I know I shouldn’t accuse every journalist of blog envy just because they don’t like blogs. But it’s more fun than whining, “Maybe they just don’t understand us.” Let’s see if that’s the case.
Ken Fuson, a columnist at the Des Moines Register writes, “Perhaps you have not heard of blogs. The name derives from a combination of “blather” and “logorrhea.”
Hmm…sounds like envy to me.
Apparently upset that the pajamahadeen are stealing his press, so to speak, Fuson doesn’t (or can’t) disguise his contempt for us blatherers:
This [blogging] has proved to be a boon to people who apparently are (A) unemployed, (B) independently wealthy, or (C ) no longer content to wait on hold to get their daily fix of attention from a radio talk-show host.Let’s put it another way: You know those people who like to write letters to the editor? A blog allows them to write letters all day long, on any subject they choose, without worrying about having the profanity removed or having any of their lunatic rants checked for accuracy. (Source)
Well, I’ll tell you this. At least our “lunatic rants” are more honest than the thinly veiled editorializing reporters used to get away with. And Fuson knows that not all bloggers rant. Some are actually good writers who do real reporting. But if he wrote about blogs fairly, he wouldn’t get to unleash his own rant. In spite of himself, however, Fuson has a point here:
But the great thing is, if you’re a blogger, you get your rants linked to by other bloggers who agree with you, or other bloggers who disagree with you. Before you know it…you will achieve your dream goal: Being invited to appear on a Mainstream Media news show to explain why the Mainstream Media no longer matter.
Guilty! 
Blogs have been getting a lot of press lately. CNN has a new segment called “Blog Report.” Blogs have been featured on “Reliable Sources” and “Inside Politics.” MSNBC covers blogs almost everyday. Media critic Howard Kurtz frequently includes blog links in his column. Journalists are writing about bloggers, columnists are covering bloggers, radio talk show hosts are talking about bloggers, and the Federal Election Commission is trying to regulate bloggers. Mainstream media (MSM) and others seem to get it. Their monopoly on information is D-E-A-D.
I understand Fuson’s frustration, but he has only his fellow journalists to blame. If they weren’t such biased leftists pretending to be “moderate” or “centrist,” perhaps bloggers would not have been able to invade their territory. Blame it on Big Media Man, Dan Rather. For that matter, blame it on the rain. Who cares? All I know is MSM’s reign of error is over.
If Fuson would condescend to accept unsolicited advice from a blogger, I’d tell him how he could cure his blog envy in no time.
He should start blogging. 
Update: Speaking of MSM (Guilty!), I’ll be on Connected Coast to Coast on Wednesday at 5:00 p.m. to talk about Michael Jackson and his radio interview with Jesse Jackson yesterday. That means I have to actually listen to the two of them talking, which I’m doing now. No comment.
Also, check out Jeff Harrell’s post about another blog-envious journalist.
Update II: Upcoming events - 1) I will speak at the Spring Conference for African-American Journalists of Faith in Atlanta, Georgia, on April 29-30. I will discuss how blogging has impacted journalism and the role of Christian bloggers in general.
2) I’ve been invited to speak at BlogNashville, a three-day blogging conference in Nashville, Tennessee, May 5-7 (My birthday weekend!). I will lead the faith-based blogging session. Other session leaders/speakers: Glenn Reynolds, Henry Copeland of Blogads, Rebecca MacKinnon (of Easongate fame), Robin Burk and others. Registration is limited to 300 people, so sign up now if you’d like to attend.
Update III (3/29): Mr. Fuson, Don’t Fear The Blogger!
Check out John Hawkins’s top 40 favorite blogs.
A blog allows them to write letters all day long, on any subject they choose
And that is bad, because??
Comment by Fausta — 03.28.05 @ 5:30 pm
LaShawn,
“Reign of Error”? I love it. Can I use that once in awhile? I’ll even link to you whenever I do, if you want.
Comment by Steve — 03.28.05 @ 5:30 pm
Thanks for that La Shawn, I needed a laugh. I especially like the part he actually got right:
“Being invited to appear on a Mainstream Media news show to explain why the Mainstream Media no longer matter.”
That is classic.
Comment by Renee — 03.28.05 @ 6:49 pm
La Shawn,
I should just stop, let you do the work and take your word for it instead of listening to the MJ interview. But, like a train wreck…
Plus, I’ve got 45 free minutes, so I guess I have no excuse. Many, many thanks for letting me know about this interview.
Comment by Mike M. — 03.28.05 @ 6:58 pm
La Shawn,
Jealousy is flattering, Correct?!
Comment by Baklava — 03.28.05 @ 7:23 pm
I know we’re not liveblogging this MJ interview, but at 13:30 into the interview, I’m about to fall asleep. Is there not a trial going on right now?
And Jesse Jackson is asking him about pillow fights and his musical influences? What a joke.
La Shawn, you’ll have plenty to discuss on MSNBC.
Comment by Mike M. — 03.28.05 @ 7:30 pm
While he does come out the gate shooting at bloggers, he actually takes a lot of shots at the ignorance and arrogance of his colleagues. There is hope for a journalist who makes fun of Dan Rather:
“Apparently they were tipped off by the phrases, ‘This is a forgery!’ and, ‘Let’s see if we can get Dan Rather to buy this’ stamped on several of the suspicious papers.”
Comment by mikem — 03.28.05 @ 11:37 pm
Gosh, my heart! The Des Moines Register does not consider blogging “legitimate”.
Arrogance like this plays into the alternative media hand. Dan Rather and Eason Jordan did not resign. They were fired.
I hope our corn husking columnist has heard of them.
Comment by JoeS — 03.28.05 @ 11:58 pm
Great post! If no one is criticizing you, then you are doing something wrong.
The comments above are equally as good.
Comment by Lifeachiever — 03.29.05 @ 12:01 am
The blogs are the only place I can go to get the real scoop. The TSM (Terrorist Supporting Media) has been fabricating the news for so long that I wouldn’t trust them with a burnt match, let alone anything of importance….like the news. It sure does sound like sour grapes to me, but then what do people do when they find out they’ve been hoodwinked? The find an alternate source! Heh.
Comment by Vulgorilla — 03.29.05 @ 5:25 am
Then again, there’s people like James Lileks, who remains a mainstream columnist while maintaining his own blog! It can be done.
Comment by Cindy Swanson — 03.29.05 @ 8:09 am
An Easy Target
Are bloggers entitled to the same constitutional protection as traditional print and broadcast journalists? This is the focus in the
Trackback by Air Force Voices — 03.29.05 @ 8:13 am
The blogger’s problem is that in order to function properly-as checkers and commentator’s on events and opinions-we need the MSM, especially the big metro dailies. This is NOT at all a 2 way street: they sure as hell don’t need the bloggers. Indeed, even tho press circulation(as well as TV news viewership)has fallen flat on it’s collective rear-end’s in recent years, it seems obvious that the “professional elite media class” has no problem in taking their most devoted readers and watchers(the bloggers)and trashing them as often and frequently as they can spare the ink or video tape.
The people who really hate the blog phenom are guys like you quoted from the DMR. There are tons of folks out there in blogistan writing better stuff than this bloke and not making a dime. No wonder he feels threatened-he should. He may actually have to work for a living in the near future instead of getting his non-researched, non-d\edited, non-greycelled screeds in the pages of a major metro daily.
Comment by Warspite — 03.29.05 @ 8:58 am
“…why the Mainstream Media no longer matter”
Actually, it’s worse than that. They matter a little bit but are being held accountable within minutes of publication. That, to quote Saul Alinsky, is “outside their experience” and they have no idea how to handle it except to smear the bloggers. How long will it take the MSM to figure out that smearing bloggers isn’t working? BTW has ABC provided the Internet with a copy of the alleged “talking points memo” yet? Maybe they did learn something from Rathergate.
Comment by Evon Bachaus — 03.29.05 @ 9:11 am
If the newspapers had published engineer letters about engineering or farmer’s letters about agriculture, the urge to blog would not have been so strong. Movie stars on nuclear power and pesticides just didn’t cut it.
Comment by Walter E. Wallis — 03.29.05 @ 10:07 am
Too right Walter.
That’s one of the best 2 sentence summaries of the issue I have seen.
Comment by SCSIwuzzy — 03.29.05 @ 5:43 pm
What a bozo. (bore+zero) Haven’t seen ya in a while LaShawn, stop by.
Comment by Steel — 03.29.05 @ 8:04 pm
Prof Says MSM Coming After Blo
LaShawn Barber has the goods on an MSM columnist who thinks he has the goods on bloggers. A fun and informative read, as LaShawn always is.
Trackback by Tapscott's Copy Desk — 03.29.05 @ 8:40 pm
Hey LaShawn,
Sounds like Fuson could write for the Minnesota StarTrib. He’s aligned down to his last molecule.
I can’t get over how ready these MSMers are to deride and insult people who in many cases have truckloads of credentials and have never written an unreasoned or emotional sentence in their lives. Because some bloggers rant, it follows in the MSM logic that all blogs are rants.
Hmm.. because some TV anchors use fake documents, then all documents mentioned on TV news are fake….?
In the old days of the ’90s, you could tell just by reading that the Rush Limbaugh critics never actually listened to his show. Now they criticize the blogs they never read. Same old schtick.
Hope you’re getting some little something out of listening to the King of Flop talking to the Sheik of Shakedown… did you mean 5pm eastern or central, tomorrow…?
Comment by Dave — 03.30.05 @ 1:20 am
Came across your blog researching of all people Ken Fuson as part of a job assignment! I’m a fan of blogs, and have discovered there’s alot of great writing going on out there - just as good, if not better, than the blather you see in print.
Keep it up!
a fellow pajamahadeen!
Comment by Susan — 04.14.05 @ 9:09 am