I'm a bit late to the growing debate on the
Forbes cover story about blogs - spend most of yesterday golfing at
Devil's Paint Brush,
one of the best courses in Ontario - but I must say I was blown away
from the bias and lack of objectivity in the “story”. As a
working journalist, it was obvious the writer, Daniel Lyons, had a
mandate or was given one by someone upstairs to rip into blogs. The
less-than-subtle headline “Web logs are the prized platform of an
online lynch mob
spouting liberty but spewing lies, libel and invective. Their potent
allies in this pursuit include Google and Yahoo” is so slanted, it's a
joke. Then,
Lyons starts the story with an anecdote about
a dodgy business man who once had his photo taken with Steve
Forbes. Isn't that a sweet coincidence? I find it hard to
believe a first-class publication like Forbes would actually print a
3,298-word one-sided diatribe. While this comment may come across as
sour grapes from an enthusiastic blogger who believes he's providing an
insightdul “service, the Forbes story is disappointing because it
is, in fact, not a news story but an invective essay by
someone who has a serious problem with blogs. Lyons makes a point
there are nasty, vindictive, irresponsible bloggers that do far more
harm than good but he fails to recognize there are lots of people
providing insight commentary and putting the spotlight on events that
mainstream media sometimes misses.
What makes Forbes' assault on blogs so difficult to understand is the magazine has published
lists of the best blogs, which would suggest it sees some merit in them.
Then again, it has become apparent Forbes doesn't believe in blogs.
After all, it doesn't appear to offer its own blogs, which is strange
given many mainstream publications have jumped onboard. There have also
been growing signs of its skepticism/bias with stories such as
this one
when Yahoo got into the blog search game. Getting Lyons to
write a story on blogs is like getting a Pit Bull Terrier to babysit a
cat. He's an attack dog who loves to tear into technology. Based on a quick Google search, he's
no fan of Linux or
Open Source software or
Lotus Notes. If Forbes wanted someone to tear down blogs, Lyons definitely your guy. For more views on Lyons' piece, check out
Micro Persuasion's Steve Rubel and
Boing Boing.
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