Re: Blogosphere Star Provides Refreshingly Alternative Ideas
By Peter Klein on Jul 17, 2009 in Economics, Media
Mary, not everyone is so pleased. Paul Walker pointed me to this item from New Zealand’s National Business Review, which worries that the free-content model of the blogosphere
has spawned a huge band of amateur, untrained, unqualified bloggers who have swarmed over the internet pouring out columns of unsubstantiated “facts” and hysterical opinion.
Most of these “citizen journalists” don’t have access to decision makers and are infamous for their biased and inaccurate reporting on almost any subject under the sun (while invariably criticising professional news coverage whose original material they depend on to base their diatribes).
Paul’s response:
I don’t know about other areas, but when it comes to economics I know I trust a number of bloggers a lot more than I trust the NBR. . . .
Does the NBR really think its better at dealing with development economics than Bill Easterly, or better at dealing with Austrian economists than Peter Boettke or Steve Horwitz, or better at commenting on almost any economic issue than Gary Becker or Richard Posner, or more knowledgeable about Adam Smith than Gavin Kennedy, or know more about organizational economics and the economics of institutions than Nicolai J. Foss and Peter G. Klein? Then there is David Friedman or Russ Roberts and Don Boudreaux or Tim Harford or Greg Mankiw or Arnold Kling and Bryan Caplan or Alex Tabarrok and Tyler Cowen, or Al Roth. If only the NBR had such people with their level of professionalism, training and qualifications.
Thanks, Peter.
Also as the historian Leonard Levy documents in his book on the First Amendment, Emergence of a Free Press, the framers of the Constitution meant to allow freedom of the type of press of their time—one engaged in “rasping, corrosive and offensive discussions of all topics of public interest.” Contrary to our fuzzy historical spectacles, theirs wasn’t some elite press full of fine and exalted ideals, communicating official news.
Yes, the blogosphere has some junk, but our one local daily paper has virtually nothing but junk science in it, and I certainly wouldn’t trust any economic analysis it offered: Give me a free and open marketplace of information anytime!
Best wishes,
Mary
Mary Theroux | Jul 17, 2009 | Reply
“Some” junk? That’s an understatement. But I agree there’s gold buried beneath a thick layer of dross, and am surprised how much of my news I get from digging into it. Meaning, I suppose, Paul Walker’s comment extends beyond economics news . . .
Cliff Grammich | Jul 21, 2009 | Reply
Even Paul’s choice of experts for counter-Establishment examples bolsters the need for unconditional property rights in speech. Every one of them can be criticized for lack of objectivity in unique ways. The Chicago School and its utilitarian modeling disqualifies it from being a trusted source for economic reasoning (Posner, Friedman, Becker…). And Tyler Cowen, a real Establishment kiss-ass, has applauded Ben Bernanke and Fed actions.
Fallon | Jul 21, 2009 | Reply