NYT editor speaks on blogs

Bill Keller, executive editor of the New York Times, speaks on the current state of media as he sees it:

[Keller] noted that, according to a recent opinion poll, the public's trust in journalists is at its lowest point in decades. He attributed this in part to the increasingly polarized nature of the American public, who look to the press for support of their viewpoints.

"At the moment," he said, "the major press is under attack from ideologues on the right and left."

Keller also sees "blogging," or online writing that blurs news and commentary, as a mixed blessing. While he celebrated the blogger's ability to uncover breaking news, he noted that a blog's inherent bias might be detrimental to the reader. "A blog is still a view of the world through a pinhole," he said, noting that it can sometimes fall as low as being a "one man circle jerk."

I would add that blogs are detrimental to the degree that many seek out blogs only to reinforce their predisposed beliefs rather than looking for thoughtful discourse to help them form a better understanding of the world around them. People use the blogs to find not facts, but facts that reinforce their predetermined outcome. They encourage rather than discourage the "pinhole" view of the world.