Matt Drudge: The First of a Brave New World for Journalists

Matt Drudge is in many ways a threat to the traditional structure and ideology of journalism, which may help explain his appeal. He has no formal journalism training, nor even any experience in any mainstream media company, thus raising the notion that anyone with enough skill can become a journalist regardless of backgrounds. He works by himself without any editors or supervisors, and thereby appeals to those who are disgusted with the media's power structure and seeming institutional liberal bias.

I find Drudge's appeal troubling for several reasons. His lack of editorial oversight removes any barriers to his making mistakes apart from whatever care he exercises. While having editors to review one's work does not necessarily prevent mistakes or breaches of ethics- Stephen Glass was able to fabricate articles for The New Republic despite its extensive editing process- it helps reporters receive input on their work, notice mistakes that they missed and make the best ethical decisions in reporting. Without this oversight, Drudge essentially runs his sight with his own judgment, unchecked by anyone else, and can make mistakes without authority disciplining him. Drudge's standing apart from the mainstream media poses a problem for them in a time when the public trusts the news media less and less. News bloggers like him have the potential to accelerate this process by presenting an alternative to the news media, making it less likely that the public will trust them again. While this belief is partly based on my fear that as newspapers are cutting back, it will become more and more difficult for print journalists like me to get jobs, I personally believe that professional news journalists, at best, have the best training, experience and resources to handle important issues, and that print journalism has demonstrated a greater willingness to go in-depth into issues than broadcast journalism. As someone who hopes to do whatever is necessary to restore the public's faith in the news media, I see the rise of an alternative whose practitioners do not report as we do as a new movement that media consumers should not trust so readily.

While bloggers do not always follow appropriate ethical guidelines and pose a potential threat to any efforts journalists in the mainstream media may make to re-establish the public's trust in them, they have the ability to pick up on stories that the mainstream media would miss or not be able to report on because of advertiser or corporate pressure. Instead of being dismissed as amateurs thinking that they can outdo people who do it for a living, citizen journalists' talents should be harnessed by being placed under the oversight of a special panel designed to handle them.

-The panel should be a non-profit, non-governmental organization composed of retired journalists, journalism professors, and other experts on journalism not currently involved in the mainstream media. The committee would have nine members who serve five-year terms; however, their tenures would be set so that every year, two of the members will be replaced- except for one year in a five-year cycle when only one is.
-The panel would have the power to grant "certification" to blogs that applied, provided that they met several conditions.
*They must set and keep to a certain schedule of posts for six months.
*They must not display any openly biased reporting that a reasonable journalist would find unbalanced, for example, publishing an attack against a candidate without contacting the candidate.
*They must agree to follow the Society of Professional Journalists' code of ethics, and in the case of blogs with multiple reporters, make sure that anyone who joined be instructed to do the same.
-Blogs must submit their work to the panel, as well as a mission statement, in order to be considered for approval. A two-thirds majority is required to approve a blog.
-The approval is to be shown on the blog's website, and is intended to show that the blog is recognized as journalistically sound, which is intended to help citizen journalists be recognized as "real" journalists.
-The panel should give the approved blogs advice if they have an area that needs improvement, and should answer any questions that the bloggers e-mail them.
-If the blog commits an ethical violation, the panel's members can cite it for the violation by plurality. If the blog's offense is repeated, the blog's approval will be revoked if the panel votes to do so with a two thirds majority.
-Blogs can regain their approval by following the same steps for gaining approval. However, the blog must mention when it lost its approval and why, as well as when it regained approval.
-Any blog having committed a serious offense, like plagiarism or malicious libel, will have its approval permanently revoked.
-Every year, the panel will grant awards for specific pieces (such as Best News Story or Most Influential) and for blogs (such as Most Timely Reporting or Most In-Depth Coverage).
-The panel's website will contain records of all past decisions by the panel, who voted, by what margin they were approved or disapproved, and for what reasons, in order to help journalists and the rest of the public understand how the panel operates.

The panel would thus provide the guidance, judgment and support to citizen jouranlists that good editors provide to reporters. The rules would serve as a check on those who would otherwise go out of bounds, and citizen journalists who understand and sincerely pursue ethical journalism would be in no danger of being cited or having their approval revoked. They would, however, have the guidance they need to report fairly and accurately, and the approval to be recognized as journalists and treated as such by those they report on.