Journalism shifts from newspapers to blogs

Emblematic of the disturbing trend in print journalism -- away from courageous and serious reporting that seeks the truth and toward a tepid presentation of "both sides" of a story -- is the fact that The Washington Post has terminated Dan Froomkin, who for six years has written its most popular political blog.

It's true, he wrote for online readers rather than print readers, but it was a service of a newspaper company and thus subject to the same editorial/publishing constraints and concern for the company's bottom line.

Post management will not even explain to its own ombudsman why, except to trot out some tired boilerplate about change and new direction. Of course, we know that newspapers are in survival economic mode with declining readership and ad revenue. Nevertheless, it smacks of silencing a "dangerous" voice, rather than saving money.

Both The New York Times and The Washington Post have seemed in journalistic decline for years. Some are suggesting that it's the lack of real journalistic courage and forthright reporting that helps explain the decline.

The sad state of "the fourth estate" -- the necessity of an informed public for democracy to work -- is ameliorated by the rise of online journalism. That's where the exciting reporting is happening. Instead of The Times' Judy Miller and The Post's David Broder, we get Marcy Wheeler at Empty Wheel and Arianna Huffington's increasingly quoted clearing house for news.

So, what's to become of Dan Froomkin? Not to worry. Arianna has hired him. He will be The Huffington Post Washington Bureau Chief and regular columnist, overseeing a staff of four reporters devoted to covering news out of Washington.

That suggests that Arianna is moving into real journalism instead of just a compiler of news stories and opinion bloggers. She's establishing real journalism, including the resources to do some investigating reporting. That's very good news.

Greg Greenwald (writing in his online blog, of course) quotes Huffington and Froomkin:

Huffington says that it is Froomkin's views on the media that, for her, is his primary appeal. The key to vibrant, successful journalism, she said, is "getting away from the notion that truth is found by splitting the difference between the two sides, that there is always truth to both sides." Huffington argues that establishment journalism is failing due to "the idea that good journalism is about presenting both sides without a voice -- without any passion." The outlets that continue to adhere to that "obsolete" model "are paying a price." Froomkin -- who has written extensively about how passion-free, "both-sides-are-right" journalism is the primary affliction of the profession -- echoes that view: "The key challenge is to present an alternative to the 'splitting the difference' culture that has infested traditional media."

Of course, the internet has more than its share of garbage and disinformation, but it also has become the best daily source of real reporting. This may just be the center of real journalism of the future.

Ralph