Romenesko's news judgment
Washington Post Editor Leonard Downie takes a shot at Romenesko for not being discriminating enough in the sorts of stories it links to. You can read it all for yourself. It's one of those things that is a huge dust-up for 24 hours and then disappears because, really, who outside the Beltway cares?
Still, it's rare to see a big-league newspaper editor raise a question about Romenesko's judgment. And a fair question it is. Romenesko exerts outsized influence over the journalistic discussion because so many journalists read him. He's like everyone used to think the New York Times was -- whatever its editors put on A1 influenced news judgment at papers across the country. What Romenesko chooses to link to -- and chooses not to link to -- makes a difference, too. And these days, it's a constant drumbeat of bad news and press criticism.
Romenesko links to this blog often enough. Sometimes I solicit it because it means my traffic goes up. But I haven't figured out a rhyme or reason to when he does and when he doesn't. My guess is that Downie and editors everywhere wonder the same thing.
Here is Romenesko himself describing a day in the life (pdf, page 5).
I've come to the same conclusion as Doug Clifton, retired editor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer: Its strength is breadth. Its flaw is indiscriminate selections. Third rate stuff from an alternative can be given equal weight to a serious piece in AJR or CJR....Because it is so widely read by journalists the echo effect can be overwhelming. I’m convinced Howell Raines and Gerald Boyd lost their jobs because they couldn’t escape the Romenesko undertow. That said, it provides an essential and immediate forum for discussion of important journalistic issues.
Romenesko is mostly a personal Web site and as such, he can post whatever he pleases. Sure his judgment is goofy sometimes. Sure it dwells more on the negative than the positive. But I'm sure Downie realized that he was acting just like the reader of the Washington Post who complains about that newspaper's judgment on a story about, say, Bush and Iraq.
It's a funny, even awkward, position for a newspaper editor to be in.
Comments (1)
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John, I've read Romenesko since before it became part of poynter.org. Back in the day Jim called it Media Gossip, which is all anyone needs to know to understand Romenesko's mindset and the resulting eclectic mix of hard news, commentary and trivialities.
As a news blogger I see myself living Jim's day much like my own. Early in the morning there is a strong temptation to post whatever catches my eye, because I'm never sure what, if anything, will turn up later. And I'm inclined to post whatever I spend more than a few minutes reading or tracing through links, because otherwise I'd feel I was wasting my time. Some days this means I give play to a mom-and-pop shop's opening that on other days I'd ignore while I delve into the local wine industry's problems.
It's all news to someone. With the Web's unlimited newshole, Jim and I can throw anything up on our sites and see what sticks. Some days it's candy; some days it's snot.
Posted on December 12, 2007 11:48 AM