Gunslingers

We got more than a few phone calls yesterday from folks asking us if we’d seen “Bob McAlister’s column on Sic.”

We hadn’t – and technically it didn’t even mention our founding editor’s name – but nonetheless within seconds it was filling up our inbox as numerous politicos from all over the S.C. blogosphere began blasting it out from its home perch over at the website SC Conservative.

One MSM reporter even called us asking us if we had a comment on it.

McAlister’s basic premise – artfully-rendered as always – is that the shift in journalism from stuffy newsrooms to chatty blogs is fraught with both peril and opportunity, but mostly peril.

From the opus:

While there are far more exceptions than, say, 30 years ago, it is fair to say that most newspapers still strive for accuracy most of the time, and most of them attempt to be fair and honest. And it’s because of standards and rules.

By contrast, Internet reporting is our era’s version of the wild West, without rules and standards. Young gunslingers armed with technology and ego stake claims on new websites and begin firing written bullets aimed at people and institutions they do not like. No one knows much about these young whippersnappers, but the odor of gunpowder hangs in the air as each, with his own brand of justice to enforce, prowls door-to-door. Men, women and children scurry for cover.

And throughout the town it is rumored that monied interests are behind some of these Internet hired guns. Have Computer Will Travel.

Of course, that’s just one section of a very long article that was really more about Brad Warthen than it was about us – and McAlister’s point(s) are probably more numerous and complex than we’ve portrayed them here.

As FITS readers learned for themselves two weeks ago, though, McAlister is a writer to be reckoned with.

He also happens to be one of the few “old guard” communicators successfully playing ball in the new media arena.

So from one gunslinger to another, hat tip.

UPDATE - The MSM reporter decided not to write the story, but Sic’s comment was priceless … “My gun is big, it’s accurate, and I like shooting it.”