The CNN Chief News Executive resigns over the blogosphere backlash against his alleged remarks against US troops in Iraq. NYTimes published an article on this today.
This is sobering to say the least. if a child is given the power of life and death over others, how soon it will be before a terrible mistake is committed? I have no doubt in my mind that blogs are going to play a major role in our society. I also have no doubt that blogging is in its infancy. Similar to any child, bloggers are pushing boundaries, testing limits and exploring the true extent of their power. However, just as mainstream media can make mistakes, bloggers can also make mistakes. However, the penalties for mistakes are very different. Blogging is an avocation for most of us; journalism is a vocation for most of journalists. If a journalist makes or seen to make a mistake, he or she loses credibility and as it turns out, increasingly the job too. If a blogger makes a mistake, he or she can just publish a mea culpa and get on with life. If you are a doctor in your professional life and by mistake become responsible for someone’s death, should you be fired or have your license taken away? If you say that mistakes can happen and we should dig deeper before passing a judgement, why are we not applying similar rules to the journalists too? I don’t believe this is fair or just by any means. Maybe it is time all of us do some serious introspection and acknowledge this power some of us have in our hands now.
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