Lessons to learn form the Harry affair

Matt Drudge has come under a fair amount of criticism over his breaking of the Harry embargo,despite the fact that the news had been out for at least a month.

For Steve Borris,the affair shows that

Matt Drudge is the primordial life form of the New Journalist, so Old Media must begin to learn from his success and copy him. Editing/aggregating is what the future of journalism is all about, as the public learns that reporters have been little more than middleman-repeaters of stories that now can be told directly by news sources themselves.

And why?

He is fearless, in part because he is an outsider who requires no favors from those in power. He is an editor/aggregator, not a reporter. He is totally independent, publishing without review by others. When he breaks stories, his verification processes are unknown and he often publishes rumors. He gives equal billing to entertainment news and stories that are sensational or satisfy prurient interests. He is a conservative populist, not a Beltway liberal. He lacks a college degree, much less one in journalism.

17th Jan -an anniversary for new media

It is 10 years ago today that blogger Matt Drudge broke the story of Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky and Guido salutes the anniversary by saying that

His story ended once and for all the gate-keeper ability, if not the mentality, of the mainstream media elite. He later said "We are all newsmen now."

Guido himself recommends the following three points for bloggers

1 Content. Original relevant content. Go get the story.

2 Don't follow the herd. Have a clear unique online personality.

3.Updating regularly is hard work, if you have nothing new to say, nobody will read you. Link to hot news at least.

I also recommend Steve Borris' piece at Pajamas media on the same issue

The Monica Lewinsky scandal left a stain on the U.S. mainstream media that will never come off, argues Steve Boriss. When Americans witnessed journalistic elites slithering out of their responsibility to call immoral behavior by its name exactly a decade ago, they were never trusted again