Jen, that’s a good point, we do need to keep principles in the forefront of our minds, and I really wasn’t trying to diss Fancher’s work in the course of making a larger point – I think he did a very commendable job working on the creed.

Jay, thanks for such a thoughtful response – and funny how little has changed since you wrote that post in 2005, for, I suspect, exactly the reasons you state. I’ve studied some psychology in the context of organizational and professional life, and creating an “other” sure does sound familiar. I think the only solution is just to try to get folks excited and inspired about the future in positive ways whenever possible so that the focus can start to shift away from the negative and towards the future.

Thanks Hans.

I tried to make very similar points in Bloggers vs. Journalists Is Over (2005), where I used the thoughts of Rebecca Blood to observe what you observed when you write, “Are bloggers journalists? Ah, but that fraught question has such a simple answer. If a blogger follows these principles, why indeed, she is. If a blogger opines in his pajamas without any basis in fact, he may be adding quite productivley to the cacophony of voices that makes free speech and democracy great, but nope, not a journalist.”

Here is how I presented the same basic point:

…Blood showed how difficult it was to identify journalism exclusively with journalists. If we focus on practices that meet a certain standard, she said, then it is easy to tell who is who:

When a blogger writes up daily accounts of an international conference, as David Steven did at the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development, that is journalism. When a magazine reporter repurposes a press release without checking facts or talking to additional sources, that is not. When a blogger interviews an author about their new book, that is journalism. When an opinion columnist manipulates facts in order to create a false impression, that is not. When a blogger searches the existing record of fact and discovers that a public figure’s claim is untrue, that is journalism. When a reporter repeats a politician’s assertions without verifying whether they are true, that is not.

However, if you are interested in why “let’s move on,” which is so logical, is also so elusive, I think you should consider something I learned since I wrote that essay. Bloggers and journalists are each other’s ideal “other.” That might explain why (some) people don’t just move on, even though it would be better for their survival if they did.

When you ask some mainstream journalists to give up a fruitless debate that should have been settled a while ago, you are (often) asking them to give up a potent “other” figure they use to know who they are. Maybe the solution is to substitute a better “other” than the blogger! If you think of one, let me know.

I don’t think we need to redo… But it’s great to re-engage. But if I had a limited amount of manpower and a chance to try to encourage change, I would find someone who can help faculty change… I’m hoping I can accomplish that this summer.