Titles Are My Least Favorite Part

One thing I can’t stand is people structuring their arguments in pre- and post-September 11 terms. I understand the momentousness of the occasion, especially when put in the scope of the American way of life. But to divide all of history into cut-and-dry “B.C.” and “A.D.” categories is far too simplistic.

This being said, I think Dan Gillmor does a wonderful job framing the September 11 attacks as not the inception of the tools of new media, but their exposition as an important force in America.

His most effective tool in this objective was his brief discussion of the evolution of journalism. While I was reading his trip from Thomas Paine and the pamphleteers, through the muckrakers and into the state of the media at the beginning of the 21^st century, I was thinking, “This is not necessary. I already learned this in History and Issues of Journalism.”

But when I put this history lesson into the context of the rest of Gillmor’s argument, I realized it was pertinent and necessary. He was tracking the metamorphosis of the profession from its specialized beginnings to the somewhat impersonal age of the major news corporations and into the burgeoning world of more egalitarian journalism, with more voices and a more interactive role of the reader with the news.

I liked that he used blogs that became national phenomena after the attacks as examples of how awareness exploded in their wake. It shows the power that this new trend wields: the fact that Glenn Reynolds’ blog, which started out at personal, comical reflections is now very popular, largely because of his “coverage” of September 11. He provided something other than the mainstream media’s planes repeatedly crashing into the towers and people responded.

This article builds on Parks’ point of the forms of new media serving to fill in the coverage holes left by mainstream media. Unlike some bloggers who are proclaiming the impending death of traditional media forms, both Parks and Gillmor take a conciliatory, complementary viewpoint that I feel is more accurate. As Gillmor says, “If we can raise a barn together, we can do journalism together.”

Another thing this article did for me was confirm why I’m taking this class. Gillmor absolutely lost me in the middle pages, when he delved into the history of information sharing on the internet. I feel I need to start understanding where we came from, electronically speaking, if I can adapt and prepare for where we’re going. And I hope to take that away from this class.