Bill Kovach is one of the pillars of establishment journalism. Among his credits are an 18-year stint as Washington bureau chief of the New York Times and service as curator at Harvard University’s Nieman Foundation for Journalists. At present he holds down the chairmanship of the Committee of Concerned Journalists.
Pam Platt of the Louisville Courier-Journal e-mailed Kovach a set of questions for perpsective on the mainstream media year in review: “The state of journalism, 2006.” Kovach’s responses seem to me representative of the guild. But then there’s this:
Q. What do you think of blogging? Which blogs do you read and find valuable?
A. I think blogging is one of the great advances in democratizing speech with all the pitfalls and values any expansion of unrestrained speech can have. I believe it is one of the tools MSM should embrace to make themselves more transparent and create the continuing dialogue journalists and the public must have.
I check out a lot of blogs including, not in any order: Instapundit, LA Observed, Buzz Machine, Power Line, Press Think, RealClear Politics, Daily Kos, The Volokh Conspiracy, etc., etc.
I really don’t have a favorite and sample something new every time I have a chance.
Kovach is admirably open to what the Internet has to offer. His perspective contrasts markedly, for example, with the Washington Post’s take on Bill Roggio. Yet Kovach’s comments on the state of the mainstream media seem to me not to shed much light. (Thanks to reader Roy Cullinan.)
Notice: All comments are subject to moderation. Our comments are intended to be a forum for civil discourse bearing on the subject under discussion. Commenters who stray beyond the bounds of civility or employ what we deem gratuitous vulgarity in a comment — including, but not limited to, “s***,” “f***,” “a*******,” or one of their many variants — will be banned without further notice in the sole discretion of the site moderator.