BLOG WARS

There is a battle being waged in the Milwaukee, Wisconsin media, and a lot of bad blood is spilling.

The Old Media, also known as the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and the New Media, local bloggers and conservative talk radio hosts, are at each others' throats.

It all started with a blog entry written by former Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Jessica McBride.



On her blog, McBride's Media Matters, she began telling the story of "Sam," an African-American teen from Milwaukee's inner city.

(Excerpts)

I have decided to write this story because I learned so much about the crisis going on in Milwaukee's inner city through "Sam" - the nuances of it, and the intractability of it. It's particularly important right now in the wake of the Samuel McClain beating, and I have a vehicle through which to tell this story, so I will.

...It starts out just another day covering homicide in Milwaukee's inner city. I am a police reporter for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel when I first meet a boy named Sam. It's 2001, and a sunny day in June, and I am covering a rash of homicides.

...A boy named Sam puts dried flowers on a fence for Rob, the murder victim, half a block down, so I stop to talk with him. They'd grown up together, Sam says, from childhood on, although they'd lost touch in recent years. He is a skinny youth with limpid, childish brown eyes. They are soft and liquid, filled with innocence and warmth. Later I'd learn they could just as quickly harden into obsidian marbles when he is brooding and angry. But on this day, Sam is all wide smiles, big talk, and friendly potential.

...Standing by the fence, Sam tells me about his life, volunteering horrendous things way too freely and casually, as if he doesn't know they aren't the norm. He says he was once shot by a stray bullet, claims his mother was murdered, and comments that Rob was the eighth friend he knows who died violently. I will learn only some of this is true. He's never been shot by a stray bullet, although he was stabbed by an uncle and has the scar on his stomach to prove it. ... And, it's true: His mother isn't here anymore.

...I take Sam's phone number that day by the fence. I might write a story about him, I decide. I want to write a story about an inner city youth just trying to make it. Not the star. Not the criminal. Not the good kid or the bad kid but the kid living in the grays in between.

...I decide to stop by Sam's house and talk with his grandmother about my idea for a story.

...Sam's grandmother asks me to help Sam find a mentor. He had one once, through Children's Court, but the man got too busy and stopped seeing him, and that hurt him. I tell her that I'll help him find one. That's getting a bit too involved in the story but something inside me snaps. I'd covered the stories of too many Sams and too many Robs and I wanted to rewrite the ending of this one.

...But what could a white female in her 30s offer a young African-American male? Sam needed a male role model, I thought. Preferably, an African-American one.

I ask two African-American males at the Journal Sentinel to mentor Sam. Both are prominent columnists who are constantly weighing in on the problems of racism and inner city poverty in Milwaukee.

But neither one is interested in mentoring Sam. They brush me off immediately. Too busy, says one. "If I wanted a child, I'd have one," says another matter-of-factly. In my mind, both of those columnists forfeit the right to pontificate about how others have turned their backs on black, inner city youths. Wishful thinking. They still do it today.

In two paragraphs, war is declared.

One of the columnists, Eugene Kane, has come out swinging.



Kane responds in today's Journal Sentinel, attacking McBride, Milwaukee talk radio personalities, and conservative bloggers.

In "Blogging gives everyone a voice," he writes:

If a tree falls in the forest and nobody hears it, has it made a sound?

In a nutshell, that's what I think about most blogs.

The Internet is overrun with blogs. These personal Web sites are written by both amateur and professional journalists with an ax to grind or strong opinions they are dying to express. Many of them are read by only a small group of readers, sometimes just family or friends.

Despite the current hype over bloggers taking on the mainstream media - "MSM" to many bloggers - I believe there's little chance that blogging will replace traditional forms of reporting and commentary. At least, not in the near future.

But yes, they are making an impact.

There's something sad about watching the slow death of the Old Media. (Or should I say, "MSM"?)

Whether it's local or global liberal news outlets, they are all having the same difficulty coming to terms with the fact that their monopoly is history. The fat lady sang. It's over.

Poor Eugene.

I started my "Raising Kane" blog on JSOnline about a month ago, mainly out of desire to explore this new and exciting form of expression and counteract some of the rabid partisan constituency that wants to dominate the field.

"Rabid partisan constituency"?

Is he talking about Daily Kos or AMERICAblog?

Here in Milwaukee there's an active blogging community, particularly when it comes to politics.

Some of it is a byproduct of right-wing talk radio, which makes reading those blogs akin to listening to four hours of our local blowhards rail against liberals, Gov. Jim Doyle, Sen. Russ Feingold, Ald. Michael McGee and the other usual suspects.

It's my humble opinion that the best blogs - like mine at Raising Kane - don't rant and rave as much as refer readers to interesting stories and commentary from other sources.

Blogging is best when it's a clearinghouse for ideas rather than a long-winded exercise in self-congratulatory rhetoric.

This is really ironic.

If you're looking for "long-winded" and "self-congratulatory rhetoric" from Wisconsin media, look no further than Eugene Kane.

If you're in the Milwaukee area looking for a "local blowhard," Kane's your man.

That's what makes his dismissal of McBride's request so slimy. The hypocrisy oozes.

Kane and Milwaukee local talk radio hosts have been taking swipes at each other for years. His shot at them is nothing new. However, Kane is stepping into potentially dangerous territory by attacking conservative bloggers.

Like so many in the Old Media and the OLD OLD Media (Dan Rather), he underestimates the influence of the New Media. There's a reason it's called the WORLD WIDE WEB.

The libs don't learn from the past. They seem plagued by a disorder that compels them to live in it - Iraq is Vietnam, every scandal and non-scandal is Watergate, etc.

Of all their flaws, that probably will be the one that leads to the libs' complete destruction.

Nobody checks your credentials - or your credibility - at the blogosphere door.

Earth to Kane...

Apparently, he hasn't been paying attention to the credibility problems that have surfaced regarding the mainstream media in recent years.

Does Jayson Blair ring a bell?

How about Memogate?

Remember all the "credible" reporting that came out of New Orleans?

I find it interesting that the blogosphere played a significant role in bringing all of those credibility problems to light.

Kane is in no position to be touting the superior credentials of "real" journalists.

One newly popular right-wing blogger has made a reputation slamming her former colleagues at the Journal Sentinel as she scales the blogosphere mountain.

The peculiar thing is that less than five years ago I remember the same blogger agreeing with me that most of Milwaukee's right-wing talk show hosts were ridiculous social provocateurs not worthy of serious consideration.

These days, she's a regular guest on their TV shows.

I guess in the blogosphere, it's relatively easy for a leopard to change its spots if opportunity knocks.

Typical lib MO -- deflect and personally attack when the facts are against you.

What about that mentor thing, Eugene?

As a newspaper guy, I understand the declining circulation of the Journal Sentinel and other major newspapers makes it imperative to find new ways of engaging readers in our product.

...If the battle for new consumers of information and commentary is to be fully engaged, much of it will happen on the Internet.

What?

Did Kane see the light within the space of one column?

At the beginning he said:

Despite the current hype over bloggers taking on the mainstream media - "MSM" to many bloggers - I believe there's little chance that blogging will replace traditional forms of reporting and commentary. At least, not in the near future.

Which is it?

Kane backtracks on his earlier bravado. He needs to edit more carefully.

Why have all these Old Media outlets started blogs to accompany their Internet sites?

It's very simple.

Not only are the newspapers and network news organizations dying, so is their credibility. This is a direct result of the rapid dissemination of information that is possible via the Internet and the blogosphere.

To which I say to bloggers everywhere:

Bring it on.

OK.


You could say that this war, started by McBride's whistleblowing, has become a quagmire for Kane.

At this point, Eugene Kane has two choices in terms of an exit strategy:

1) He can cut and run in disgrace, while continuing to pretend to be an active force for those struggling in Milwaukee's inner city and to be more than just a columnist.

OR

2) He can be a man and acknowledge his hypocrisy, that his actions speak louder than his words. He can mentor an at-risk child.

The right thing to do is obvious.

Kane has already lost this blog war, but maybe something positive can come from his defeat.

Maybe he and the other columnist that McBride refers to will decide to become mentors. Kane could focus on saving a life rather than putting his time into saving face.