In the piece, Peterson recounts comments made by Jacques-Bellêtete regarding his influences:

In describing his influences, Jacques-Bellêtete mentioned he was heavily influenced by Metal Gear and Final Fantasy. Then he went into a two minute riff about “always trying to have very beautiful female characters,” noting that these were characters he would want to sleep with. After making a semi-disparaging remark about female characters drawn in a North American style, he concludes “I’d rather have female characters from Final Fantasy or Soulcalibur [sic] to sleep with.” This draws chuckles from the crowd.

I’m incredibly disappointed by Jacques-Bellêtete’s comments. I fear that they are a sad reflection of the current state of thinking of many in the video game industry and, unfortunately, do much to impugn the video game that he worked on (which, it should be said, employed a woman in the high profile role of lead narrative designer).

As I expressed on Twitter, I consider consumer activism is about the only power I have to impact this kind of behaviour and will not be purchasing the game Deus Ex: Human Revolution. This is disappointing, both because I was looking forward to the game and because the original Deus Ex did so much to try to push video games forward as a medium. That Eidos hired someone with this attitude to work on a sequel is a real shame.

When I first tweeted about this, one response was that this was kind of what you would naturally assume about the video game industry (arguably NSFW) and that all that Jacques-Bellêtete was doing was saying it out loud. The implication¹ was that it was unfair to pick on one guy who was either brave enough or stupid enough to say what a lot of people think.

I don’t disagree that this is a problem in video games (and in the wider popular culture) but I do disagree that, because of that, there’s something wrong about making an example out of this incident. In the West, our social attitudes today towards women, non-whites, non-Christians and gay men and women are far advanced from where they used to be. But the way that they got there was by people taking a stand and, particularly, taking a public stand in response to public injustice. If the calculus by which we determine whether action in respect of a particular type of behaviour should be taken is whether that behaviour is representative of the broader status quo, things will never change.

I don’t think Jacques-Bellêtete’s comments were the worst in the history of sexism in the video game industry. I don’t think that they were much more than what a lot of people (men) in video games think. Nevertheless, they were aired at a public forum. They were received with chuckles. This behaviour is wrong and the way to help change it is to help correct it when we see it.

Like many multi-component characters, Omega Supreme typically demonstrates impossible transformations. Most often this involves the Autobots traveling to a location in the rocket, made only of Omega Supreme’s arms, the rocket will then split in two and the rest of Omega Supreme’s body seems to magically materialize out of the ground. Other times, Omega Supreme’s rocket would blast off, leaving the rest of him behind. And when his rocket reaches its destination, his rocket would land. The rocket’s landing would of course cause a lot of smoke to appear. And once the smoke clears, the rest of him would mysteriously be there.

I love you, Internet.

The OED lists woah as a variant of woa which is a variant of whoa, which is a variant of the interjection who (not to be confused with the pronoun who–the interjection is pronounced as wo–which is also a variant of all these), which came into the language as a variant of ho! Here are the dates of the OED’s quotations for these spellings of the pronunciation /wo/ when it means ‘stop!’.

I was a ‘woah’ man growing up before switching to ‘whoa’ a year or so ago. However, according to Lynnequist, ‘woah’ is more common as a spelling in Britain making me think perhaps I should switch back.

I don’t argue with the claim that practice makes perfect, or even that practice is more important than innate talent. However I do think that this criteria also explains why all Gladwell’s examples are men. Women’s lives are often a balancing act as they try to manage various responsibilities. Success for us is often getting through the day without dropping any of the balls we are constantly juggling. Dedicating 10,000 hours to something is often simply out of the question. If Gladwell is correct, perhaps this explains why there are not more women at the top levels of business.

Back to Work

http://feeds.feedburner.com/back2work
Merlin Man (he of Inbox Zero fame) and 5by5′s Dan Benjamin have joined forces to waste at least an hour of your week and prevent you from getting back to work. I jest, of course. The idea is to discuss strategies to help you work better. I’m not sure how well that works but I’m enjoying listening to it anyway.

The Brainy Gamer Podcast

http://feeds.feedburner.com/brainygamerpodcast
The only thing that’s disappointing about the Brainy Gamer Podcast is that there aren’t more of them. Michael Abbott was almost entirely responsible for me buying a PS3 (which might not sound like an achievement but, given the state of my relationship with Sony, is really more akin to the Paris Peace Accords).

Build and Analyse

http://feeds.feedburner.com/buildanalyze
One of the new podcasts and I’m listening to and, like most of the new additions, a member of the 5by5 network. Dan Benjamin (of The Talk Show and the Pipeline fame) has expanded his podcasting empire throughout 2010 and, together with Tumblr co-founder and Instapaper owner/developer, Marco Arment, discusses iOS, Mac and mobile web development. It’s pretty Apple-centric at present but they do detour into coffee from time to time.

Downloadable Content

http://feeds.penny-arcade.com/padlc/
I’m pretty sure this one is gone and yet I hang on just in case.

Dungeons & Dragons Podcast

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/rsspodcast.xml
Downloadable Content may have bit the bullet but the boys from Penny Arcade still make an appearance every so often on the D&D Podcast and, when they do, I put everything else on hold.

Front Page

http://www.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/podcasts/frontpage.xml
The Front Page is one of the casualties of the end of my commute. Without a daily trek to and from work I’m often a few days behind at which point listening to the news is kind of beside the point. I do still like this podcast, though, so I’m hoping I can fit it into my schedule somewhere.

Hypercritical

http://feeds.feedburner.com/hypercritical
This is probably my favourite new podcast. John Siracusa and Dan Benjamin discuss issues relevant to the tech world. There’s an Apple angle often but it’s often about issues bigger than just Macs and iPhone. John’s observations are incredibly insightful and, because he doesn’t have a regular outlet (John has a blog but doesn’t update it that much), this is the best place to hear his thoughts.

The Japan Considered Podcast

http://feeds.feedburner.com/JapanConsideredPodcast
Am still subscribed to this but, in my heart of hearts, I know it’s gone.

JapanesePod101.com

http://www.japanesepod101.com/wp-feed-audio.php
I have about 40 of these backed up. I promise I will get to them.

The Moth Podcast

http://feeds.feedburner.com/themothpodcast
I can’t believe I’ve only been listening to this for a year but it’s a terrific podcast. Recommended by Dave.

New Yorker: Comment

http://feeds.newyorker.com/services/rssfeeds/comment_podcast.xml
The Comment section of the New Yorker is a short essay that begins every issue of the magazine. At least 50% of these will be written by Hendrik Hertzberg and be about the filibuster.

New Yorker: The Political Scene

http://feeds.newyorker.com/services/rss/feed/campaign_trail.xml
This is still my favourite discussion of politics. Although their discussion of the recent earthquake in Japan was laughably poor, there’s usually a nice smattering of experts to talk about whatever issue is most timely.

NHK English News

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/rj/podcast/rss/english.xml
Same problem as the Front Page podcast. I wish NHK put out their Japanese-language news as a podcast.

Slate’s Spoiler Specials

http://www.slate.com/podcast/id/2144834/
I’ve caught up from last year and am now only 11 podcasts behind. I still have /Lust, Caution/ on the list, though.

The Pipeline

http://feeds.feedburner.com/thepipelineshow
If you don’t include The Talk Show (see below) this was the first 5by5 show I started listening to and it’s still one of the best. Hosted by Dan Benjamin, I thought this one might run out of steam as Benjamin worked his way through friends and associates. Thankfully, that’s not the case (or he just has an incredible rolodex).

The Talk Show

http://thetalkshow.net/index.xml
Suspended for a brief ‘two week’ hiatus, The Talk Show has returned as part of the 5by5 network. Notable for a running segment in which hosts John Gruber and Dan Benjamin dissect a new James Bond film each week (they’re working their way through the series in order). This alone makes it worthwhile.

東京slow style

http://www.tokyoslowstyle.jp/podcast.xml
I still listen to Sasha as he continues exploring odd and different parts of Tokyo. This is the only podcast I’ve ever listened to which seemed to use an animated GIF as the image it displays on an iPod/iPhone. I assume it’s an animated GIF because as the show plays it cycles through images relevant to what’s being talked about. Kind of impressive just for the effort that goes into that side of things.

8-4 Play

http://eightfour.libsyn.com/rss
There’s not a lot of video game-related podcasts in this list any more but this is a new one that’s found its way on there. 8-4 Play is a translation company based in Tokyo. The reason I’m listening to the podcast? The company is home to Mark McDonald (formerly of EGM) and he leads a biweekly podcast with the rest of the 8-4 Play crew. The Japan angle is excellent for me.

37signals Podcast

http://feeds.feedburner.com/37signals_podcast
It’s not as regular as it was when it started out but if you enjoy listening to the guys from 37signals, you’ll enjoy this.

So that’s who’s on there but who fell off the list? Only one podcast! Incredible! And it only fell off because it stopped being recorded.

• アクセス The podcast was cancelled! Now I’m never going to find out what ガガンボン means.

It’s probably good that I waited a couple of months, though, because there’s a few new ones that have snuck in just in time. Let’s see what I’m listening to this year and how many sentences I can end with a preposition.

The Brainy Gamer Podcast

http://feeds.feedburner.com/brainygamerpodcast
Hands down, still the best video game podcast I’ve ever listened to. There appears to be no rhyme or reason to the schedule other than Michael puts one out when he’s got someone to talk to and something to say. This is a formula that results in a few podcasts throughout the year but my God they’re good.

Downloadable Content

http://feeds.penny-arcade.com/padlc/
There hasn’t been a podcast since June 2009 and, given that there were only 8 podcasts in 2009 alone, it’s tempting to write this one off to the dead pool. The only reason not to? It’s just so good and I have faith.

Dungeons & Dragons Podcast

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/rsspodcast.xml
I subscribe to this podcast solely to be able to listen to the Penny Arcade guys (and whoever they have with them at the time) play D&D. If you have even a remote interest in roleplaying or board games, you must listen to it. So funny.

Front Page

http://www.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/podcasts/frontpage.xml
The New York Times recently started making this into more of a ‘value added’ podcast by adding things like short interviews with reporters to the podcast. I’m not sure it really does add any extra value but for a quick wrap-up of what’s going on, I rate it highly.

The Japan Considered Podcast

http://feeds.feedburner.com/JapanConsideredPodcast
I’m still subscribed but there hasn’t been a new podcast since February 2009. I think it’s gone.

JapanesePod101.com

http://www.japanesepod101.com/wp-feed-audio.php
I’m still listening to Peter, Naomi and the rest of the crew over at Japanese Pod. I no longer bothering with the newbie and beginner lessons but the intermediate podcasts are still at a level I find challenging.

New Yorker: Comment

http://feeds.newyorker.com/services/rssfeeds/comment_podcast.xml
If you believe liberals are sanctimonious blow-hards, this podcast is not for you.

New Yorker: The Political Scene

http://feeds.newyorker.com/services/rss/feed/campaign_trail.xml
Dorothy Wickenden leads the best weekly discussion of US politics that brings together the depth and analysis for which the New Yorker is renowned. There are occasions where I wish they’d dwell on an issue for a little bit longer but it’s probably for the best that they don’t. Whereas I eventually tired of the Slate Political Podcast, this one is still going strong.

NHK English News

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/rj/podcast/rss/english.xml
This is one that I’m sure I’ve been listening to for ages. Why I didn’t have it on last year’s list, I’m not sure. It’s obviously an incredibly Japan-centric news show but if that’s what you’re looking for, I haven’t found better.

Slate’s Spoiler Specials

http://www.slate.com/podcast/id/2144834/
I am so far behind in the movies that I’ve seen that this has now blown out to 16 podcasts that I have yet to listen to. I can only imagine how much more awesome I’d find this if I didn’t listen to everything about 8 months after the world had move on.

The Pipeline

http://feeds.feedburner.com/thepipelineshow
This is one of the news ones that I just started listening to. Dan Benjamin of the Talk Show fame (see below) spends about 30 minutes interviewing a designer or web developer. If you’re interested in design and the web, this is a great podcast. Dan has had a crackerjack line-up of guests so far and my only concern is that he’s going to run out of awesome people to interview every week.

The Talk Show

http://thetalkshow.net/index.xml
Here’s another one that I think is gone (this is becoming something of a theme). I keep it in iTunes for the same reason as the others, though: when there’s a new episode I’m listening to it immediately.

アクセス

http://www.tbsradio.jp/ac/index.xml
I still don’t understand what ガガンボン means and I still don’t understand most of what’s being said but it’s my goal in life to one day be able to answer both those questions.

東京slow style

http://www.tokyoslowstyle.jp/podcast.xml
Here’s a new one that I started listening to this year. It’s a recording of a radio show in Japan. We don’t have so many of these in Australia — at least not aimed at younger people — but in Japan they seem a lot more popular. If you’re familiar with Triple J’s Hack, it’s kind of like that, only just about an interesting place or business in Tokyo.

37signals Podcast

http://feeds.feedburner.com/37signals_podcast
I think there’s a real danger this is just not going to have the legs to keep my interest for the next 12 months — you can only listen to the 37signals message so many times before it becomes repetitive — but it’s only been a month or two and I’m still listening!

So that’s who’s on there but who fell off the list?

• GWJ Conference Call I had the same problem with the GWJ guys that I seem to have with almost all gaming-related podcasts: after a while they just become too repetitive. I think it’s no coincidence the ones that remain on my iPod are the ones without a schedule that release a show only when there’s a show worth releasing.
• Slate Magazine Daily Podcast Sacrilege! Yes, I’ve stopped listening to John, David and Emily. After the election was over I’m afraid it felt like the same discussions were being had each week and it was just going around in circles. The other Slate podcasts, although fun to listen to, weren’t the reason I was sticking around.
• University of Sydney Podcasts As interesting as these often were, I just couldn’t justify the time. When I thought about the 2 hours that you could sink into one of these, that’s a lot of Japanese study I could be doing instead.

OK, Andrew. You didn’t answer my call last year. Don’t let me down now!

In fact, I love the design of the new Foreign Affairs website so much I decided I’d subscribe to the magazine. They have a paywall in place and I was getting frustrated at not being able to read what sounded like the most interesting articles. Also, I don’t believe there’s some magical money-making machine that ensures good writing gets paid for. So I thought, you know what? I’ll do it. I’ll subscribe.

If you live in the U.S., a subscription to Foreign Affairs magazine costs US$32. If you live outside of North America you pay US$32 for a subscription and US$35 for delivery.

I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised. Printing is cheap these days and Australia is a long way from the United States. And US$67 is hardly the end of the world. But I don’t like paying for things I don’t need and I didn’t want the printed version of Foreign Affairs; I just wanted to be able to access the website. Surely something could be done. I thought my question was pretty straightforward:

Hi

I’m not sure who the right person to ask is. I’d like to subscribe to Foreign Affairs but I live in Australia.

The main reason that I want to subscribe is to have full access to the website. To subscribe with an Australian address will cost more in shipping than the cost of the subscription itself (currently US$35 v US$32).

Is it possible only to subscribe at the US price and simply not have the physical magazine shipped to me?

Cheers

Michael.

This was the response:

Ms. Camilleri,

We do not offer kindle subscription. Please contact Amazon.com for further assistance. If we can be of any other assistance, please let us know.

Thank you for subscribing to Foreign Affairs.

Sincerely,

Pete Stone Email Customer Service

Stellar job there, Pete. In three lines you managed to call me a girl, tell me to go and ask someone else for help subscribing to your magazine and then thank me for subscribing when my question was about how I could subscribe.

Still, I kept my cool:

Dear Pete

I’m not actually after a Kindle subscription; what I’d like to know is if there is some way to subscribe without having the magazine sent to Australia. I presume I could simply put a U.S. address in and send my issues to someone else but, in the interests of saving paper, I thought perhaps it would be possible to subscribe and simply have the magazine not sent.

Cheers

Michael.

The response:

Ms. Camilleri,

We are sorry, we do not offer digital subscriptions. If you wish to avail only a online subscription and no print version, please contact amazon.com.

Thank you for your interest in Foreign Affairs.

Sincerely, Scott Shelton Email Customer Service

Two things: (1) Seriously, when did Michael become a woman’s name? (2) What is it with you guys and Amazon?

I realise there’s a danger at extrapolating from personal experience. What happened to me is possibly a one-off. Certainly it’s not the cause of the decline in print media. But it’s hard not to see it as emblematic of a struggle for companies to adjust to the idea that people might want to pay for the content without the dead trees.

The Brainy Gamer Podcast

http://feeds.feedburner.com/brainygamerpodcast

Last year my schedule was chock-full of gaming podcasts but since the demise of 1UP I’ve managed to whittle it down to two. I started listening to the Brainy Gamer podcast over the New Year. New episodes don’t appear to come out on any schedule that I can see but if the three 1.5-hour long holiday episodes were anything to go by this is the podcast to listen to if you want intelligent analysis of the latest games.

Downloadable Content

http://feeds.penny-arcade.com/padlc/

The irregular podcast for the web comic Penny Arcade stays on the iPod. Artist Mike Krahulik and writer Jerry Holkins are sharp and witty observers on video gaming culture and their discussions of the issues that inspire their comic is as good–if not better–than the finished result. One wishes it were updated more often but I guess that’s what makes each new episode so special.

Front Page

http://www.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/podcasts/frontpage.xml

Another one to return, the Front Page podcast is still the best 5-minute summary of the big stories of the day I’ve found. More than just the headlines you get a feel for what the story is about. It’s published relative to New York’s time zone so it’s about a half a day behind the news but I still find it useful for keeping up with what’s going on.

GWJ Conference Call

http://www.gamerswithjobs.com/taxonomy/term/408/0/feed

New for 2009, the Gamers with Jobs Conference Call is the eponymous podcast for the Gamers with Jobs web site. Usually featuring four regulars, Shawn Andrich, Sean Sands, Julian Murdoch and Rob Borges, the production quality is top-notch and although the show is regular 90 minutes or so in length it never drags. Refreshingly the boys are as conversant about PC gaming as they are about the latest titles to hit the 360 and PS3 so I find it a great all-in-one replacement for 1UP Yours! and GFW Radio.

The Japan Considered Podcast

http://feeds.feedburner.com/JapanConsideredPodcast

Still on the iPod is Dr Robert C Angel’s podcast about Japanese domestic politics and international relations. Dr Angel retired from his teaching gig at the end of last year so my fingers are crossed he can keep to a weekly schedule. Even if he does miss the odd one it’s hard to blame him. He runs the Japan Considered Project for free and uses his considerable network of contacts to interview a number of Japan experts you’d rarely get to hear otherwise.

JapanesePod101.com

http://www.japanesepod101.com/wp-feed-audio.php

One of this year’s rookies, I started listening to JapanesePod101.com about six months ago. A new episode is published each weekday with a slightly confusing schedule. Monday is their newbie series, Tuesday is their beginner series, Wednesday alternates between their lower-intermediate series and an onamatopoeia class, Thursday alternates between their upper-intermediate series and a short audio blog entry about Japan, and Friday is a video lesson. The site operates on a freemium model and if you subscribe you get access to level-specific feeds. To be honest, it was better last year when a new episode of the Lower-Intermediate (my level) and Upper-Intermediate series came out every week but when you don’t pay any money it’s hard to complain.

New Yorker: Comment

http://feeds.newyorker.com/services/rssfeeds/comment_podcast.xml

A reading of the weekly comment article from the latest edition of the New Yorker returns in 2009. If you’re a little worried about how the New Yorker‘s signature blend of upper class wit and overall snootiness translates into audio form rest assured they have a rotating cast of three of the most posh-sounding announcers outside of the BBC and Classical FM.

New Yorker: The Policital Scene

http://feeds.newyorker.com/services/rss/feed/campaign_trail.xml

Presented by Dorothy Wickenden, the Political Scene is the New Yorker‘s version of Slate’s Political Gabfest. As you’d expect it’s a lot more focused and at only about half the length tends not to deal with as many topics of discussion. That said, it’s an excellent overview of the political comings and goings in Washington for that week and the calibre of their writers means it’s always interesting. New to the iPod but definitely staying.

Slate’s Spoiler Specials

http://www.slate.com/podcast/id/2144834/

One of the bevy of Slate podcasts that remain on my listening listen. Slate‘s film critic, Dana Stevens, continues to go where other reviewers fear to tread. This is the podcast that discusses movies without regard to spoilers and as such is better listened to after you’ve seen a film. Unfortunately given the delay between movies coming out in the US and their release in Japan I’ve got quite a backlog building up. Hopefully I can cut it down to a more manageable size when I return to Australia.

Slate Magazine Daily Podcast

http://www.slate.com/podcast/

Since 2008 Slate has expanded its podcasts to include the Culture Gabfest and the Big Money podcast. Both are excellent talkfests about popular culture and economics respectively. The Audio Book Club is still there, as is the Political Gabfest. When it’s not one of the regular longform podcasts, Dale Willman reads a popular story from the site.

The Gabfests, Big Money and the Audio Book Club are also podcast separately if that grabs your fancy.

The Talk Show

http://thetalkshow.net/index.xml

Dan Benjamin and John Gruber, Mac nerds extraordinaire, remain on the list into 2009. They still do some of the best deadpan banter and although they often stray from topic (last week was a 15-minute show entirely about gridiron) I never seem to mind (even when it’s entirely about gridiron).

University of Sydney Podcasts

http://www.usyd.edu.au/podcasts/2006/rss.xml

They don’t come around every week but the University of Sydney has some fantastic guest lecturers (as you’d expect) and some bright spark thought it was a shame that you had to actually be at the university to hear them. Sometimes they’re a little boring (the medical science one I couldn’t make it through) but for the most part they’re brilliant lecturers you’d normally have to pay good money to hear speak.

アクセス

http://www.tbsradio.jp/ac/index.xml

Although I didn’t include it on last year’s list I have been listening to TBS’s アクセス (Access) since 2007. It’s a Japanese language podcast about current affairs and politics in Japan. To be perfectly honest, I think I understand about 10% of what they say but since that’s up from 5% last year it’s something of an improvement. I still don’t understand what ガガンボン means, though.

So that’s who’s on there but who fell off the list?

• ABC Insiders I stopped listening after becoming frustrated at the lack of detailed analysis (and at Andrew Bolt).
• Background Briefing I couldn’t justify the time it took to listen to. Thirty minutes is a long time and too often it was about a topic in which I had little to no interest.
• Backstory I really miss this one but I really felt the time on the train would be more productive studying Japanese.
• EGM Live* I stopped listening to this before it morphed into 1UP Radio. All the presenters I liked departed and it wasn’t doing anything 1UP Yours! didn’t do better.
• GFW Radio Another 1UP podcast I stopped listening to before it was renamed. I’m sorry to say once Jeff Green and Shawn Elliot left there wasn’t a lot keeping me there.
• KCRW’s The Treatment The delay between a film’s release in the US and its release in Japan just made the backlog of these too long to ever get through.
• Newsmaker I can’t remember if I stopped listening or if they stopped podcasting. Either way, not a good sign.
• OpCast Too often it was about a topic I had no interest in or it really needed you to read the op-ed first. Since I listen to podcasts away from the Internet this isn’t an option for me.
• Slate Explainer Podcast Another one I was really sad to drop. Again, I wanted to focus on Japanese and truth be told I didn’t need to know any of this stuff.
• TalkCrunch I don’t know if they ever did fix that feed.
• This Week in Law This podcast had real promise but the level of preparation got to me after a while. Frequently guests were unable to answer questions because they didn’t have an opinion on the matter. Why are you there, then?
• 1UP Yours! It seems to have gone the way of the dodo since the sale of 1UP to UGO. And without Shane will it ever be the same?

Well that’s it for this year. What about you? What’re you listening to? (Yes, I am talking directly to you, Andrew.)

The snookering of the media by corporate and political interests feels like something that really only happened in the last 15 or so years. Maybe it’s that media consultants didn’t exist back before then and so most people weren’t wise to all the tricks of the trade. Maybe it’s that with so many media opportunities these days everyone’s just had a lot more practice. Maybe it’s because I was born in 1982 and what I remember of the 80s is mostly informed by Die Hard movies.

Whatever the case, what do you, as the media consumer, do when confronted with this sort of thing? I stopped reading the article, free as it seemed it was from any real content, but afterwards I couldn’t help feel as if perhaps I’d missed out on something important. After all, I’d started reading the article because I was interested in how the iPhone was developing as a video game platform. There might have been nuggets of information buried in there, only waiting for someone (me!) to dig them out. Avoiding the media hardly seems like the answer.

I wanted to blame someone for this development and the ‘fair and balanced’ approach to journalism seems as good a scapegoat as any. What does ‘fair and balanced’ even mean? Are the two compatible? What if being fair means being unbalanced? What if being balanced means being unfair? Campbell Brown, a CNN anchor¹, has referred to the approach as a ‘false equivalency’. In an interview with Jon Stewart she explained:

[My] view is that when Candidate A says it’s raining outside, and Candidate B says it’s sunny, a journalist should be able to look outside and say, ‘Well it’s sunny, so one of these guys is wrong.’

But if you’re in an interview with Candidate A when do you say this? During the interview? Aftewards when you’re backannouncing it? In a follow-up segment the next week? I feel like in polite society it’s rude to point out to someone that what they’re describing is diametrically opposed to reality. Or is calling someone on their shit what separates a journalist from a dinner party guest? Politeness be damned?

Of course there’s an immediate problem with calling people on their shit. You need to know yours. And really well. What this requires is an incredible amount of preparation by journalists to have researched the interview subject, the previous answers they’ve given during interviews, their likely answers to your questions, the obvious holes in these answers, oh, and the general topic area. In a 24-hour news world where budgets are being cut and newsrooms are being downsized does anyone have the time or the resources to do this?

Are we at a point where the capacity for impoliteness no longer exists? And what do we do if we are? Sometimes I wonder if news institutions like the New York Times have become too old and what’s needed is deep, deep reform. That the rhythms of old media are too well known and too well understood by those that they are tasked with shining a light on. Are the trailblazers of the Internet the solution? Can they even begin to fill this void? Who has time to do research when you’ve got to post something new every 30 minutes?

I’m not sure where this leaves us. I guess still not reading the Edge interview but no closer it seems to a solution. If we ignore the panderers in the media does this send the signal that newsrooms ought to get serious about their jobs or that they ought to get rid of those jobs? If we frequent the blogs do we simply enter a deafening echo chamber where the spin that assaults us is our own? Is there a third way, something that’s rougher than old media but better funded than new media?

And where does that funding come from?