Hewitt More Diplomatic Than SpinDaddy

Hugh Hewittt was on Fox & Friends this AM plugging his book, and the Blogosphere generally. He gave some good points for the still generally not-blog-savvy-public, and very graciously gave a tip of the hat to the Belmont Club and Mudville Gazzette among others. He also appeared on the CNN morning show, but I did not see that, so I will confine my comments to the Fox & Friends segment.

Hugh was very diplomatic with what seemed to be a loaded question from Kiran Chetry. She usually comes across as very sincere, and sweet. However in this mornings show she sounded like she was trying to sandbag Mr. Hewitt during a very brief segment.

Chetry asked if Blogs were unaccountable, and specifically mentioned the MSM platforms of TV, and Print. Hewitts response was right on the money, he pointed out the immediacy with which fellow bloggers quickly pounce on those playing fast and loose with the facts.

But to Chetrys question... Unaccountable!? Compared to what, CBS?

Dan Rather and Mary Mapes?

The New York Times?

NBCs Dateline, and exploding GM pickup trucks?

Unaccountability and in some cases outright fraud, not to mention a less than transparent bias are rampant in the MSM. Thus explaining the exploding popularity of the blogosphere, as an alternative. Ms. Chetry would be well served to remember that.

Excerpt from Hugh Hewitts post below. Morning Glory and Evening Grace -SpinDaddy

". . . I flogged Blog on Fox & Friends at 6:50 AM this morning, then strolled up the frigid Avenue of the Americas and flogged it again on CNN. Soledad O'Brien did the CNN interview and all three Fox hosts participated. Very professional sit-downs on both sets, as one would expect from these folks, but one question seemed to me to be on everyone's minds: "Bloggers aren't journalists and so they are not accountable, right?" I'll check a transcript if one is posted when I get back to California, but I think that is pretty much how the question was posed, as opposed to the more neutral: "Are bloggers journalists?"

[CNN transcript here. Scroll down. No transcript yet for F&F. Send me a pointer if you see one.]]

On both sets I tried to explain blogosphere accountability, and I may have been a touch short with Ms. O'Brien when I pointed out I have been a journalist for 15 years, in television, radio, print, and now text, and that of all the platforms, the blogosphere was the most accountable. The blogosphere has tremendous forces working to assure accuracy and almost instant correction of error, so that the blogosphere is really far more accountable than any of the other platforms. Its opinions are sharp, as are the elbows, but there are very few hidden biases. They are all out in the open . . . "