Conservative Blogger: They Mock What They Do Not Understand...

"The difference is that the bloggers aspire to being a force in our public life and claim to be at the forefront of a new political-media era. It was clear to me, from following their efforts that night, that, unlike journalists, some blog operators who are quick to trash the MSM not only don’t care about the veracity of the stories they are spreading, they do not understand when there is a live hand grenade on their keyboard. They appear not to care. Their concern is for controversy and 'hits'." -- former CBS Correspondent Eric Engberg writing on CBSNews.com, November 8, 2004

Bernard Goldberg was right. The main-stream media types just don't get it.

Take Goldberg's former colleague at CBS News, Eric Engberg, for example. Engberg retired from CBS in 2002 but continues to write opinion pieces for the CBS News website. Today, he decided to weigh in on election coverage by bloggers and he was less than kind.

In a column published today titled, "Blogging As Typing, Not Journalism," Engberg equates blogging to high school journalism and CB radios. He pretends to understand what blogging is about and decides he is qualified enough to pass judgment on something he understands nothing about.

His first mistake is believing that bloggers want to be journalists.

"As a retired mainstream media ('MSM') journalist – and thus a double-dinosaur -- I don’t begrudge these knights of the blog-table their grandiose dreams. But I worked on a school paper when I was a kid and I owned a CB radio when I lived in Texas. And what I saw in the blogosphere on Nov. 2 was more reminiscent of that school paper or a 'Breaker, breaker 19' gabfest on CB than anything approaching journalism." -- Eric Engberg

While I cannot speak for all bloggers on the planet, I think it's more accurate to say that bloggers exist to answer the bias that's prevalent in the main-stream media that Eric Engberg holds so dear. Back when Correspondent Engberg was contributing to the CBS Evening News, the news cycle clearly dictated how news was reported. Thanks to the advent of cable news channels and the Internet, this is no longer true. The news cycle is history and stories become news as they happen, instead of waiting to see if it appears above the fold in the New York Times and then deciding to report on it.

Engberg proves his own ignorance by citing the blogs he reviewed prior to writing to this column:

From early afternoon to very late in the evening, those who checked in with the leading political blogs like Drudge, Wonkette, Andrew Sullivan, evote, mydd.com, Daily Kos, and others were given the distinct impression that John Kerry would win the election. The website Slate.com, well-funded and generally a responsible voice, joined in the folly. -- Eric Engberg

Now I'm not nitpicking, but Drudge is not a blog. Matt Drudge does not write a blog, he investigates scoops and provides links. In fact, he seems to do so more thoroughly than the "MSM," Mr. Engberg.

The other sites? Yeah, they're blogs alright. None of those sites claim to be anything other than what they are, though: blogs. Wonkette doesn't profess to be a journalist. In fact, that site is described by the author as a "gossip site." Andrew Sullivan's site, evote.com, mydd.com and Daily Kos may have content that relates news stories, but they are clearly opinion driven. Slate.com is not a blog, nor is it a news site. It is strictly a commentary site. (Most of the sites he looked at were Liberal, too, by the way.)

At no time, however, do any of these sites profess to be news outlets. Engberg conveniently left that part out of his analysis. I wish I could say this shocks me.

Engberg was the same reporter who had done a "Reality Check" segment for the CBS Evening News on Steve Forbes' flat tax idea. The report was a prime example of bias in network reporting and it was so blatant that it prompted Engberg's colleague, the aforementioned Bernard Goldberg, to write an op-ed piece for the Wall Street Journal on media bias. (Goldberg would go on to write "Bias" and "Arrogance" as well.)

Engberg was also cited by the Media Research Center as CBS' poster boy for liberal bias just after his retirement.

What Eric Engberg and his mainstream media buddies don't get is that the blogosphere exists in part because people are so fed up with him and his kind. The Eric Engbergs of the world parse out what they want us to know and assume that we're not smart enough to interpret all the details they left out. You know, that is arrogance--of the worst kind.

I also find it somewhat ironic that Engberg would use a opinion-based column on a website to criticize opinion-based columns on websites. He can criticize blogs all he wants to, but the mainstream networks were just as guilty at jumping to conclusions based on inaccurate information.

His own network, CBS, called George W. Bush as the winner of Ohio at 11:55pm on election night, and then reversed it's own projection five minutes later. Is this any different than what some of the blog sites did on election day? No it's not. Both groups made projections based on available information. Some were right and some were wrong. That's what happens when you make projections.

By the way, Eric, Conservative Blogger is NOT a news site and I am NOT a journalist. I just didn't want you to be confused when you read it, Mr. Engberg. You may claim that bloggers lack expertise, standards and humility, but we seem to have in abundance what you and your kind seem to lack: an interest in the facts and a desire to comment fairly. Perhaps that's something you should try yourself. At least we're honest about the fact we do comment and opinion and don't try to mask it under the guise of journalism.

I wish I could say the same about you, Eric Engberg.

Unlike the CB radio and CBS News' viewers, we aren't going away--so you'd better get used to it.

William Smith
ConservativeBlogger.com

Posted by WilliamSmith on November 8, 2004 03:10 PM to Conservative Blogger