Overreacting to Ben Smith

Published Mar 22 2007, 07:56 PM by Adam Reilly

Politico reporter Ben Smith is taking a real beating for erroneously reporting that John Edwards was going to suspend his presidential campaign earlier today--even though he's acknowledged and apologized for his mistake. Here's a taste of anti-Smith commentary:

Good journalists don't make the kind of mistake that you did today. It isn't about Edwards - it is about you getting the story right. Your credibility has taken a serious hit, and you deserve it.

Easy, now. Yeah, Smith made a mistake based on information given him by one anonymous source, whom Smith still (commendably) refuses to name. But Smith didn't misrepresent the nature of his information in the original post at all. Here's what he wrote:

John Edwards is suspending his campaign for President, and may drop out completely, because his wife has suffered a recurrence of the cancer that sickened her in 2004, when she was diagnosed with breast cancer, an Edwards friend told The Politico.

In light of that description, readers were free to draw their own conclusions. Maybe the "friend" simply had bad info; maybe he/she had good info at one point, but then Edwards changed his mind. It doesn't really matter. Smith was forthcoming about the kind of tip he'd been given.

Several of Smith's critics also argue that he should simply have waited until Edwards' official announcement to write about any change in his campaign's status. The point they miss is that Smith was blogging here, not writing an article. Smith almost certainly would have sourced more extensively if he'd been doing the latter.

Anyone who gets their information from blogs should realize there's a trade-off at work: you get your information more quickly and more snappily (usually), but in a less refined state. If you don't like it, you can wait for the nightly news or the morning's papers.

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3 Comments

Rick in Duxbury said:

Who wouldn't draw Ben's conclusion? 1. The Senator was a personal injury lawyer and has more money than he can count, bazillions. 2. The Edwardses still mourn the tragic loss of a son 3. Mrs. Edwards's cancer has changed to an incurable state that results in the death of most patients within 5 years. After all that, the man is still running for office? Sorry, but I think the Senator is sicker than his wife.

March 23, 2007 12:18 PM
HD in Manhattan said:

"The point they miss is that Smith was blogging here, not writing an article." So we're agreed here that bloggers are not journalists and are not subject to any of the First Amendment protections and other legal assets that journalists have painstakingly accumulated?

March 23, 2007 3:08 PM
Paul from Norwell said:

You are right. There is a trade off. Whether bolggers are "journalists" or not they are only as good as their information. They risk losing their credability just like a traditional journalist. Politico was undoubtedly loving it when their "scoop" was being cited by Drudge and a host of mainstream media. Their next scoop will be viewed skeptically and won't attract the same atention. I think they rushed this story out because they are new and wanted to generate the buzz and call attention to themselves.

March 26, 2007 3:51 PM

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Overreacting to Ben Smith

3 Comments

Rick in Duxbury said:

HD in Manhattan said:

Paul from Norwell said:

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