Comments on: Political journalists say: blogs have negative impact on tone, positive impact on editorial direction

By: John Ettorre

John Ettorre — Tue, 27 May 2008 14:20:44 +0000

Well, for most of these folks, I would guess there’s probably a pretty significant difference between how many they admit to reading and how many they actually do read. I wouldn’t take anything at face value on this subject.

By: Jill Miller Zimon

Jill Miller Zimon — Tue, 27 May 2008 14:08:48 +0000

P. Springer – wow, that’s an outstanding commentary. On the RFK thing, I believe he NAILS it exactly – makes me so made the way it’s being spun. Here’s what he wrote in that Politico link you offer:

Clinton does indeed mention the Kennedy assassination, speaking in a calm and analytical tone: “My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right? We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California.”

Martin and I both thought we saw a slight twinge in Clinton’s facial expression, as though she recognized she had just said something dumb.

Whether she recognized it or not, she had.

But it was also clear that Clinton’s error was not in saying something beyond the pale but in saying something that pulled from context would sound as if it were beyond the pale.

It would be a big story if Clinton said something like this: “Hey, I know it looks bad for me now. But, think about it. Obama could get shot and I’d get to be the nominee after all.”

It is a small story if Clinton said something like this: “Everyone talks like May is incredibly late, but by historical standards it is not. Think of all the famous milestones in presidential races that have taken place during June.”

It seems pretty obvious that the latter is what Clinton meant, and not too far from what she actually said. It was not surprising that the Argus Leader’s executive editor, Randall Beck, put out a statement saying, “Her reference to Mr. Kennedy’s assassination appeared to focus on the time line of his primary candidacy and not the assassination itself.”

By: Jill Miller Zimon

Jill Miller Zimon — Tue, 27 May 2008 14:04:28 +0000

That may be true, John, however, most news folks keep their blog reading to a limited few. If you read Extreme Mortman, you may recall that he did a series in which he had newspaper people ID which blogs they consider to be must-reads.

By: P. Springer

P. Springer — Tue, 27 May 2008 12:26:19 +0000

Just FYI, Politico has an article up that relates to this (the best stuff is at the end).

How small stories become big news
By JOHN F. HARRIS
5/25/08 11:02 AM EST

http://tinyurl.com/6ab7d9

By: John Ettorre

John Ettorre — Fri, 23 May 2008 12:44:41 +0000

Good journalists get their ideas from a million places, synthesizing everything they read, see, hear and observe, from both formal and informal channels. It’s the ultimate exercise in lifelong learning and the always-on lifestyle. It would be almost impossible to narrow that down to a few blogs, because that’s but a modest channel in the river of information that the good ones take in and digest.