Comments on: Rather Awkward Exit

By: Fûz

Fûz — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 02:26:26 +0000

I was a charter subscriber to Brill’s Content, paying for the full year’s issues upfront, never to receive them because the magazine cratered after only 5 or so issues.

It appealed to me because it promised to offer press criticism, something no other outlet at the time could even articulate. At about issue #3 or so, it became clear that Brill’s Content was no more critical of the press than Dan Rather. It offered some insight, but no stinging rebuke of the howlers, no inquiry into the motives behind the stories nor the spiking of stories. The hagiography of Mo Dowd clinched it for me.

Its passing was not lamented and I chalked the loss of money to experience.

I look to weblogs because one function they serve is what I had hoped Brill’s Content would: press criticism. In that respect, my favorite weblogs are not intended to replace the media. They cannot. Instead they add value to or quantify value of the media.

Weblog cannot be replaced by the media running blogs of their own, any more than Congress can regulate itself, or NASA can both promote and regulate space travel., or the IRS can operate their own court system to resolve disputes with itself.

Uh, wait a minute . . .

By: aaron

aaron — Fri, 16 Jun 2006 04:34:38 +0000

Not to mention that blogs and blog culture seem to be taking on characteristics of big media as audiences grow. Guess it’s just human nature to pander to an easy audience.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 17:37:32 +0000

“Rather has said several times that “my best work is still ahead of me.”

I would have to agree, since he has been a partisan hack for the last 3 decades.

By: ed in texas

ed in texas — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 11:06:52 +0000

It’s not that the story has tremendous staying power; it would have died quickly if the media had just walked away from it. It’s kinda like a spot on the highway where somebody hit a skunk. A week later you can’t see it but you can still smell it.