Sunday, April 24, 2005
Rosen on blog essences. Writing today about Tim Porter's journalism blog, First Draft, Jay Rosen for all practical purposes defines excellence in blogging. It seems that we need:
1. A significant topic: I practiced journalism, but . . . .
2. A problem: . . . I had precious little information about my own profession, about its best practitioners (or greatest charlatans), about its history and role in the development and preservation of democracy, about its standards or even about the people I intended to inform-- the community around me . . .
3. A commitment: . . . He approaches this task with a certain intensity, and even anger, because it is revealing of his own career-- in fact his own illusions . . .
4. A method: . . . [he makes a] scrupulous and passionate discussion of the latest data . . .
5. A sense of daring and hope: . . . [his blog is] truthtelling at its best because Tim Porter shares every dream these people have . . .
Possibly there is a more important and subtle element to the method, though. Jay Rosen says that
He's writing in the voice of a second professional (a thinker, writer, critic, consult-er) "against" the first-- the newsroom pro who thought he knew a lot about journalism but got that part wrong.
So we need leverage, a second perspective that opens up the common sense of our topic for a fresh view. Rosen hints that there is more than one way to accomplish this -- not just the practice of critique, which he sees in Porter's posts:
. . . under that, another story plays. A writer named Tim Porter is doing a second draft of his own history in journalism, and this time around he is richer in arguments, insights and facts.
In this case, some of the leverage and maybe much of the commitment come from the personal. The excellent blogger has a way to work personal experience and perspective into the critique. We're not limiting ourselves to traditional kinds of professional persona. We have good reason to mention that often lively, sometimes tedious character known as I.
As Jay Rosen interprets it, then, First Draft is the log of Tim Porter's self-education. At the same time, it is place where he creates a new public voice. It is no accident that the two go together in a weblog. [0 & P]
1. A significant topic: I practiced journalism, but . . . .
2. A problem: . . . I had precious little information about my own profession, about its best practitioners (or greatest charlatans), about its history and role in the development and preservation of democracy, about its standards or even about the people I intended to inform-- the community around me . . .
3. A commitment: . . . He approaches this task with a certain intensity, and even anger, because it is revealing of his own career-- in fact his own illusions . . .
4. A method: . . . [he makes a] scrupulous and passionate discussion of the latest data . . .
5. A sense of daring and hope: . . . [his blog is] truthtelling at its best because Tim Porter shares every dream these people have . . .
Possibly there is a more important and subtle element to the method, though. Jay Rosen says that
He's writing in the voice of a second professional (a thinker, writer, critic, consult-er) "against" the first-- the newsroom pro who thought he knew a lot about journalism but got that part wrong.
So we need leverage, a second perspective that opens up the common sense of our topic for a fresh view. Rosen hints that there is more than one way to accomplish this -- not just the practice of critique, which he sees in Porter's posts:
. . . under that, another story plays. A writer named Tim Porter is doing a second draft of his own history in journalism, and this time around he is richer in arguments, insights and facts.
In this case, some of the leverage and maybe much of the commitment come from the personal. The excellent blogger has a way to work personal experience and perspective into the critique. We're not limiting ourselves to traditional kinds of professional persona. We have good reason to mention that often lively, sometimes tedious character known as I.
As Jay Rosen interprets it, then, First Draft is the log of Tim Porter's self-education. At the same time, it is place where he creates a new public voice. It is no accident that the two go together in a weblog. [0 & P]
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