Sorting fact from the fiction

posted on 10th July 2006 by Jon

An interesting article in Sunday’s Observer newspaper looks into the political power now wielded by political bloggers in the UK. Over the pond, agenda setting by blogs is a long accepted practice. It is only now that the UK’s mainstream media has been forced into accepting the now blurred lines between what bloggers write and what the traditional media prints/broadcasts. The problem that the mainstream media faces is the same thing that (for now) allows them to keep an upper hand. They are restricted by process. Everything they print or broadcast must first pass legal and all claims must be backed by some form of evidence. Because these checks are absent for bloggers they are always going to get closer to the bone, although their stories will carry less weight. The major advantage that bloggers possess at the moment is speed. A story can be posted in seconds with no concerns for due process or confirmation of fact. A blogger hears a rumour - then posts it online. At this point, the mainstream picks up on it and starts the process of investigating the facts. The argument spoused by the likes of the BBC’s Nick Robinson is that one side releases the rumours and stories whilst the other sorts the fact from the crap and then shares it with a wider audience. 

Is this such a bad thing? Well, it is if you’re John Prescott! This week the DPM became the vehicle that brought this battle of the media to the fore. Stories on Iain Dale’s blog (5thnovember.blogspot.com) about the DPM’s many failings and misdemeanors have been elevated to front page news all week. Dale was even interviewed by Jeremy Paxman on Newsnight (watch it here).

Where will this lead? We could end up with one of two scenrios:

Scenario one: Regulated blogging. A term that doesn’t actually make any sense as the whole idea of blogging is for it to be free and uncensored. It would however be conceivable for a blogger or network of bloggers to create a community that commits to some form of code of conduct whereby all sources are divulged and claims backed by fact.

Scenario two: Rumour mill journalism. Mainstream media gives up on trying to beat the blogger in breaking stories and instead, publishes each story by attributing it to the blog in which it was found. This will eventually add the gravitas that politico-bloggers in particular are searching for as it will mean that they have now become THE source.

Many bloggers will argue that blogging itself is the truth. It is the method by which facts are discovered and in many cases, it has proved to be the cold hard factual evidence that backs up the story as opposed to the rumour that starts it. Examples of this are abundant in the US. For example, “Rathergate” or the story about the US using chemical weapons in Fallujah. In these instances it was the traditional media that printed the crap and the bloggers that came to the rescue. However, these examples are mostly US based and there are fewer best practice stories in the UK.

It won’t be long before this does happen over here. A big story (much bigger than Prezza) will come out in someone’s blog and lead to the downfall of a politician that really matters (e.g. Blair / Brown). When that happens, the landscape will officially have changed and the already blurred lines between the two forms of media will be eroded completely. Watch this space…