Blogrolling

Chapter 3: Jim Romenesko

Correction: A few weeks ago here in The Dagley Dagley Daily, we were mistaken when we wrote these words: "You can't make this stuff up, and why would you want to?" We've since learned that disgraced reporter Jayson Blair made a career out of making it up for The New York Times, which some still consider the pinnacle of the profession. But pinnacles, by their very nature, tend to be narrow, rocky, uncomfortable spots, unprotected from the elements, dangerous and exposed, better suited to rugged individuals than large organizations. Not coincidentally, it was one of those rugged individuals, the Poynter Institute's Jim Romenesko, who blew the whistle on Blair April 30. Other individuals within the Times' large organization tried blowing whistles on him numerous times before that, but their alarms went unheeded, all of which left Times Executive Editor Howell Raines uttering these words on television: "This system is not set up to catch someone who sets out to lie and to use every means at his or her disposal to put false information into the paper."

That does explain a lot of the problems that yesterday's blogrollee, Bob Somerby, is always howliing about, doesn't it? One of the world's most respected news organizations is apparently not set up to deal with publicists or politicians, let alone rogue fiction-writing reporters.

The Poynter Institute is a candle in the darkness of the current media landscape, promoting "excellence and integrity" in a profession that, these days, seems to think that's somebody else's job.

Romenesko is Poynter's senior online reporter.