2008 Unity Conference : » Blogs Bring Attention To Stories Overlooked By Mainstream Media

Blogs Bring Attention To Stories Overlooked By Mainstream Media

Friday, July 25, 2008

By GERRICK D. LEWIS
The UNITY News Online

Popular blog sites such as Concrete Loop and Bossip gave the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. controversy and the Jena Six case prominent attention before major media outlets picked them up.

In the session, “Jeremiah Wright and Jena: Who Covered It and Who Got It Right,” a panel of media experts discussed how blogs magnify and transform stories that might have been overlooked by the media — in these cases, an obscure video and a small-town crime.

“A little piece of info can have a ripple effect and shine a spotlight,” said Michele Norris, host of NPR’s “All Things Considered.”

Norris said the now-infamous Wright video and the Jena Six story prove that the mainstream media are increasingly relying on the blog world.

But Tom Joyner, host of the popular Tom Joyner Morning Show, said black radio will always be a prominent source for blacks, regardless of how the mainstream media covers the story.

“It’s the power of black radio,” Joyner said. “Radio has always been the source for black people to come to news about us first.”

Eric Deggans, a media reporter with the St. Petersburg Times, said the blogosphere helps get the mainstream’s attention.

Panel members criticized blogs’ journalistic standards and what they said might be a lack of accuracy, balance and integrity.

They also discussed the competition between nontraditional and traditional media, with the former taking audiences and advertisers from the latter.

Hundreds of convention goers turned out for the event, leaving no seat empty.

Joyer pointed to the civil rights era to explain the relevance of black radio and how it remains a prime source for blacks, despite the speed and accessibility of blogs.

“Martin Luther King Jr. got thousands of people to march without a blog or a megaphone,” he said. “He did it with radio.”

topic: Industry Issues

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