Professor David Newquist has attacked portions of regional blogosphere including, I think, this blog, and Todd Epp's S.D. Watch. The issue is our reporting on Tim Johnson. Todd vigorously responds. I will do likewise, as I think some interesting issues are involved. Here is Professor Newquist's charge:
The Three-Ds have infested South Dakota. They are Denial, Denigration, and Delusion. Along with flouride, the Three-Ds are additives to water, and the political portion of the South Dakota blogosphere, as they like to call themselves, are imbibing mightily.
They keep recycling news stories from the media about Sen. Johnson's health, and then crow and chortle over how superior they are performing compared with the media. I have checked the major news organizations for updates and found them timely, accurate, and, of course, free of the self-preening posturing. But the blogosquare keeps insisting that it is doing something the media is not.
Now for the life of me I cannot see what is being denied or who is being denigrated by SDP or by SDWatch. Indeed, I have spent much of my blogging time defending the mainstream media and even the folks at the Daily KOS. As for delusions, I suppose that has something to do with the "self-preening" charge.
I do not think that blogs are superior to, or can be a replacement for, traditional journalism. I do think that the better blogs add something to the MSM. Good traditional journalism has far more resources than bloggers have, and it is kept honest in certain respects by valuable institutional restraints. Bloggers are mostly on their own, and have almost no restraints other than self-imposed ones. That is both their weakness and their strength. Bloggers can freely speculate, and report any information from any source. A blogger who tries to be responsible will caution his readers whenever he cannot be confident about a source; but unlike many a paid reporter, he can go ahead and report what the source is saying. There is a demand for such reporting, and I see no reason why the demand should not be supplied.
It is true, as Professor Newquist notes, that blog reporting is almost entirely the "recycling" of news stories available from traditional sources. But the same thing is true of the traditional media outlets. An original story gathered from witnesses and other sources will be picked up by other outlets and republished. Readers will pick up what they are interested in, and sometimes talk about it over coffee or beer. Blogging is really just another medium for that conversation, with some elements of publishing thrown in. I think that conversation in a free and information rich republic is altogether a good thing, whatever excesses and errors it may involve. Unlike the New York Times, bloggers have no institutional authority at all; the blogosphere is a very democratic business.
Professor Newquist had another complaint.
One blog [SDWatch] posted a speculation by a man on one of the national dingbat blogs who claimed to be a neurologist or something of the kind. He suggested that the positive prognoses about Sen. Johnson may be wishful thinking and he provided a more dire prognosis. In the name of truth and accuracy. And in violation of the ethical rule adhered to by most physicians that it is okay to provide general background information on a medical condition, but one never speculates and never provides an expert diagnosis without having seen the patient, seen the patient's charts, examined the imaging of the portion of the body in question, and without obtaining the family's permission. But some blogs, as they are wont to do, circulated the dire prognosis with the usual self-acclaim for outperforming the press.
I think this is flat wrong. Jack Billion freely speculated about Senator Johnson's condition, optimistically, as did a specialist on brain injuries, both on NPR. Many other experts have done the same on TV and online. Most of us don't know very much about such things and are happy to learn more about the left-brain, right-side medical issues. That is what we have experts for.
I also think that SDWatch did a valuable service by reporting the online comments of Doctor Yubero, the source Dr. Newquist refers to. Most of the MSM reporting on Senator Johnson's condition has been very optimistic, and let us hope they are right. But it might be a good idea to consider the harder part of this news, and the MSM is not giving us that. I have a great deal of sympathy for the privacy issues involved, but Tim Johnson is a very public man and the public has a right to inquire into his health outlook. I note also that Todd Epp went the extra mile in checking out this source, and bent over backwards to caution his readers regarding the source's authenticity. That is what responsible blogging looks like.
Ps. Todd has another blog devoted to Buddhism. This is an interest he and I share, as I have been a practioner of zazen (seated meditation) for several years. The Dharma of impermanance regarding Senator Johnson's condition, and mine, and yours, and every existing thing, is worth considering
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