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There's a Reason I Stick To the Numbers

Jay Rosen's response to my observations on his Tony Snow column hilights one of the difficulties of blogging. Because blog authors are more easily identified with their articles than traditional print journalists (and are thus closer to op-ed columnists, though hopefully reality-based op-ed columnists), it's easy to mistake the opinions of sources for the opinions of the author. Rosen himself, of course, never opines on the "meaning" of Snow's hiring, but points to others who have their own speculation and the White House official line that Snow signals a new era of press relations. Outside pundits like David Gergen (quoted towards the end of the Rosen article) and David Broder (quoted in the "After Matters" section) seem skeptical.

I implied otherwise, that Rosen also thought would and allow "more complete information", as Broder calls it. If anything, he points out the opposite: "The [Bush] regime seems to have concluded that if more of the story is withheld it has increased freedom of maneuver in dealing with the enemies of freedom. That regime could be strengthened with a slicker Tony Snow out front."

The lessons learned here are that quoting your sources can easily force you to read them properly, and that bloggers, while we need not adopt all the conventions of traditional journalism, do have to learn to be careful if it's going to be taken seriously.

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Last updated by Nicholas Beaudrot on 08:53 01 May 2006