4 ms·

A bit off topic, but this line stuck out: "I did some googling and couldn’t find any information on Inman, except for some mentions in lists of BBSes of times g

A bit off topic, but this line stuck out: "I did some googling and couldn’t find any information on Inman, except for some mentions in lists of BBSes of times gone by." It's a pretty self-damning statement by the author that the extent of their research is confined to "googling". Motherboard Vice's about page says it's "With in-depth blogging, longform reporting, and video journalism, Motherboard investigates the news and events that are already affecting the years to come." This article falls short of any of that.

acheron 11y ago
vice.com is the same kind of clickbait trash as a Gawker site or Vox or whatever. But this is what journalism has become now.
- ulkesh 11y ago
  This is the sad reality. The last bastion of true journalism now exists within NPR (at least to a degree) or outside the United States. Sensationalist media with only a surface approach to journalism has become the rule and no longer just the exception.
  - elros 11y ago
    I think both parent and grand-parent just haven't seen Vice enough to get the full picture. While I'll grant the fact that some of their channels err on the side of fluff, I do consider the fact that they routinely send journalists to war areas (ISIS, Ukraine) and report from there, or other inhospitable places (e.g. North Korea, central Africa, the Amazon) a display of something more than just a "surface approach to journalism". Or clickbait trash :-) Edit: Tried to make my comment less harsh.
    - Sideshow_Boob 11y ago
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLmkec_4Rfo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLmkec_4Rfo
  - knowaveragejoe 11y ago
    > The last bastion of true journalism now exists within NPR (at least to a degree) or outside the United States. As someone who works in the press industry, but you'd be forgiven for thinking this is the case. There are a number of outfits doing hard hitting, deep journalism. Bigger names include NYT, WaPo, even Bloomberg. You are right in the aspect that those sorts of articles usually aren't headline pieces in favor of the shorter form click-bait. They do themselves a disservice in that respect. But don't mistake that for absence of good journalism.
    - csours 11y ago
      All 3 of those you mention do have good pieces, but they really suffer (to me at least) from brand dilution. I know there is good info on the site, and some articles are superb, insightful and good sources of info, but the brand doesn't guarantee real journalism (to me).
sosuke 11y ago
I've started googling this (ironically?), but other than search engines how do you find things on the internet?
- sixothree 11y ago
  Periodical searches?
- csours 11y ago
  Journalists should have access to LexisNexis, among other sources. Journalists often have to go and talk to real people in meatspace as well.
ghaff 11y ago
I think you're being a bit unfair in this case. It's something he found interesting while doing research for a different piece and he decided to share. More biographical details on the author of the original piece (and even tracking him down for an interview) might have provided more color and context but you can't really do deep research for every 1,000 word article you publish. It's a tradeoff and the fact that the tradeoff is so often made in favor of shallow and quick these days doesn't change the fact that most writers can't spend days making phone calls and visiting libraries for every piece they write.

acheron 11y ago

vice.com is the same kind of clickbait trash as a Gawker site or Vox or whatever. But this is what journalism has become now.

ulkesh 11y ago
This is the sad reality. The last bastion of true journalism now exists within NPR (at least to a degree) or outside the United States. Sensationalist media with only a surface approach to journalism has become the rule and no longer just the exception.
- elros 11y ago
  I think both parent and grand-parent just haven't seen Vice enough to get the full picture. While I'll grant the fact that some of their channels err on the side of fluff, I do consider the fact that they routinely send journalists to war areas (ISIS, Ukraine) and report from there, or other inhospitable places (e.g. North Korea, central Africa, the Amazon) a display of something more than just a "surface approach to journalism". Or clickbait trash :-) Edit: Tried to make my comment less harsh.
  - Sideshow_Boob 11y ago
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLmkec_4Rfo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLmkec_4Rfo
- knowaveragejoe 11y ago
  > The last bastion of true journalism now exists within NPR (at least to a degree) or outside the United States. As someone who works in the press industry, but you'd be forgiven for thinking this is the case. There are a number of outfits doing hard hitting, deep journalism. Bigger names include NYT, WaPo, even Bloomberg. You are right in the aspect that those sorts of articles usually aren't headline pieces in favor of the shorter form click-bait. They do themselves a disservice in that respect. But don't mistake that for absence of good journalism.
  - csours 11y ago
    All 3 of those you mention do have good pieces, but they really suffer (to me at least) from brand dilution. I know there is good info on the site, and some articles are superb, insightful and good sources of info, but the brand doesn't guarantee real journalism (to me).

sosuke 11y ago

I've started googling this (ironically?), but other than search engines how do you find things on the internet?

sixothree 11y ago
Periodical searches?
csours 11y ago
Journalists should have access to LexisNexis, among other sources. Journalists often have to go and talk to real people in meatspace as well.

ghaff 11y ago

I think you're being a bit unfair in this case. It's something he found interesting while doing research for a different piece and he decided to share. More biographical details on the author of the original piece (and even tracking him down for an interview) might have provided more color and context but you can't really do deep research for every 1,000 word article you publish. It's a tradeoff and the fact that the tradeoff is so often made in favor of shallow and quick these days doesn't change the fact that most writers can't spend days making phone calls and visiting libraries for every piece they write.