August 20, 2007

Blogger vs. journalism professor.

There's this LA Times opinion column by journalism professor Michael Skube saying the usual thing about blogs vs. journalism and citing a few bloggers: "Andrew Sullivan, Matthew Yglesias, Joshua Micah Marshall." Josh Marshall didn't like some implication about him and wrote to Skube.
Not long after I wrote I got a reply: "I didn't put your name into the piece and haven't spent any time on your site. So to that extent I'm happy to give you benefit of the doubt ..."

... So I followed up noting my surprise....

To which I got this response: "I said I did not refer to you in the original. Your name was inserted late by an editor who perhaps thought I needed to cite more examples ... "....

Perhaps I'm naive. But it surprises me a great deal that a professor of journalism freely admits that he allows to appear under his own name claims about a publication he concedes he's never read.

Actually, if you look at what he says, it seems Skube's editor at the Times oped page didn't think he had enough specific examples in his article decrying our culture of free-wheeling assertion bereft of factual backing. Or perhaps any examples. So the editor came up with a few blogs to mention and Skube signed off. And Skube was happy to sign off on the addition even though he didn't know anything about them.
So Skube's opinion was based on... what? All those other mainstream media articles fretting about bloggers?

19 comments:

Don Surber said...

As an ink-stained wretch myself, all I can say in his defense is, well, um, ah -- hey, isn't that Britney Spears nekkid over there?

Joseph said...

How embarrassingly ironic for Skube.

vet66 said...

So Skube Doo's opinion was based on...his opinion?

I hope his students tuition was commensurate with his level of research into the article.

Fen said...

But it surprises me a great deal that a professor of journalism freely admits that he allows to appear under his own name claims about a publication he concedes he's never read... And Skube was happy to sign off on the addition even though he didn't know anything about them.

Typical of the "journalism" profession. Shoddy ethics and standards, does not perform as advertised. Remember, Mary Mapes was considered "brilliant" by her peers...

What does it say that your Average Joe can outperform a liberal arts major?

TJ said...

Ha ha! Him, a law--I mean--journalism professor!

reader_iam said...

Michael Skube's bio.

The youth of today don't read books, & etc.!--by Michael Skube.

The real origin of "comfort the afflicted"--of which, at least it seems based on the last paragraph of the just-linked Skube article, the smug Mr. Skube is apparently unaware, along with the satirical element. Is this because he's not well-read enough, or was too impatient in to engage in "thorough verification"?

reader_iam said...

I totally cop to being to impatient and "un-thorough" when it comes to copy-editing my own blog comments, by the way ... .

From Inwood said...

"inserted late by an editor who perhaps thought I needed to cite more examples ... "

Sounds like Scotty B's lawyers trying out a possible defense for him!

John Stodder said...

I hope for his sake that the dumb bastard has tenure.

What am I saying, professors don't get fired such conspicuous displays of foolishness, do they?

How much is tuition nowadays at USC?

Anonymous said...

Undergraduate journalism school is the dumbest thing ever invented. It's a three three-hour course out of the English department

The fact that people will pay real, actual money for graduate study in journalism is just jaw-dropping. I really commend the marketing people on that one.

knox said...

skube do, where are you???

Phew, got that out of my system; anyway, this story would seem to support the notion that a lot of university professors *present company excepted of course* lose all touch with the actual real-world professions they are supposed to be experts in.

knox said...

oh, vet66 beat me to it. Well great minds and all that...

Unknown said...

Geeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, Annie,
Maybe you should report him to Homeland Security...or sue him.

I mean, we ALL know you're the last person in the world who wants more attention.

What a hoot.

P.S. Fen says: "Typical of the "journalism" profession."

Where do you come up with this insanity?? The "journalism profession" includes writers of every ilk. Are you also referring to novelists, biographers, and poets?

MadisonMan said...

I hope his students are reading. And remembering when they're graded down for unsourced work. But I guess it wasn't his fault. Evil Editors.

Fen said...

Lucky: Where do you come up with this insanity?? The "journalism profession" includes writers of every ilk. Are you also referring to novelists, biographers, and poets?

Ya got to love the logic here: J is a subset of W. Likewise N, B, and P are subsets of W. Therefore, J = {N,B,P}....?

Seven: The fact that people will pay real, actual money for graduate study in journalism is just jaw-dropping.

I think Lucky just demonstrated who the client base is.

Unknown said...

Fen,
I asked a question: "Are you also referring to novelists, biographers, and poets?"

Why not just answer instead of dancing around with the standard bullshit?

Hikarugenji said...

Did any of you actually read the article? Skube does not accuse Joshua Micah Marshall of being anything more than partisan. Marshall is partisan. I do read his blog from time to time; unlike James Wolcott or Andrew Sullivan, he's not a particularly captivating writer so I tend to neglect his site, though I share his politics.

Skube is a much more elegant writer than Marshall, or than anyone on this page (or on many other blog pages.) Sorry, folks. Read what Skube actually has to say. You might learn something (though reading these comments, I doubt it.)

Hikarugenji

Fen said...

Lucky: Why not just answer instead of dancing around with the standard bullshit?

I answered your question, you're just too stupid to understand it. Let me try to simplify:

"All Moonbats are Democrats, but not all Democrats are Moonbats"

/cliff notes: No

Hector Owen said...

I doubt anyone is still watching comments on this post, but -- just in case -- I'll mention that reader_iam inspired me to find the original context for "comforts th' afflicted, afflicts th' comfortable," and to post it here.