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Journalist FAIL
I was not among those who criticized the article James Risen wrote about the $1 trillion mineral find in Afghanistan. I was content to fret about the conflict trap in which countries dependent on primary commodity exports often find themselves. But if James Risen -- one of the nation's leading national security journalists, to be sure -- seriously thinks those who criticized his reporting are simply bloggers "jerking off in their pajamas" he could use an extra dose of humility today. In this Yahoo! interview with John Cook, Risen is apparently oblivious to the fact that some of his pajama-clad critics include serious scholars and analysts who, while younger than Risen and hip to teh interwebs, have studied Central Asia and spent a lot more time on the ground there than he has. Just read what a self-important jerk he sounds like when asked to defend his reporting:
"The thing that amazes me is that the blogosphere thinks they can deconstruct other people's stories ... Do you even know anything about me? Maybe you were still in school when I broke the NSA story, I don't know. It was back when you were in kindergarten, I think."
What phenomenal arrogance. What a jerk.
I really respect the men and women who report on national security issues for our daily newspapers and still subscribe to an old-fashioned newspaper that arrives on my doorstep each morning. And I grew up in the newspaper industry. (My first job, at 14, was running text through the old wax machines at our family newspaper and pasting stories to the pages with an exacto knife and scissors.) But one of the things I love about the blogosphere is that instead of reading soundbites from experts in a 1,000-word story (cut down to 400 words to make room for an advertisement), I can read lengthy commentary by subject matter experts. Have a question about depression-era economics and their connection to the contemporary financial crisis? Click here. Want in-depth, informed commentary on what's happening in Kyrgyzstan? Click here. This may come as a shock to James Risen, but some of the people he is mocking know a hell of a lot more about minerals in Afghanistan than he does.
You want to hasten the end of your industry? Then by all means, keep doing what you're doing: consider yourself unaccountable and scoff at the blogosphere. Yes, I understand bloggers are changing the newspaper industry in fundamental ways. (Ezra Klein, to use one example, does not blog with the same tradition of objectivity in which the Washington Post's print journalists report. How that changes the culture of the newsroom, then, is interesting.) But if you think you don't need to answer to bloggers, some of whom have spent years doing field research or working in Central Asia and now blog as a hobby, the invisible hand of the market is going to find you out. And before you know it, you'll have taken a buy-out from the New York Times and be teaching creative writing in Maryland. And, let's face it, probably blogging on the side.
I'm sure Mr. Risen also
I'm sure Mr. Risen also jerks off in his pajamas.
I'm jerking off right now in my cubicle and I work for a big name insurance company, customer service side. I jerk off all the time in my Dockers khaki.
This guy needs to watch
This guy needs to watch 'State of Play'.
Well clearly he took it
Well clearly he took it personally... and clearly he thinks that taking this route is a good way to handle it. It is not. Nothing is personal in journalism. That shows his inexperience. Not that I know, but it seems that he did this story to get congrats from the DoD. Thoughts?
If there is anything here I'm really critical about, it is the willingness--even for the NYT--to publish anything under duress from the same people who are in charge of The War. This just shows They have learned nothing from their failures to report WMD in Iraq... and now, upon request, they still willing to do it vis-a-vis Afghanistan--before the Kandahar offensive, may I add.
Thus, the only solution is Wild Turkey Whiskey & watching World Cup... but even that won't change the fact that we need a sort of "separation of powers" --Defense & Media are just a little too friendly in this country.
Bloggers goofing off in
Bloggers goofing off in their pajamas... what is this, 2004? Risen is being weirdly cranky and defensive. All he needed was to highlight the new parts of the story he broke (which I guess is the Pentagon's study about how to exploit the mineral deposits?), and that would be that.
Then again, if the people "schooling" him were in kindergarten when he broke the NSA story in 2006, then he'd be getting outmaneuvered by a bunch of 9-year olds. Which has a certain ring to it, don't you think?
How's your Peruvian Llama
How's your Peruvian Llama doing, Josh?
What exactly does Josh do
What exactly does Josh do with a Llama?
Then again AM you work in an
Then again AM you work in an industry that just gave George Clooney a lifetime membership.
What? No room for Sally Struthers? But the CHILDREN!
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/reliable-source/2010/06/this_just_in_ge...
If Facebook can get Betty White on SNL, I think AM can twitter Sally into the CFR.
Can somebody please fill me
Can somebody please fill me in on this Llama joke?
It's kinda like Bacha Bazi,
It's kinda like Bacha Bazi, Katie, for the boys only. LOL!
I sense another "Glee"
I sense another "Glee" analogy coming, re: Afghanistan's minerals. Do it. Do it. DO it.
I heard Clooney adopted an
I heard Clooney adopted an Alpaca from Namibia to get his lifetime membership... Its the latest Hollywood trend.
Sally Struthers is so....1980 with the starving kids in Ethiopia. Get with the times man!
http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/76952
Epic Fail, working as I do
Epic Fail, working as I do for one of Australia's most diverse media organization I can tell you that we love bloggers. So much so that we designed an entire new platform around them. Why? because in most cases thy know far more about the matter than a journalist, who increasingly has to report on a massive scope of subjects. Sure we have a few dedicated journos for defense, national security, politics etc and some of those guys are really switched on but they still have to cover the broadest subject, so when it comes to the minute they don't always have the answers.
I think this argument is about new vs old media, I count myself lucky that I work for the digital arm of this company, one that embraces the bloggosphere, and naturally exploits it. Why because it works, for us and our readers. Sounds like Risen realizes that he is part of the dying breed, those journos that cannot or will not accept the massive diversification of media platforms. Same arguments about print vs online.
Don't get me wrong, there are blogs out that that spit incoherent and vitriolic fecal matter, blogs that do nothing more than reinforce the already entrenched ideas of fundamentalists of every strip. But that's the web, that's what we signed up for. For every one of those there are three or four blogs that provide subject matter analysis and commentary, and thankfully and occasional belly hurting laugh.
Its times like this I really miss Hunter S Thompson. Can you imagine his blog, wild rambling punctuated by whiskey , gun fire and genius.
The instances where Risen
The instances where Risen has editorialized, giving voice to his own opinions rather than reporting facts, he comes off with a decided humility deficit.
I'm going to suggest that it's a bit of The New York Times syndrome; journalists on their masthead, or alums of the organization, especially of the foreign policy variety, tend to assign enormous weight to their own ideas, and indulge in a corresponding tendency to denigrate the opinions of others. It's as though working for the paper of record has given them the notion that they are somehow privileged observers. The upshot is they feel comfortable throwing in their two cents on matters far beyond the scope of their expertise.
I think it's actually effected the quality of the paper.
Judicious criticism, as usual, Andrew.
When you guys were busy
When you guys were busy doing your mutual masturbation sessions at the Willard and in New England, this guy:
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20100616/NEWS03/306169982/1066/NEWS03
Gary Faulkner was on the hunt for the big man himself.
I say CNAS set this hero up with a blog, and fund his next return to Afghanistan soon.
This really belongs on the
This really belongs on the Jihadiots post, but I think it's just wonderful that Bin Laden is attracting his own stalkers that fit the same profile as his groupies....you wanted to be the Elvis of Terrorism Usama, Congrats.
Pakistan: ya know, we got a lot of unemployed construction workers.....and there's another stimulus coming...
What say we finally get some bang for our buck. Let's start a fundraising drive to send as many unemployed American's that want to go on UBL Safari funding for plane tickets, hunting knives and swords, and some Kuwaiti dinars to buy bang bangs when they get to Pashtooniestan. Following the infinity Drive principle (an infinite number of monkeys banging away at an infinite number of typewriters will produce the works of Shakespeare) we saturate Pak/Astan with our unemployed construction workers looking for deeper meaning in life. It can't work worse than the EPIC TOTAL SOF CIA FAIL so far, and will make his tactical situation totally cluttered. All those white CIA agents in Pakistan (the ones who aren't dead) won't stand out so much in the crowd. And they may have what our he-ROES don't - luck. Also possibly conviction.
Not to mention this is exactly and precisely the fitting punishment the Islamic world deserves. You've been doing this to us for decades. Meet our losers looking for a scene.
Let's spread a rumor UBL is really hiding in London's West End. Then this will really get funny. They'll fit right in, or at least won't stand out so much. Also let's spread the same rumor about Riyahd, and any other asshole of the world that's pissing us off.
My instincts are usually sound, and I think this ones a winner. It can't help but fail to entertain.
Anyone consider he just might have been inspired by the CNAS sitcom spinoff about hunting terrorists in Oslo?
Gary Brooks Faulkner is a
Gary Brooks Faulkner is a man on a mission. The Bin Laden Work Group and SOCOM can't find him.
During times like these, the men who train at Fort Bragg seem a bit less competent to get a simple job done. I really think Gary could get this job done. For almost 2 decades Bin Laden has been hiding from our top-trained military and clandestine services...totally ridiculous.
During the high-times of Delta Force, the place was packed with rough men who were polite and could kill you with the skill of a Jedi. You ask, how do I know? Cuz I was trained by some of them, who have since retired and gone to greener pastures. Great people, but the new generation of Delta seems much different, with fewer skills in comparison to the men who started the organization.
http://www.amazon.com/Killing-Pablo-Worlds-Greatest-Outlaw/dp/0871137836
The books doesn't even tell 1/2 the story. Again... Delta was amazing group of people during these days...
Faulkner, a normal Joe, could probably do the job and that's why ISI and our people stopped him. I still believe that the Saudi Royal Family along with some people in our government are helping protect Bin Laden. Am I nuts for thinking that? Nope... There are many reasons why Bin Laden is still alive... Only question to be asked is "why"?
Let me see, so far by my
Let me see, so far by my stumbling across the web survey, I count turning on Obama over the Gulf Trillion Dollar Mineral "find" - NYT, Rolling Stone, Roger Simon, Maureen Dowd, Salon, Mother Jones....
He can't be expected to stop the oil. He could be expected to organize on shore defenses and containment efforts at sea.
He hasn't, because like the community organizer in Chicago who saw in the social chaos an opportunity for an asbestos lawsuit to shake down someone...he's ignoring the obvious disaster and looking for the shakedown angle. In this case BP gives up 20 or so Billion for a political slush fund "escrow" to be handed out to Democratic Constituencies, and an energy tax on every American.
What were you lefties expecting from a Community Organizer but exactly this? He doesn't know how to do anything else.
I think Risen is right to
I think Risen is right to call out twerps like you, Exum. You're the one who can't grasp the fact that you are full of it. Just look at the infantile, needy ethos of this blog. You are not a serious person. You are soap bubble. That is why you are so afraid to be challenged.
Ugh, gang, enough with the
Ugh, gang, enough with the homophobic anti-Foust comments, okay? On posts regarding Central Asia, I would kind of like his opinion in the comments section to spark subject-related discussion. Anonymously teasing someone for being gay is just 8th-grade behavior.I think it's clear to any
I think it's clear to any journalist that the traditional mediums are very much on the way out. Unlike a lot of journalists, I'm not sure it's a bad thing.
Sometimes bloggers are just
Sometimes bloggers are just goof-offs offering stupid comments. Sometimes they really know what they are talking about.
Sometimes journalists are just goof-offs offering superficial analyses based on a limited amount of research. Sometimes journalists are incredibly dedicated people who spend a heck of a lot of time getting the details right on an important issue.
I think journalists and bloggers can work together.
I didn't realize he was
I didn't realize he was actually gay, Ex. Sorry.
Comment by Visitor on June
Comment by Visitor on June 16, 2010 - 11:45am
I think journalists and bloggers can work together.
Well, this comment thread
Well, this comment thread has gone a long way toward proving Risen right so far. Ironic.
Guys, all this was already
Guys, all this was already tackled in the movie, "State of Play". Just watch it. With that hot chick from "the Wedding Crasher" and "the Notebook" as a blogger.
ditto here, ex. I didn't
ditto here, ex. I didn't know foust was gay. sorry for the llama comment, that was all me.
@Marja-centric: what's he
@Marja-centric:
what's he supposed to reply? "i know you are but what am i?" what kind of subnormal, blithely intellectualy deficient imbecile would come to an author's blog and proclaim his irrelevance, his lack of serious-personess, while wasting his time challenging his online pseudonym?
hey gramps, that's not how the internets work. lemme see if i can put this in a way you can understand: your moronic comments and challenges PROVE his relevance. it's like yelling "i don't even like you, you're a slut, i didn't even want to ask you out" after all those girls turned you down in high school. after all, he's not commenting on your think-tank sponsored publication now, is he?
And this is why blogs suck.
And this is why blogs suck.
Average age of commenters:
Average age of commenters: 13.3 years. Average BAC of commenters: 0.227.
I love about the blogosphere
I love about the blogosphere all the things that AM loves about the blogosphere, but the fact is that while some blogospheric commenters may know more about minerals in Afghanistan than Risen does, most of them don't. The majority of comment I've read on his NYT piece seemed to come from people who hadn't fully read it. That includes comment from some bloggers who should have known better.
Peevishness in response to criticism is not often a good idea, but it may be asking a bit much of a journalist to preface every comment on the blogosphere with ritual praise for the many bloggers who are world authorities in their fields, have brilliant minds, hearts of gold, nerves of steel and all the rest of it.
hey gramps, that's not how
hey gramps, that's not how the internets work. lemme see if i can put this in a way you can understand: your moronic comments and challenges PROVE his relevance. it's like yelling "i don't even like you, you're a slut, i didn't even want to ask you out" after all those girls turned you down in high school. after all, he's not commenting on your think-tank sponsored publication now, is he?
I don't feel this needs any comment. Especially since it is all perfectly true. I just wanted to emphasize it and put it in boldface, so that everyone has to read it twice.
(Although actually, "it" is how "the internets" work. It's not how DC works, though.)
"I really respect the men
"I really respect the men and women who report on national security issues for our daily newspapers and still subscribe to an old-fashioned newspaper that arrives on my doorstep each morning."
I don't any respect for the New York Times Washington Pentagon reporter Thom Shanker. After his May 25th (26th?) 2009 article which "exonerated" McChrystal of all wrong-doing in the Pat Tillman case, I corresponded with him last year just before Gen. McChrystal's Senate confirmation hearing. I pointed out just how McChrystal played the central role in the Army's whitewash of the Tillman case. What did he do with it? Nothing, just printed the same falsehoods (although the NYT "disappeared" his hearing article shortly after it appeared on the blogosphere).
If interested, it's all laid out in my document "Lies ... Borne Out by Facts, If Not the Truth" at http://www.feralfirefighter.blogspot.com
P.S. By the way, Thom Shanker was put up by CNAS as their "writer-in-residence last fall.
"he [Risen] could use an
"he [Risen] could use an extra dose of humility today. ... Just read what a self-important jerk he sounds like when asked to defend his reporting ... What phenomenal arrogance. What a jerk."
Are you talking about Risen or yourself? Your fundamental humility doesn't always shine through in some of your blog posts (eg. "On Martial Virtue ... and Selling Jon Krakauer's Crappy New Book" (11-01-09) which only displayed your ignorance of the matter or complicity in covering for Gen. McChrystal and the Ranger RGT officers involved.
If you've got some free time, go see the screening of "The Tillman Story" at the SilverDocs film festival in Silver Spring MD next Saturday the 26th. Maybe you can share your insights with Mary Tillman and other members of the Tillman family? If you can't make this showing, the film will be released on August 20th. Enjoy.
Guys like Risen make me
Guys like Risen make me think of Rupert Pupkin. I wonder if he's ever seen "A Face in the Crowd."
"Journalists" are starting resemble "actors" who never perform to anybody but their mirrors because other audiences just can't appreciate their art.
Abu M, I couldn't agree
Abu M,
I couldn't agree more with you calling out Risen. Interestingly, David Simon shares alot of the same opinions of bloggers. It's sad to see the creator of one of the best shows on TV have such antiquated views. See his interview at the USC Law School for more detail.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8E8xBXFLKE
"elf finds a true winner at
"elf finds a true winner at last" writes:
"What say we finally get some bang for our buck. Let's start a fundraising drive to send as many unemployed American's that want to go on UBL Safari funding for plane tickets, hunting knives and swords, and some Kuwaiti dinars to buy bang bangs when they get to Pashtooniestan. ... Not to mention this is exactly and precisely the fitting punishment the Islamic world deserves. You've been doing this to us for decades. Meet our losers looking for a scene."
You may have meant this comment for laughs, but it's exactly the method that civilized nations used against piracy once upon a time, and it worked. The Constitution explicitly empowers Congress to issue "Letters of Marque and Reprisal", which are official state authorizations to private actors to wage war on the state's behalf.
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