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Feb

21

Clinton, Obama rumors abound on web – that’s news?


What is the point of this Plain Dealer story? Anyone?

Seriously, no chiding: the nut of the story, I assume, is that the web is great at spreading rumors. Again, that’s not news. However, this story easily could have been turned into a media literacy lesson for the reader – who is probably a voter. Why that wasn’t done, I don’t know. But if I were the reporter who was moved to or told to write that piece? I wouldn’t post it without writing something about why it should matter to a reader of the piece that the web is great at spreading rumors and what to make of it. Not even with editorializing but by talking to people like John Green at the Bliss Institute and a hundred others around here who could give advice.

If there’s one thing that even people with the most minimal exposure to the Internet know, it’s that the web is great for spreading rumors.

Tell us why this matters. We know you can. (PS – that picture of Clinton with the story? Like no one could find something a little better to match up with Obama’s? Talk about the power of the Internet.)

By Jill Miller Zimon at 9:58 am February 21st, 2008 in Barack Obama, Blogging, Hillary Clinton, Media, Tech, WH2008 

Comments

6 Responses to “Clinton, Obama rumors abound on web – that’s news?”

  1. 1 Carole Cohen on February 21st, 2008 10:47 am

    You are expecting serious in depth reporting? Hope springs eternal! Of course it doesn’t matter; I guess the candidates aren’t providing enough tabloid style negative campaign sound byte info and the PD doesn’t have enough sports to report on this week. Yeah I’m cynical. The other side is, political mud slinging on the internet is what shaped early political blogging no? So to me it’s not news….at all. Just mho.

  2. 2 NYT's McCain-possible-romance-w/a-lobbyist story highlights traditional media's rumormongering | Writes Like She Talks on February 21st, 2008 4:21 pm

    [...] Cleveland’s only daily metropolitan newspaper, The Plain Dealer, is writing non-newsworthy blurbs about rumormongering on the Internet about Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, let’s check in on what the journalism world is saying [...]

  3. 3 Jill Miller Zimon on February 21st, 2008 7:29 pm

    You crack me up, Carole – and I mean that in the best of ways. I think political blogs became notorious because they dug up some stuff that had legs, and sometimes, I don’t think they even had to dig too much, you know?

    I just don’t like it how the MSM has to insert lines about how they get it right and blogs get it wrong – yeah, that’s how I’m reading it, so it’s debatable but I know enough to know that that’s more or less what it is. They are going to end up without a job because of that failure to find a place in their paradigms for the new, which really isn’t even that new anymore.

  4. 4 Maria Shine Stewart on February 22nd, 2008 9:27 am

    I saw the article, too, and thought it was just a nice, little space filler. A similar article could run about bloggers’ controversial, unsubstantiated thoughts on coffee, education, writing without punctuation and capitalization, and many other topics. One real story (I think) is how much time people now spend reading blogs to consider making a voting decision (and other types of decisions) than before, forward links to others, and so on. And how such readers (like me) need to constantly separate the wheat from the chaff.

  5. 5 Jill Miller Zimon on February 22nd, 2008 10:13 pm

    I love your second line, Maria! That’s so true, lol.

    As for the time spent reading blogs to get input, I bet we will see a lot of new research on that come 2009. I hope so anyway – this 2008 presidential race is really the first one that’s had such a wide use of so many Internet tools, compared to 2004 – which is still memorable for Howard Dean’s successes on the ‘net.

  6. 6 links for 2008-02-23 | The BFD on Brewed Fresh Daily on February 23rd, 2008 3:23 am

    [...] Clinton, Obama rumors abound on web – that’s news? | Writes Like She Talks JMZ asks “What is the point of this Plain Dealer story? Anyone?” (tags: peedee) [...]

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