credentials.

Reminds me of Daschle's claim "To proffessionalize, you must federalize".

ajacksonian · 2 years ago

Poor Mr. Hazinski! He seems to have forgotten that the freedom of the press is a freedom reserved for the People, not for journalists. And as to who would be able to enforce his views? Well, in actuality you *do* have the right to represent yourself in court... it isn't suggested but it is a right that the People have. And as to surgeons and doctors in general, I have noted many practicing forms of medicine that require no license and yet folks seem to abide by them, too.

Apparently there is more to this 'licensing' idea than meets the eye and can only be enforced by State laws for certain things... and it in no way restricts others outside of those areas and gives some leeway within them, too. And as it is the entirety of the People guaranteed freedom to have press and exchange their views by various media as part of the freedom of speech, anyone attempting to make such a lincensing scheme and getting it enforced by government would be contravening the freedom of speech. I have many, many problems with journalists as it is... putting a bureaucrat over them with penalty powers to hand out is something called: censorship.

Very strange that a journalist is advocating that.... there have been a few SCOTUS decisions in that realm fought for by other journalists to do just the opposite.

But, perhaps it is like pornography, where I will know professionalism when I see it. Too bad I don't see it too often from the MSM, or those advocating censorship of the People like Mr. Hazinski.

SwabJockey05 · 2 years ago

Yes

burt · 2 years ago

Lets ban Ben Franklin: I don't think he had his ticket punched by going to a journalism school. He was a subversive as well.

Keep up the good work, Hazinski. We have to maintain our union.

John F Not Kerry · 2 years ago

Hazinski can take his ball and go home, for all I care. I am not hung up on labels like "journalist", because it has become a meaningless term. I will read what is posted in various media sources, and make judgments based upon my knowledge and experience. And nothing on TV can be considered "journalism", because a journal is written. But they still call themselves journalists.

Dub Dublin · 2 years ago

It's worth noting that despite the fact that we have live with them, restrictions on the practice of professions exist primarily as barriers to competition (and that's why Hazinski wants them here, after all), rather than to actually protect the public. By the way, abolishing professional licensing and certification is not really a radical idea at all: Nobel prize-winning economist Milton Friedman argues persuasively against professional licensing (even for medical doctors) in his book Capitalism and Freedom.

The last thing we need is some sort of professional licensing for journalists - that's quite simply the road to tyranny, since it guts the First Amendment and sets up the government as the arbiter of "journalistiness". Hazinski and his ilk obviously prefer a world in which Tom Paine would be prevented from publishing Common Sense....

JohnMcJunkin · 2 years ago

Captain Ed and I sat on a panel at the Conservative Leadership Conference in October with yet another old media triumphalist - Brian Wilson of WSPD Toledo - and humored him through his delusional rantings about the superiority of the old media. We keep hearing this again and again, but somehow blog readership and podcast listenership continue to expand - while newspaper readership continues to decline. We're headed for parity because democritization of the press is the right and natural state of affairs.

always_right · 2 years ago

This is how Hazinski and his colleagues (1) are helpless to prevent the popularity and the spread of "citizen journalism"; and (2) they can sit around lamenting the "quality" of such reporting, and the dumbed-down masses of new media consumers.

Reminds me of the hollywood elite.

carol H · 2 years ago

I agree with your analysis, but what is to prevent rules changes for the benefit of the so-called professional journalists? Some are already pushing for reinstitution of the fairness doctrine in talk radio. Is it so difficult to see that there are forces who want to censor or ban political free speech on the Internet?
Before I revert to moonbat mode, my experience is that liberals only want free speech when it applies to their speech.

Mike G · 2 years ago

Look at Ed's list-- and then note that Hasinski couldn't even come up with TWO examples of blogs getting it wrong. One of them was clearly a failure of CNN's nonexistent vetting process, YouTube is merely how the guy got there. Which is like blaming a shopping mall for the fact that a survey conducted on the premises was invalid.

What, I wonder, are the punishments he envisions for violations of journalism, I wonder? And what would the likes of Dan Rather, Franklin Foer, etc. have to say about facing actual prosecution, not merely ridicule?

itsspideyman · 2 years ago

Captain Ed, truer words were never spoken. I think the writers of the Constitution would look at the Internet and imagine it met their thoughts; a universal forum for open debate, for both the saints and the sinners. I'm also sure that any oligarchy in the media was not their intent when it talked about freedom of spech. My own thoughts, I have no idea what they may have thought, but if one believes in the spirit of freedom then all views at the forum of open debate are welcome.

Thank you for an excellent article.

underground · 2 years ago

I can't believe this guy compares journalism, the art of summarizing what other people have done, with law and medicine. As mentioned earlier, the editor of this article couldn't even spell principle right! What exactly is this professional standard we're supposed to live up to? Bad spelling and sensationalism?

The independent distribution of information is incredibly important for a free society.

What I think we can see here is that the old media is really waking up to the tenuous position they're in. Anytime an industry is on the verge of failure due to increased competition, they start calling for more regulation and more barriers to entry.

Insufficiently Sensitive · 2 years ago

He warns us that it’s just a matter of time before a ‘faked Rodney King
beating’ appears on the tube somewhere.

The original Rodney King beating was already faked, as it was run by the professional journalists who put it on the air. In order to bulldoze public opinion in the “correct” direction, much of the film was redacted - the part showing that Rodney King himself was not just an
innocent victim, but spent plenty of energy himself aggressively attacking
the policemen, and refusing to submit to their lawful orders.

When significant parts of a story are withheld from the public eye, that
denial of perspective is every bit as much faking as the creation of a
staged incident out of whole cloth. In the case of Rodney King, the citizen journalist who filmed the entire incident did no wrong - it was the ‘professionals’ who trimmed his raw material to fit their political agenda who basically lied to the public.

crosspatch · 2 years ago

Murrow was a speech major, never had a class in "journalism" in his life. Cronkite dropped out of college in his junior year. I am willing to bet that not a single one of the most influential journalists of the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries had a "journalism" degree and I would be willing to bet that less than half of them graduated college.

Being a good journalist has more to do with being able to string words to together in an interesting way and a sense of being a mirror of what is outside of people's normal range of vision, not a artist paining their impression of it. A good journalist tries to be a camera, not a painter.

Journalism school is more about A: indoctrination and B: discouraging those with the "wrong" world view and preventing them from succeeding in the trade by creating a barrier of entry and allowing in only the ones with correct thinking.

Sounds like sour grapes to me because someone is finally holding their feet to the fire.

Del_Dolemonte · 2 years ago

Peter Jennings was a high school dropout; he later tried college and dropped out of that too.

ClydeS · 2 years ago

I've flushed things down the toilet with as much credibility and ethical standards as many so-called journalists. They're not trying to inform us, they are trying to act as gatekeepers and limit the amount of information available to the public. Just as the hierarchical Church hated the printing press because it made it possible for the public to read the Bible in their own vernacular and bypass the priestly class's monopoly on disseminating that information, so the hierarchical Media hates the Internet and its bloggers, who are bypassing the Media's gatekeeper role.

Information wants to be free; MSM doesn't want it to be.

Swede · 2 years ago

"Journalism" has all the rules and standards of a hobby.

tacodawn · 2 years ago

Cry yourself a river Hazinski!

I'm not buying it!

T A M N Y , T . D . · 2 years ago

Not MY comment : merely the definitive observations of SAMUEL CLEMENS ( MARK TWAIN ) :

"IF YOU DON ' T WANT TO WORK , BECOME A NEWSPAPER REPORTER .
THAT AWFUL POWER , THE PUBLIC OPINION OF THE NATION ,
IS SHAPED BY A HORDE OF IGNORANT , SELF - COMPLAISANT
SIMPLETONS WHO FAILED AT CANDLES AND DITCH - DIGGING
AND FETCHED UP IN JOURNALISM ON THEIR WAY TO THE POORHOUSE . "

In the post McCAIN - FEINGOLD environment ( c . 2 0 0 3 - to the present )
print publications have circled the metaphorical wagons as their presentation
of ' fact ' incurs greater scrutiny from ' typists ' ( e . g . , Bloggers ) ,
a development that agitates David Hazinski no end .

Newspapers and magazines are also losing advertising revenues
along with their credibility .

ROBERT SAMUELSON noted in a July 2 0 0 7 essay that newspapers jealously
guard their own Freedom Of Speech - - and are cavalier with everyone else ' s .

I still condescend to read the pontifications of journalists , well aware that many
of them have an axe to grind and will happily finesse the truth lest it compromise
their agenda . I also read the blogs with pleasure and gratitude as they adroitly
debunk some of the dumbest and most dubious of reporting . ( ' Captain ' s
Quarters ' , frequently excerpted in http://www.realclearpolitics.com , I try to
consult daily ) .

When the Republic ' s most - hyped paper , the New York TIMES , takes the
side of the most egregious Congressional censors ( the supporters of McCain -
Feingold ) while itself continuing to enjoy the protection provided the ' Grey
Lady ' since 1 8 5 1 courtesy of the First Amendment , I daresay I ' ve seldom
encountered such flagrant hypocrisy . Apologists for tradional media ( such as
David Hazinski ) will have to accept the painful truth that newspapers - - and
reporters - - haven ' t a monopoly on truth nor virtue , not by a long shot .

BurfordHolly · 2 years ago

Don't forget Joe Klein's story last month that "the Democrats FISA bill would give foreign terror suspects the same rights as US citizens." Before publishing a rebuttal in print, Time issued at least five retractions on line where the readers of print edition wouldn't see them and Klein admitted he had not actually read the bill and he had not talked to any experts or the bill's sponsors. For Joe, being a "journalist" means just making stuff up.

And let's not forget the "Obama is really a Muslim terrorist" storyline that John Gibson still trots out.

unclesmrgol · 2 years ago

Burford, I got this from google:

Your search - "the Democrats FISA bill would give foreign terror suspects the same rights as US citizens" - did not match any documents.

Mayhaps you are a journalist?

Del_Dolemonte · 2 years ago

Try typing this into Google

joe klein FISA story

BurfordHolly · 2 years ago

Thank you!

Apparently Hoektstra fed Klein his material.

The story is in Wikipedia already! Now that's funny.

thibaud · 2 years ago

Holly - love your wise and witty comments, would like to include you in a new online community I'm forming. Please email me at t_thibaud@yahoo.com if you're interested.

BurfordHolly · 2 years ago

Just post the url when you're ready and I'll stop by.