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September 21, 2007

Boehm: Newspapers problems? It ain't objectivity.

Once again Mike Boehm from the Los Angeles Times has contributed a quality comment that I feel compelled to showcase. Here he responds to my post yesterday exploring the limitations of objectivity as a genre of writing. Mike argues that the genre works just fine, thanks. The real problems in the industry are found in a failed business model, a dominating economic ideology and shifting sands of Internet technologies. As Mike writes:

Can we please lay off trying to reinvent the wheel of how to do good journalism, when we already know that? The real crisis we old-media types all face has to do with changing business structures and revenue shrinkage in the Internet age. It doesn't mean there's anything obsolete about the principles we follow in gathering and presenting the news. Objective journalism is a method that is proven and reliable and strong, but like a superbly designed automobile, how fast and how far it will take you still depends on how much gas you put in the tank. Let's not make the silly mistake of confusing an empty gas tank for a blown engine. Now, fill 'er up, please.

Read Mike's and Gary Panetta's commentary here.

Posted by John Stoehr at September 21, 2007 8:26 AM

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