Thursday, November 19, 2009

Editor & Publisher Doesn't Get the Internet Age

Editor & Publisher's Mark Fitzgerald has a short piece about what Sarah Palin reads. It's mostly quotation but in its own way proves Palin's point about the importance of having "many, many sources".
"'I read Newsmax and the Frontiersman and The Wall Street Journal and everything online,' Palin said Wednesday night in an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity. 'I absorb the news through many, many sources.'
. . .
"Palin had a snappier answer for Hannity than she had on Sept. 24, 2008 in a pre-election interview with Couric."
[emphasis added]
It may be a "snappier" answer in the sense of shorter, but the standard of having a "few" major sources is pre-internet and stupid. Fitzgerald of all people should know that. Editor & Publisher is one of more than 70 sources listed on my sidebar. If I had to choose three sources, E&P wouldn't make the cut and wouldn't be on my daily read list. (see previous post) But, I don't have to choose three. And only a very dull person would consider limiting their world to "a few"--even to pose a sound bite question.

The meat of Palin's current response in the Hannity interview is the same as given in Palin's original answer: Palin uses lots of sources.
"Couric: And when it comes to establishing your worldview, I was curious, what newspapers and magazines did you regularly read before you were tapped for this to stay informed and to understand the world?

"Palin: I've read most of them, again with a great appreciation for the press, for the media.

"Couric: What, specifically?

"Palin: Um, all of them, any of them that have been in front of me all these years.*

"Couric: Can you name a few?

Palin: I have a vast variety of sources where we get our news, too. Alaska isn't a foreign country, where it's kind of suggested, "Wow, how could you keep in touch with what the rest of Washington, D.C., may be thinking when you live up there in Alaska?" Believe me, Alaska is like a microcosm of America.
[emphasis added]
I, too, use a vast variety of sources. Which is why I regularly read Editor & Publisher, including this Mark Fitzgerald piece which unfortunately indicates that he doesn't seem to get the news implications of the internet age.
____
*Note the "Um" left in. CBS and Couric edited out all of Barack Obama's "uh"s from the transcript of her July 22, 2008, interview with him. The video version has five Obama "uhs" before the start of his third sentence.

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