"Rebooting the News" is among the better-known podcasts devoted to the convergence of journalism, technology and the reshaping of communication.
I listen weekly, but it's a love-hate affair. Hosts Jay Rosen and Dave Winer can be variously intriguing and grating throughout a 45-minute podcast. Rosen is a journalism professor at NYU and Winer is a programmer best known as editor of Scripting News.
They're intriguing because they bring fresh thinking to journalism and communication. But they can be incredibly ignorant of basic business requirements to fund or maintain even bare-bones journalism efforts so the concept of "rebooting the news" sometimes comes across as a hollow promise. And for people highlighting new forms of communication, they've made absolutely no effort to figure out how to control audio levels after 66 episodes (I'm constantly adjusting the volume control because their levels are rarely in sync).
But to the good news: Episode 66 was one of the best yet, thanks to guest Ryan Tate, a reporter for Gawker Media. The 45 minutes are worth a listen for anyone interested in journalism and challenging tradition.
Highlights for me were:
Whether you agree or disagree with the approaches Tate and Gawker are taking, their efforts raise good questions about what role traditional journalism can and should play in an age when the rules are being rewritten daily. For me, it's not a question of either/or but layering new approaches to coverage onto the foundations of trust and fairness that newspapers have worked hard to earn over the years.
I mentioned in my initial post my love-hate relationship with "Rebooting the News." Well, this week's episode is an exercise in madness. Dave Winer goes all loco with guest Saul Hansell about how The New York Times has allegedly screwed up the Interweb. The diatribe got the point Jay Rosen has to interrupt Winer and say, "Let the man speak!"
Listen in only if you're someone who slows for car wrecks.
This is 45 minutes I can't get back.