Jackie Danicki

Luke Ford is on something of a roll right now. First, a journalist asks, Who has time to read blogs? Luke answers:

Who has time to read good new books? Nobody has time to read all the good new books, yet I don’t read Daphne Merkin wondering about that…People will read what they believe they will most profit from. Frequently that will mean blogs.

…The solitary art of blogging is not inherently different from the solitary art of writing for publication in newspapers and magazines. There are plenty of essays I’ve written for websites that I have worked on for years. Not all blogging is tossed off and not all writing for publication in The New York Times is considered. And not all writing that is tossed off is bad and not all writing that is considered is good. Spontaneous prose sometimes sparkles and studied prose sometimes drags…

Also worth reading is why he doesn’t care about the decline of newspapers. Bottom line:

I don’t mourn the decline of newspapers because I know that other sources of information will take their place. There’s always going to be a strong demand for information and numerous people who will want to meet that demand and profit from it.

So who cares what some blogger has to say, right?

In the subjects (movie and television producers, Jewish journalism, the sex industry) that I know best, the most important work has been done by a blogger, me. I got 1135 on my SATs (and that was representative of my learning). I’ve taken many IQ tests and have never scored above 130. I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer. I am only literate in one language.

If you look at where I live and how I live, I’m slovenly. Yet I’ve managed to do the most important work in the subject areas of my five books (and that material showed up first on my blogs).

He’s not being arrogant, he’s being factual. And in response to a journalist who emails (of course - why do so many journos refuse to leave comments on blog posts?) and says that the likes of Matt Drudge and bloggers don’t break stories, they steal them, Luke points out:

I broke the Antonio Villaraigosa marriage story by getting it from MSM journalists who knew that the somnolent L.A. Times, LA Weekly and LA Daily News wouldn’t want to break such a story. Drudge broke some stories by finding out what MSM journalists were working on just as MSM journalists steal stories from fellow MSM journalists. Drudge broke some stories that were given to him just as MSM break stories that are given to them.

Journalists rarely break stories…They are given them by interested parties (a la Judy Miller).

I’d love to read a debate of that last contention, but (not having done the research myself, just based on the journalists I know), I have a feeling Luke is right.

Filed under: Blogging, Life, Media, News, People I Know