Two articles on Sunday New York Times

New York TImes has two articles on Sunday that explore the problem of blogs as new media. on Week in Review section, Adam Cohen discussed the ethics policies that should be imposed on political blogs in 'The Latest Rumbling in the Blogosphere: Questions About Ethics'. Cohen notes that bloggers will be hold accountable someday for what they publish on line. While bloggers often criticize MSM for violating journalistic ethics, they seldom apply the same rule to themselves:

"The thing about influence is that, as bloggers well know, it is only a matter of time before people start trying to hold you accountable. Bloggers are so used to thinking of themselves as outsiders, and watchdogs of the LSM (that's Lame Stream Media), that many have given little thought to what ethical rules should apply in their online world. Some insist that they do not need journalistic ethics because they are not journalists, but rather activists, or humorists, or something else entirely. But more bloggers, and blog readers, are starting to ask whether at least the most prominent blogs with the highest traffic shouldn't hold themselves to the same high standards to which they hold other media.
Every mainstream news organization has its own sets of ethics rules, but all of them agree broadly on what constitutes ethical journalism. Information should be verified before it is printed, and people who are involved in a story should be given a chance to air their viewpoints, especially if they are under attack. Reporters should avoid conflicts of interest, even significant appearances of conflicts, and disclose any significant ones. Often, a conflict means being disqualified to cover a story or a subject. When errors are discovered or pointed out by internal or external sources, they must be corrected. And there should be a clear wall between editorial content and advertising.
Bloggers often invoke these journalistic standards in criticizing the MSM, and insist on harsh punishment when they are violated. The blogs that demanded Dan Rather's ouster accused him of old-school offenses: not sufficiently checking the facts about President Bush's National Guard service, refusing to admit and correct errors, and having undisclosed political views that shaded the journalism. Eason Jordan, CNN's chief news executive, resigned this year after a blogmob attacked him for a reported statement at the World Economic Forum at Davos that the military had aimed at journalists in Iraq and killed 12 of them. Their complaint was even more basic than in Mr. Rather's case: they were upset that Mr. Jordan said something they believed to be untrue."

Cohen notes that reformers should 'held themselves to higher standards thatn the institutions they attacked':

"Many bloggers who criticize the MSM's ethics, however, are in the anomalous position of holding themselves to lower standards, or no standards at all. That may well change. Ana Marie Cox, who edits Wonkette, notes that blogs are still "a very young medium," and that "things have yet to be worked out." Before long, leading blogs could have ethics guidelines and prominently posted corrections policies."

Some blogs have begun the self-regulation; an example is http://cyberjournalist.net/

The second article is 'A blog revolution? Get a grip' (May 8, 2005, BU1) on Business section. Discussing the business model of Gawker Media, a network of teens of blog, including gawker, fleshbot and Wonkette, Zeller, the author implies that blogging is just adopting the traditional media model and publishing on line. With the strategy of grouping of blogs, like what Gawkers do, Advertisers are treating them more seriouly.

" "There are too many people looking at blogs as being some magic bullet for every company's marketing problem, and they're not," he (Denton, Founder of Gawker) added. "It's Internet media. It's just the latest iteration of Internet media." "