|
|
The increasingly inaccurately-named blog of journalist and futurist Chris Taylor. Either the most sporadically brilliant amateur blog, the most brilliantly amateur sporadic blog, or the most amateur sporadic brilliance on the Web since 2001.
Oh My God, the RSS Feed Actually Works!
Daily Blah FAQ
Who are you?
I'm the newly-appointed Future editor at Business 2.0 and the former San Francisco correspondent for Time Magazine.
Wow, so does this mean everything you write reflects Time Inc's opinion? Or do you perhaps have some sort of standard disclaimer to the effect that it doesn't?
Naturally, the opinions contained in this blog are not those of my employers. In fact, some opinions may be the polar opposite of my employers. Some may be the same, for all I know. Hey, it's not like I ask my employers their opinions about everything in the news, okay? Let's just say that if this were a Venn diagram with one circle marked "my opinions" and the other one marked "my employers' opinions", there would doubtless be some overlap. But neither I nor my employers are able to pinpoint exactly where that overlap is.
What is this Daily Blah thing?
An experiment for a column I wrote about blogging back in December 2001. All these years later, I haven't been able to kick the habit.
Do you write any other blogs, by chance? Could that have something to do with the fact that Daily Blah isn't always Daily?
Yes -- the Future Boy blog for Business 2.0. And yes. If you want true, editorially-mandated daily coverage from me, that's probably the best place to look.
Mister, you talk funny. Are you one of them furrners?
Why yes I am, as it happens. I was born, raised and educated in Great Britain. I've been living in the U.S. since 1996 and identify as British.
I say, old chap, you forgot the "u" in "colour."
No I didn't. I may identify as British, but I am also an American journalist writing for an American audience about mostly American issues. These two different sides of me are a constant source of tension. Nevertheless, Daily Blah will adhere to American English grammar and spelling.
Praise for Daily Blah:
"It is fun to watch the author's navel-gazing joy." - Sunday Times (UK)
"It's really funny and informative." - Dave Eggers, author
"The Blah is becoming a daily destination for me." - Richard Marsh, Playwright
"I like it, and I don't." - Fiona Hogg, Teacher
"Better than Xanax." - Lessley Andersen, journalist
"Dude, lay off the crack pipe." - Souris Hong-Porretta, gamesmith
Friends, Bloggers, Countrymen ... lend your ears to these people. I come not to bury them, but praise them.
Arik
Bill
Dan
Cole
Emily B
Emily G
Helena
Jee
Jewelz
Kaila
Kathryn
Mac
Robin
Slim
Souris
Mr. West
My TIME articles
All magazine articles (subscription required for older stories)
Online column index
|
|
|
|
|
Daily Blah for... Tuesday, September 07, 2004
Neutral = Bias?
A new academic paper argues the mainstream media is effectively biased on the subject of global warming -- by giving equal time to the nut jobs who don't believe it exists. Publish quotes of equal length from those who represent the scientific consensus and those who don't, the authors argue, and you end up giving fringe beliefs more credence.
I agree, although to call it bias suggests intention. I'm sure these journalists are operating on the principle -- flawed, but a principle nonetheless -- that since America is divided down the middle between two political philosophies, even the science stories ought to represent both sides equally. This neutrality is all-pervasive: taught in journalism school, reinforced by editors, sanctioned by the letters department. And over the last four years, it has become a real problem.
The trouble is, there's no tradition of campaigning in the American media. Not any more. There used to be, back in the days of yellow journalism; if Pulitzer, Hearst et al saw something manifestly, self-evidently wrong, they went to war against it. (Cut to screaming three-column headline from Citizen Kane: Traction Trust Exposed!) Trouble was, self-evidence is in the eye of the beholder, and more often than not the newspaper magnates had their own interests, and higher circulation, at heart ("you provide the pictures," Hearst's infamous cable read, "I'll provide the war").
So a new sobriety settled like dust on their inheritors; a mechanical adherence to the truth as represented by the will of the people, in the absence of any better measure, though that will be schizophrenic. Say "newspaper campaign" to anyone, even here in San Francisco, and they'll probably think of Chronicle Watch, a daily box that keeps track of how many days a particular pothole-pocked road or busted bus stop hasn't been fixed. Useful, no doubt, but incredibly unambitious. Is that all we're prepared to hold our elected officials to these days? Lie all you want, but for God's sake, keep our roads in good shape?
Not to retread a well-worn phrase on this page, but it's different where I come from. If The Sun reaches the conclusion that the Chancellor of the Exchequer needs to be sacked, it doesn't meekly bleat the suggestion on its opinion page. It prints his face sticking out of a dustbin every day, and counts days until he resigns. God forbid Rupert Murdoch give anyone lessons in journalism, but he does have a shockproof sense of the power of media, and the theater people seek from it. So how about, for starters, a graphic of the Earth on the cover of the NYT every day, with the number of days since Bush pulled out of Kyoto -- and the number of days we've been waiting for some kind of a climate-change policy from this administration?
|
|
|
|
