Wednesday, January 12, 2005

The Old Fourth Estate Crumbles

Howard Fineman eulogizes mainstream media and the Fourth Estate, "which is being destroyed by the opposition (or worse, the casual disdain) of George Bush's Republican Party; by competition from other news outlets (led by the internet and Fox's canny Roger Ailes); and by its own fraying journalistic standards." Jeff Jarvis doesn't share Fineman's nostalgia. My concern: Can Jarvis' emerging Fourth Estate (bloggers, citizen journalists and the like) legitimately challenge the powerful in the same way?

UPDATE: TVNewser on the response to Fineman's piece: "Howard Fineman's online column about the "American Mainstream Media Party" has been the subject of countless blog posts and reactions in the last couple of days. Andrew Sullivan called the column 'the first crack of self-awareness in the MSM.' James Wolcott tore it apart. Howard Kurtz weighed in this morning. Fineman says the feedback from his story has been 'surprisingly intense -- because it hit a nerve in the business.'"

No comments: