4th Exclusive David Simon Q&A (page 5)
Q: Are seasoned hands at a newspaper the only way to get to the real story? Aren't community feedback via e-mail
and Internet blogging creating better watchdogs today? [Jason]A: Nope. It's creating more feedback. And every now and then, the Internet does achieve a scoop or two. But coverage of complex issues and institutional coverage and issue-oriented coverage needs to be systematic, and it can be achieved best by trained, committed beat reporters, unaffiliated with any overt interest and determined to monitor changes and trends in worlds that they know and know well. I don't meet any bloggers at school board meetings or in courtrooms covering trials. I haven't heard about any going to Fallujah or Moscow to do foreign reporting, or working Defense Department sources consistently or checking in with cops in every district to find out what's happening or not happening in their areas of expertise. Reporting is hard, serious work. Your question -- suggesting that citizen participation in journalism -- is making it better is in many unintended ways an insult to the craft of journalism, which when done well, is extremely sophisticated. You might as well say that regular folk walking their blocks are capable of better police work. Or that a caring neighbor is every bit as effective as a competent social worker. It's an insult to cops and social workers who have taken years to learn their trade.
It's time to admit that so far, while the Internet has skimmed the froth of commentary and debate, rage and humor from newspapers and news organizations, it has achieved very little in terms of generating first-generation news gathering. It is parasitic to news gathering, and because it is more immediate and because the debate and argument and humor are more exciting than the gathered facts themselves, it is slowly killing the host. With some exceptions, it links to the work of newspapers, magazines and other periodicals and then comments robustly on that material. Some of that commentary is worthwhile and some not so much. All of it is democratic and exhilarating in that it is far more participatory than our news culture used to be. No one is arguing that. But being a reporter was the hardest job I ever had. And I have high regard for those still trying to do that job the right way, and it hurts me to see it compared to what passes for most of Internet journalism. But as always, we get what we pay for. And reporters and news organizations -- the good ones -- are expensive. Lots of overhead. Lots of costs. The Internet is free. Much of the time, it reads like it, I'm afraid.
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