Politics: What’s the deal with JournoList? And who ratted out Dave Wiegel?
- Some respected blogger just dropped Dave Wiegel in acid. Wiegel, a blogger/reporter for The Washington Post (disclosure: we work for the Washington Post Express, a subsidiary) resigned after a colleague on Ezra Klein’s JournoList, a private e-mail network for 400 mostly-liberal bloggers to vent about stuff, leaked that Wiegel said some not-nice things about the conservative movement he covered in his job. We don’t know the inner-workings of this e-mail network. But we do know it has numerous big names we know and respect. Further thoughts:
- A total hit jobNow, we don’t quite think it’s entirely wise to suggest that Matt Drudge “light himself on fire,” like Wiegel did, but we do think it’s completely unfair that one of his colleagues ratted him out. It screams vendetta. It screams “dirty politics,” except with bloggers.
- Journolist: A bad ideaLook, it’s great that journalists and bloggers talk to one another, but the idea of a giant, exclusive club gives the impression of a level of elitism – and slant opportunities – that journalism simply shouldn’t have. Especially when things like this happen. Keep it open.
- old media’s divideTrust us: The next job Wiegel gets will be at a blog, not a newspaper. Why? Because the issues that cropped up prove that large newspapers don’t necessarily understand the nature of blogging. And that’s a bad thing. Especially for their futures. source
