Commentary

Old School Rules Inspire Bloggers

Simon Surowicz, producer of the ABC News investigative web site The Blotter, visited a class of eager, though mature NYU journalism students last Thursday evening. Mr. Surowicz, a native of Belgium, got his start in reporting the news when two inch video tapes were standard, and the Internet was sci-fi.

Simon started the ABC site 11 months ago, and in that time his efforts have resulted in four major on-line journalism awards, including the coveted Peabody, for such stories as breaking the Foley sex scandal which disclosed congressman Mark Foley’s inappropriate advances to underage pages, and for revealing the devastating effects of HIV/AIDS on the African-American community.

The ABC Investigative web site receives between 2 and 3 million hits (visits) a month – the Foley story generated 9 million hits in two days. Many of the stories receive between two and three hundred comments each – and that is the unmistakable sign of a successful site.

Furthermore, many of the stories that Mr. Surowicz uncovers actually create content for ABC News shows such as 20/20. For example, after posting a story about prescription drug errors made at a Walgreen’s pharmacy, the site was flooded with comments and additional instances of customers receiving improper dosages after other Walgreen locations filled their prescriptions. Backed up with documentation, the new stories successfully refuted the drug chain’s claim that it was an isolated incident. The result culminated in a more in-depth story that aired on 20/20.

The ABC News site cultivates a new, younger and tech-savvy consumer of information. These people are on-line several hours a day, devouring a growing amount of digital media content: music through itunes, audio and video from pod and webcasts, and documents in pdf formats.

Although the major networks garner the lion’s share of the television news market, people are shifting the way they receive and react to what journalists report.

Mr. Surowicz emphasized that while the news’ delivery method has changed, the need for high journalistic standards has not. Sources and documents must be checked for their validity, and stories must be approached with fairness in mind.

As the population of bloggers explodes, and with it the spread of unsubstantiated stories that turn rumor into accepted wisdom, it is the job of responsible journalists, such as Mr. Surowicz, to establish the Internet as a reliable source of news and information.

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