The Virginia blogosphere has been abuzz yet again over the behavior of some of its members.

Episodes of dubious blogging behavior are by now almost as run of the mill as blogging itself—and so is the hand-wringing that follows such episodes. Responsible bloggers throw out the idea of a code of ethics, then founder on the simple fact that there is no way to hold anyone to it. Irresponsible bloggers go on about their merry pranks with impunity. Some responsible readers grow weary.

What else should anyone expect?

There are, after all, millions of blogs produced by millions of bloggers. The material is unmediated. A premium is placed on speed; accuracy comes in a distant second.

The vast majority of blogs do no harm. Some do a great deal of good. Richmond-area blogs such as River City Rapids and Hills and Heights and others too numerous to mention often find nuggets the newspaper overlooks. Good on ‘em.

But some sorcerers’ apprentices inevitably run amok.

Let’s trot out the old chestnut about martial arts: It takes years of physical training to master the skills of a black belt. But the physical training is done under the tutelage of a sensei (an instructor) who incorporates spiritual lessons as well. By the time a student has attained a level at which he could seriously hurt someone, he also has learned the self-discipline not to, and the moral lesson that it is better to defuse an explosive situation than to detonate it.

Traditional media have mentors—editors—who try to keep hotheads, frauds, and the factually impaired in check. That certainly doesn’t make the mainstream media perfect—and blogs are great for helping keep the MSM honest. Embarrassments, such as the Jayson Blair scandal at The New York Times and the Janet Cooke episode at The Washington Post, still occur with irksome frequency. Newspapers run corrections just about every day. There are good and bad editors, and good and bad writers.

But for all their faults, newspapers do have people in charge whose job it is to ask, “Hang on a sec. Are you sure about that? What’s your source? Do we really want to say it?”

The blogosphere, in all its glorious cacophony, occasionally would benefit from some wise old editors. But if it had them, then it wouln’t be the blogosphere, would it?

Update: Perhaps I should have mentioned* that j’s notes is produced by Jason Kenney, brother of Shaun, who is the communications director for the Republican Party of Virginia. Ben Tribbett wants it pointed out, and I’m happy to oblige—though it wasn’t my purpose here to get into the who-shot-john of the dispute between Tribbett and Shaun Kenney. (For those who want a counterpoint to Jason Kenney’s posts, The Richmond Democrat has some musings.) The broader and (to me) more interesting issue is the Wild-West nature of the blogosphere in general. If the Tribbett-Kenney dispute doesn’t seem like a good case study to you, okeydoke. Pick another incident more to your liking. There are, alas, plenty to choose from.

* I bet an editor would have asked!

“Too often anonynomity (sic) is just a screen for cowardice.”

Yech!  I have to stop typing with my eyes closed.  Sorry for the typo.

“Too often anonynomity (sic) is just a screen for cowardice.”

Amen to that, Richmond Dem! And not just the Anon’s, but also the pseudonymmers (Mosquito Man; other silly crap). You know those “Post Your Comment” things under RT-D online news stories? ...heh heh...When the topic is racially charged something like 98% of the posts are Anons or Pseudo’s. Chicken livers.

I agree to a point. Sometimes anonymity offers protection to those who are not professional journalists.

Whistleblowing is not always an easy endeavor.

The biggest problem I see is “anonymous bloggers syndrome.”

Bloggers who blog anonymously often overstep the bounds of polite discourse because they feel like they are in a consequence-free environment.  They think they can lie, defame, and launch hurtful attacks without suffering any consequences in return.  Too often they are correct in that assumption.

Every now and then though the veil of anonynomity is pierced and the offender scrambles to take down (if not take back) everything they posted.

Too often anonynomity is just a screen for cowardice.

The Times Dispatch, considering its run of VaPAF articles and editorials without disclosure and fact checking, can hardly claim the high road.

Too often your so-called “senseis” are most concerned about not offending their corporate buddies.

I say let the hounds stay unleashed and use your own judgement. That word ‘edit’ is too close to ‘censor’. The press are our traditional watchers, the blogers watch the watchers. Sure, some of them will be over-the-top and inaccurate. But Americans have the keenest noses in the world for sniffing out BS. Don’t hog-tie the blogs with arbitrary ‘ethics’.

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