Does shoe leather journalism exist in the blogosphere?
The New York Times’ David Carr claims it doesn’t in a review of an I.F. Stone biography:
After reading Mr. Guttenplan’s extensive, loving reconstruction of Stone’s outside-in approach to journalism, it might be tempting to suggest that Stone was a protoblogger, a postmodern journalist who hacked his own route to an audience long before there was something called the Internet. But his insistence on shoe leather over rhetoric has yet to be replicated in digital realms. As it is, his life and work are reminders that knowing more than anyone else is the surest way to win an argument.
This blogger, who specializes in the “analysis, commentary, and reportage about Forest City Ratner’s planned $4.9 billion Atlantic Yards project,” disputes that claim:
Closer to home, and I know you live in New Jersey, you somehow haven’t noticed how my Atlantic Yards Report often provides a far more comprehensive account of the Atlantic Yards controversy than does the Times.
Just in the past six weeks, consider coverage of the May 29 State Senate oversight hearing; the June 22 Metropolitan Transportation Authority Finance Committee meeting (and more); the June 23 Empire State Development Corporation board meeting; and the June 24 MTA board meeting (with video).
And consider how the Times fell down, either ignoring the events entirely or downplaying crucial details.
I’d tend to agree with the blogger. Sure, there is plenty of what I call blogviation on the Internet, but there are also many people going through data, comparing numbers, pulling together interviews and diverse sources, and responding more readily when someone disagrees or even points out an error. The “shoe leather” approach typically means going in person, interviewing people, and the like, but by no means does that guarantee that you’re getting a more balanced or nuanced view when it still becomes a he-she-they-it said-thought-felt-smelled story. How about asking tough questions and double-checking what people tell you?