Much has been said recently about the journalistic standards and ethics of bloggers, and particularly the temptation in the blogosphere to publish first, then worry about facts second - if at all.
Alastair Campbell - Tony Blair's former press secretary (among other titles and roles) - had an interesting take on some related issues when he gave the annual Hugh Cudlipp Lecture at the London College of Communication.
Anybody with a more than a passing interest in UK politics and media should read the full script (all 7,000 words of it) and can do so either here or here.
To those who haven't, the general theme of his lecture was that the modern media has got bigger, but not better.
With more pages to print, more seconds of airtime to fill, more channels to adopt, the media - both old and new, mainstream and social - have let standards fall through the floor, according to Mr Campbell.
And while the former political editor of both The Mirror and Today pays particular interest to the political and news coverage of rolling news channels, much of what he says can be applied to social media.
In fact, he addresses the blogosphere directly when he says that the internet has not only given us access to information in a way unimaginable before, it has also shortened our attention span.
He goes on:
"And in civic or citizen's journalism, which sounds so benign there can surely be nothing wrong with it, it has become home to a form of journalism in which there are things constantly said and written which in old media would lead to papers and radio stations being shut down. "
Later on, by now addressing 24 hour news channels, he adds:
"It is a by product of change, and the need to be right, right now, that the old editorial rhythms that gave people time to think before they opened their mouth, or committed to print, have gone.
"Discussions which used to be part of a backroom editorial process – have we checked this story out, who should we be speaking to, what are they likely to say, what are the implications if true? – are now a staple diet of broadcast news dialogue, live on air."
For "live on air", read "across the blogosphere".
"Not wrong for long, the 24 hour news motto."
Again, Mr Campbell is talking about rolling news channels, but the same could be said to apply to blogging.
In the lecture, the consequences are clear: dumb down political reporting and you dumb down all political debate. As image becomes more important than policy, then politicians need to be more acutely aware of what is being said about them and their image, more than they need to know what the public thinks of their policies.
And as in politics, so too in business, reputations can be created or destroyed by casual words on online messageboards.
Finally, on a positive note, Mr Campbell does reflect on the threat the internet poses to the newspaper industry:
"But just as TV forced papers to adapt, but has not killed them, so talk of the death of the newspaper in the online era is premature. Many consumers still see newspaper websites as a complementary news source rather than a direct replacement for print. Alternatively, news may break online, but more serious commentary is still read in hard copy."
To which I say - somewhat ironically for a blogger - Hear, hear.
(Image taken from Celebrity Speakers)
