Good Night and Bad Faith
By Thomas Lindaman (03/19/06)
I'm going to catch some heat from my conservative friends out there, but I happen to like George Clooney. Regardless of what his politics are, I have found Clooney to be a breath of fresh air in Hollywood because he is honest about who he is and what he believes. But what really impresses me is that he doesn't push his politics on anyone, nor does he define himself by his politics more than his body of work. Say what you will about the subject matter of "Good Night and Good Luck," it was some of the best work put on film in a long time.
Enter Internet blog-mistress Arianna Huffington. Huffington put up a post at the Huffington Post that was attributed as a blog written by Clooney. In truth, what it was was a group of quotes from interviews with Larry King and the British newspaper The Guardian. When Clooney found out, he said he didn't write it. Huffington responded with an explanation that the Clooney folks didn't know what a blog was, so they worked up one and sent it to a Clooney publicist, who gave the okay. Huffington chalks it up as a misunderstanding between Clooney and the publicist, but Clooney raised the point that she shouldn't have run it as something he wrote when it wasn't.
Guess which side I'm taking on this one.
Clooney is absolutely right to be upset at the Huffington Post's actions. What the site did was to piece together quotations out of context, not in any semblence of order, and pass it off as a written piece. After visiting the Huffington Post and reading some of the comments trying to pass it off as nothing major or as merely a misunderstanding, I have to say Huffington and the people who agree with her about this situation are missing the greater point. What she did or allowed to happen is intellectually dishonest and highly unethical.
Let's use Arianna for an example. For those of you who don't know or have forgotten, Huffington used to be a pretty conservative lady. Now, let's say I decided to go back and pick out quotes from her speeches and writings to form a blog for a conservative website like, for example, ConservativesKickButt.com. Although they are still her words, it would not be ethical to put them together in a singular form like a blog because it does not constitute a legitimate posting. And contrary to what some posters on the Huffington Post say, reporters usually don't string together quotes without context. To do so is to risk legal backlash from the person being quoted, or misquoted as the case may be.
One has to wonder why Huffington would risk her reputation on such a boneheaded move that could have been cleared up with a simple phone call. I'm only speculating here, but I think it might have something to do with Huffington herself. When she rolled out the Huffington Post last year, she promised that it would be like the Drudge Report and that you would see blogs from celebrities, and to her credit some have written blogs for her site. However, most of the blogs are written by people who aren't celebrities or even well-known journalists. And judging by hits, Drudge is still far ahead of the Post.
So far, it's safe to say the Huffington Post has overpromised, but underdelivered. In a situation like that, people often get desperate. So, when Huffington had a "blog" "written" by one of Hollywood's hottest actors right now, she could have seen it as her salvation and ran with it. Again, this is only speculation, but it does fit the pattern. The final nails in this coffin come from Huffington's explanation of the events as a "misunderstanding" between Clooney and his publicist. To me, that sounded like she was trying to deflect blame from herself and her site, even though she was involved in it, either directly or indirectly. And more importantly, it sends a signal that she knew she did wrong, but doesn't want to accept responsibility for it.
But there is a bright side to this controversy. Huffington's actions show a flaw inherent in all online commentary in that they are only as credible as the research done to make them credible. Believe me, there is nothing the "old media" would love more than to have the "new media" fall flat on its face, if only to avoid the "new media" talking about the "old media" falling flat on its face time and time again. To avoid this, we of the "new media" need to be extra careful with what we post. We may not be held to the same legal and ethical standards as the New York Times, but we should be willing to consider doing just that, if not more, because we're trying to establish our credibility. Regardless of what you think about Clooney's politics, "Good Night and Good Luck" had a great message about the importance of getting the story right that every blogger should take to heart. If you haven't seen it, see it.
That included you, Arianna. I'll even buy you a copy of the DVD.
(Printer friendly version) Email: Thomas Lindaman
