The word “hijack” comes to mind. Petrocanada is not an amateur filmmaker. It’s the biggest gasoline company in Canada.

But the story goes on to explain some of Petrocanada’s thinking, other people are quoted, and the line I like best is this one, from Max Valiquette, who runs a company called Youthography; “This is a press release in the form of a video, and I think we’re going to see more of that in the coming years.”

Which is one of the reasons why I’m happy my younger son is planning to be a movie maker and animator.

BAK

When I was a young foreign correspondent with Reuters, my editors told me: “Don’t believe what you read in the papers.” The point of this admonition was they did not want me to recycle untruthful garbage on the Reuters wire. Experience soon taught me they were right. When I checked the facts, much of the more attractive stories purveyed by the mainstream media turned out to be dubious. I learned early to look elsewhere for real news.

For 3 years I was posted in Communist countries where the media systematically distorted the news. Yet, somehow many people seemed to know what was really happening. Somebody found out, and people passed it on to each other, bypassing the media.

A few years ago, my sister stood as an opposition parliamentary candidate in a country where her party was denied any coverage at all by the mainstream media. She won two thirds of the votes gained by the candidate of the party which had been ruling for the past quarter of a century. How did the voters know she even existed, let alone the issues of justice and anti-corruption for which she stood?

The answer is again (I assume): word of mouth. Blogging is another form of word of mouth transmission of news. It may contain at least as much nonsense as the mainstream media, but it works efficiently and is as old as the hills.

That’s the world we professional communicators have been living in for a long time, even if it has not always been apparent. Let’s use whatever channels are available to us. And as consumers: caveat emptor!

Marcus

In the oilden days (like, last year, and the year before) they could make notes all day long, knock out a story in the hour or so before deadline, sent it back to the paper, and then relax until morning, probably making more notes, but not having to write.

Now, they update their newspapers’ web sites several times a day, and some even get involved inupdates based on blog / web site readers’ reactions to the stories as the day goes on.

On a different topic: I’m trying to remember the week or so when all ther journalists in the English-speaking world double checked their facts. “When in doubt, leave it out” and so on. Maybe, jsut maybe, when I was a reporter, in the mid-sisties.

BEeore that, newspaper wars reigned. After that, reporters — well, lots of them — turned into stenographers.

That meant that “accurate” was defined as getting the quote right. Whether the quote refleted honesty or accuracy did not matter. Just whether or not someone said something.

Which brings us back to individual credibility of journalists, whether they are writing on paper, on screens, on tv, or scripts for radio.

Now, vast numbers of journalists provide, at the bottom of their stories, ways to easily communicate with them by e-mail.

Yesterday, J.D. Roberts, ex-Toronto disc jockey, reported from Israel on CNN mentioning what he was told, but to the credit of his Canadian journalism training, also pointed out that CNN had not been able to confirm what they were being told.

BAK

Over the past year, in speaking with communicators around the globe, it is clear that blogging does indeed have a place in the communication world. It was also clear that many of us are struggling with whether or not blogging is a “legitimate” form or journalism - in the sense that we have traditionally viewed journalism. Maybe we need to stop thinking in that traditional paradigm (sorry, I hate that word but couldn’t think of a suitable alternative). Blogging brings a new immediateness to events in the world as interpreted by the people that are living the experience. Do I still watch the news and read three newspapers a day? Yes. However, I also now search for blogs that address news items that interest me, which often provide new and interesting perspectives. As we all know, there are usually many sides to every story. I think there is a critical role for blogs in shedding some light on all of those sides.

I agree that blogging has a place in the communication world. My question to you: do you know if Ms. Goldman verifies the reports she receives, checks the facts, validates the information? Journalists are trained to verify, check and validate — it’s one of the comforts we have in their reports. Bloggers are free to blog without any constraint for accuracy or validity.
Wilma

Indeed, the job of reporting international events, once solely the province of news people, is now open to any and everybody. Even though some folks do a great job of it, and I’m no longer a newspaper reporter, I feel a sense of loss. I was once part of what I felt was an exclusive fraternity (or in my case, sorority) of people - those whose responsibility was to serve the community in this particular fashion. I didn’t think I was better than anyone else, but I did think I was/we were special.