Yesterday morning, I linked to a site that claimed to have the first interview by a blogger of Mexican President Fox. I had some hesitation, because it almost seemed too good to be true, but the interview looked legitimate.
It turns out the interview is legitimate. Those are President Fox's words. The "blogger" part, however, is questionable.
The site is actually a blog run by an internet media outlet called Enteratehoy.com.mx. The media outlet did the interview, and the "journalist"/"blogger" simply copied the interview over to his blog.
GoLeech notes that the journalist claims he told Fox's press office that the interview was for a "blog". But if he is a mainstream journalist and it was published to the news website first, is that correct?
Yesterday, Jeff Jarvis criticized a blogger for trying to exclude the mainstream media from blogging. I absolutely agreed with his post at the time. However, he was referring to someone in the media that is blogging. A mainstream media outlet that copies its information word for word over to blogspot or typepad format is not exactly a blog. If anything, it's a wire feed that's printed on the internet.
Over time, mainstream media outlets will become more like blogs by publishing information in real time, linking directly to other sources on the internet, relying more on "amateur journalists" and not being afraid to express points of view openly. Meanwhile, some blogs will become more like journalism, with interviews and original investigative reporting. But while the concept of media is moving in that direction, it's not there yet, and I don't feel this interview qualifies as a "blogger" exclusive.
David Saaski over at Global Voices and Eduardo Arcos at ALT1040 have both helped out in looking into this case. Argentine newspaper Clarin's weblog confirmed the interview with President Fox actually occurred.
2 comments:
Mario Campos claims that enteratehoy.com.mx is a 'personal' weblog (in terms of Arcos's point of view, 'only' a website).
The request made by Campos to Fox's press office is questionable. If, as Campos says, he requested the interview as a blogger and the press office didn't recognized Campos as a Milenio journalist, then it would seem reasonable.
As information flows now, I agree in some way with you - "I don't feel this interview qualifies as a "blogger" exclusive." But this interview is the closest to a "blogger" exclusive with a major political actor, at least in México.
Greetings
Considering the few number of interviews granted by Fox, it is surprising he chose this journalist at all, blogger or not. I'm really curious as to what his press office was thinking.
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