When I read 'The Real Free Press' by Michael Gross, I can see his point about his not getting paid not being an issue for him. After all, his particular case with his book and its apparent suppression (of which I know nothing) was something he routed around through The Huffington Post. This means, for better or worse - arguably better in the case of Mr. Gross, though I haven't read his book - he was able to self promote using The Huffington Post.
But is self promotion really journalism? This is the KnowProSE LLC blog, and while KnowProSE LLC blogs about things that past, present and future clients might be interested in, there is no doubt that there is self promotion involved. You can tell simply by looking at the top of the page. This is a company website. This is not a news website, and while this writer tries to be objective there has to be some subjectivity. After all, in my last post I wrote, "I can do that." That I can isn't the point here. That I wrote it is self promotion. And what is self promotion? It's marketing in its own way, not like that of the Super Bowl but in the way of a blogger's self promotion. A company's self promotion.
There is, I think, nothing wrong with self promotion once it is recognized as such and not treated as journalism.
Is self promotion a part of the Free Press that Mr. Gross writes of? I'm honestly not sure. I think it falls more under Freedom of Speech than Free Press. While we like to talk about citizen media, there is a line somewhere in between Egyptians tweeting, blogging and updating Facebook about how they're about to oust a dictator and self promoting a book. I do not know where the line is, I will not pretend to know where that line is - but I do know it exists.
Thus it seems odd that he would go after Mr. Carr: "...Perhaps because he has a ready-made megaphone, that local community newspaper he writes for, Carr doesn't get the benefits HuffPo and Facebook offer those of us who lack his significant advantage..."
The majority of people in the world still don't have the benefits that the HuffPo has simply because they don't write for the HuffPo. In that way, it's not a very solid point to make about Mr. Carr, whose article I will comment on next.
I'm a very strong advocate for citizen media - but somewhere, I think The Huffington Post blurred that line between self promotion and journalism. And I'm not certain that it's a good or bad thing - but I can recognize that when I want solid news, I go to a solid news source. When I want a review of a product, I don't go to the manufacturer's website.
Thus, while I can see the point of how Mr. Gross was able to make money through his writing at The Huffington Post, I'm not certain that it's a point in favor of journalism.
