Justin Foster Unfiltered

Kit Eaton's article in today's on-line version of Fast Company has the headline: "We, The Blogosophere (An Open Source Letter to President Obama)".  Kit takes the President to task for his recent comments to print journalists about the direction of the news being "all blogosphere, all opinions, with no serious fact-checking".  In the article, Mr. Eaton calls Obama the MySpace of Presidents.  Ouch.

While much of the article seems to be harmless satire, one does have to wonder about Mr. Obama's opinion of the changes facing the collection and distribution of news.  However, one of the basics of brand communication is to protect your channels.  Without the traditional media, how would the President be able to go on 6 different shows and grant a dozen plus other interviews in a 2 day period?  It is hard for the President to pitch his message for free if the traditional media goes under.

There is another underlying, more subtle issue - control.  With the exception of George Stephanopoulos, most of President Obama's discussions with traditional journalists are love-fests.  It drives conservatives nutty to see this, but the same thing happened when President Bush appeared on FoxNews and other "friendly" outlets.  The issue of message control is not idealogical based - it is just common sense to a generation and a culture that views the public as a mass.  Set up a friendly interview with David Letterman, millions of people watch, say some funny stuff, and watch your poll numbers go up.  The problem with this scenario is that you can't "spin" the blogosophere - at least not on a broad-based level.   And no spin means no control.  So the blogosophere is actually a threat because real questions might get asked. Bloggers can be a surly, opinionated bunch - and who needs that when you are trying to bring hope and change to the people?  (My turn to be satirical).  

Understanding that the model for the collection and distribution of news is undergoing permanent changes is not a matter of hippness.  It is a deeper quality; of being able to recognize trends and understand that "we the people" are now journalists.  This is a disappointing mind-set for a candidate that embraced social media, promised greater "transparency", and seemed to get it.