At 11:57 PM +0100 7/31/08, <michael(_dot_)dillon(_at_)bt(_dot_)com> wrote:
Of course then there is
the clarity of terminology, so lets define journalist as someone
who is paid to write articles for a publication and who is
at IETF to do their dayjob. Whether or not the journalist
also has a blog is irrelevant. This definition does exclude
people like me who are not currently paid to write and who
only write on things like blogs and mailing lists.
Aside from my view that it would be unwise and counterproductive to
try to exclude any type of journalist, you propose an unworkable and
unrealistic distinction. As much as you may not like it (and as much
as some "traditional" or "real" journalists and the companies that
employ them certainly do not like it), journalism is radically
transforming, and "real" reporters are dwindling in number and
Internet-age reporters are exploding.
There are "real" reporters who work on a freelance basis and are not
paid until they write a story and (if they are lucky) place it.
Should they be excluded because they are not on someone's payroll?
There are bloggers who work full time for a corporation with one
employee (themselves), and are compensated from advertising revenue
-- an arrangement that (except for the number of employees) is
remarkably similar to reporters who work for the New York Times. Are
they in or out? I think you would find it impossible to draw a
rational, fair line that allows in the people you prefer and excludes
the rest.
A much better approach would be for the IETF to move into the
Internet age (vis-a-vis journalists) and figure out how to work with
all journalists, rather than cling to an outdated conception of that
profession. If some journalists are not getting it, we all
collectively need to do a better job of educating them. If a blogger
gets it wrong, then we can all correct the error (either on the
original blog or other blogs), and readers will begin to figure out
that the blogger does not know what he/she is talking about (and
perhaps then the blogger will listen more carefully the next time
around). And isn't it likely that the blogger will get it more wrong
if we exclude him/her in the first place?
My 2 cents....
John Morris
jmorris(_at_)cdt(_dot_)org
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