Old and New Media Clash Again: This Time Over Book Reviews

Posted on May 16, 2007

The L.A. Times reports on the war of words between pundits about the fact that book review sections are flourishing online, while they are being cut back at major print newspapers. Mudslinging between bloggers and some journalists has been reaching a fever pitch.

IT'S time for a truce. When members of the National Book Critics Circle recently picketed the Atlanta Journal-Constitution — protesting the elimination of its book review editor — a war of words broke out between book reviewers and literary bloggers.
The quarrel, which got surprisingly nasty, spilled into newspapers, magazines and blogs, amid concerns over recent cutbacks at other big-city newspaper book reviews, including the Los Angeles Times. The boom in books-related blogging, it seemed, was a slap in the face to more seasoned literary voices as they watched their own outlets shrink.

A critic from The Washington Post attacked literary blogs, denigrating their quality and content. The bloggers furiously responded that old-style book reviews are staid and unreadable to today's audience. It's all part of the ongoing testy relationship between bloggers and mainstream journalists. Only the lines are getting blurred as more bloggers write for mainstream newspapers, doing commentary and reporting.

Not all journalists have a problem with blogs or new media. Brian Williams of NBC News, for example, has an excellent blog of his own and certainly keeps up with blogosphere. That's because he gets it: the world of media and the way that people get their news is changing. And the old media will either change with with the times -- or perish.