I agree with Juan’s criticisms of the “bloggers as digital mob” argument, and just wanted to add this: The reason that we dislike mobs is that they have the power to cause physical damage entirely unrelated to the persuasiveness of their ideas.
But when bloggers “hound[] . . . prominent newsmen from their jobs,” they don’t do it through force — nor do they do it through “extravagant opinions” as such. A news organization isn’t going to fire someone because people express unfounded opinions about them; and to the extent the news organization fears public reaction to unfounded opinions, it has plenty of opportunity to make its own case to the public. Unlike some of the targets of media criticism, the media targets of blog criticism have ample means to publicly defend themselves. The wealthy established media should have little difficulty rebutting unfounded opinions spread by amateur bloggers.
Of course, when the opinions, however extravagant, are actually well-founded, the media may well respond to them. And prominent newsmen who have indeed done something wrong may be dismissed by their employers, not because some oh-so-scary “digital mob” is threatening to rip apart the jail if the prisoner isn’t handed over, but because bloggers are making a persuasive case that the newsmen have indeed badly erred. “Blogs can . . . be destructive and unaccountable,” the Technology Review story says. Yet they are accountable in the simplest and most effective way: If their charges against newsmen aren’t persuasive, there’ll be little reason for the newsmen’s employers to act on those charges.
Finally, Technology Review complains, even though “[p]erhaps all three men deserved their fates; maybe the blogosphere is to be applauded,” “bloggers expressed an unseemly triumph after they got their man.” Heaven forfend! “There’s a mob outside the window, Sheriff — and they’re . . . gloating.” “What has this country come to, deputy? I guess we’d better give them what they want.”
Let’s just say that if “mobs” were simply famous for persuading media employers, through the force of their reasoning, to fire errant newsmen, and then “express[ing] . . . unseemly triumph,” then “mob” wouldn’t be much of a pejorative.
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