The ombudsman for National Public Radio reports on a major goof at NPR recently: When NPR posted a redacted version of a classified government report, they posted a version that could be un-redacted by translating it into another format. Some Internet users realized the error and translated the format; some then posted the un-redacted version of the report on the web, including at some blogs.
What’s the lesson of the story? Well, one obvious lesson is not to post a version of a classified government document that can be unredacted. Posting that version effectively posted the classified information to the Net, which is really really bad. The NPR ombudsman draws a different lesson, though: he blames the blogosphere.
[T]he blogosphere has proven once again to be an amoral place with few rules. The consequences for misbehavior are still vague. The possibility of civic responsibility remains remote. It is a place where the philosophy of “who posts first, wins” predominates.
The blogosphere’s lack of morals is apparently part of a broader problem facing American youth today:
American newspapers traditionally and scrupulously segregate fact-based reporting from opinion by designating pages for each. Radio and television try to ensure that opinion remains secondary to reporting. Conclusions should be drawn warily. Bloggers tend not to care if they, and their [mostly young] readers conflate opinion and fact. It’s part of the appeal of the blogosphere.
As news organizations fight to regain their battered credibility and vanishing audiences, the blogs and the number of people who read them continue to grow. The blogs entertain, they provoke, and they are not constrained by journalistic standards of truth telling.
This is a challenge and a danger for journalism.
Can the MSM adopt any blog values to attract the younger audience? Or should we wait and see? Perhaps these younger people will outgrow these youthful informational indiscretions and come to their senses — and back to media that can serve them best…
I have my doubts…
I tell ya, kids today. First it was that “rock and roll” music; now they’ve moved on to reading blogs.
Thanks to Howard for the link. (Oh, and I should say that I wasn’t sure if the ombudsman was being serious at first; after reading over the post a few times, though, I don’t think it’s meant as a joke.)
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