atw: Re: Was: First impressions of Google Wave? Qualified 'tick': Now what's a "feature"?
- From: "Matthew da Silva" <journo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 30 Oct 2009 08:51:37 +1000
Peter - I quite agree with you about quality control. At the risk of
provoking more attacks, I'll just say that what you ask for costs money.
Beat reporters have in the past been supported by ads. In Australia the
situation is not so bad, but in the US newspapers and magazines are dropping
journalists helter-skelter as the Internet siphons of more of the rivers of
gold. I do think there is a role for newspapers to do more backgrounding for
readers. So in addition to the main news item that you rightly criticise,
they also publish a round-up in the weekend edition. Sort of a'7.30 Report',
magazine-style feature story to flesh out the issues. Maybe they don't do
enough, and I've heard people voice the same opinion elsewhere, with similar
tones of regret.
Cheers,
Matthew da Silva BA (Hons) MMediaPrac Syd
m 0434 536 772 | e journo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx | w matthewdasilva.com | t
twitter.com/matt_dasilva
-----Original Message-----
From: austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Peter Martin
Sent: Friday, 30 October 2009 8:42 AM
To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx; austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: atw: Re: Was: First impressions of Google Wave? Qualified 'tick':
Now what's a "feature"?
Matthew:
On reflection, I don't think I may it clear enough that what I was concerned
about was the implication that there's news and features, that the latter
has bits of attributable quotes from stake-holders etc, and the suggestion
that there's then "opinion"... or whatever. I wasn't so much specifically
questioning sources on your Facebook story per se.
Rather the point I was trying to make is that whether it's news or a
feature, there's always a need for journalists not just to quote the
stake-holders but to assess their overall credibility and the credibility of
their story before they rush to print and lend weight to those opinions.
In other industries, it's called quality control and verification.
So I was a bit off-topic -- which is why I added the "what's a feature" bit
in the subject.
I was also trying to make the point that writing a story for the front page
based entirely on quotes from the most dubious of sources lends weight to a
story that appears now to have had no legs, and makes the SMH look like a
gossip column. I don't see why Kate McClymont should have been given the
leeway for the story in the first place -- let alone encouraged to continue
digging in the rich vein of rumours from stand-over men and convicted crims
without a single firm line of reliable evidence to justify that mining.
What we now know is that public servants spoke to a lobbyist and people who
were asking about the application of the law or pressing for its application
in some areas. Surprise surprise, that's part of the job of public
servants: they do it every day. (But not always over coffee, apparently.)
They also heard from MPs and Ministers with representations on these and
related topics. Surprise, surprise: that's also the daily job and
responsibility of all three groups: MPs, Ministers and public servants.
Apparently none of this led to changes in the status quo at all.
So?????????????? When's the first shoe going to drop ? And if it
doesn't, was it ever really news? Or just a case of throwing stuff and
seeing if any of it sticks?
We need a deal more than "attributable quotes from stake-holders". We need
to know that facts asserted by these stake-holders aren't just special
pleading, dubious gossip or plain lies. Otherwise, we get the quality of
Facebook or an unchecked entry into a wiki or a blog.
The quality rule for journalism remains: know them from the quality of
their sources.
Relevance to tech writing? Well, some rules are cross-disciplinary.
-PeterM
peterm_5@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there.
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