Transparency: Cleaning your citJ "filter"

I just read an interesting post by Steve Rubel at Micropersuasion: "We're All Gatekeepers." He wrote:

"Everyone has information they're holding on to. In the media's case, it's a scoop. In PR's case, it's a media embargo or exclusive. And in the blogger's case, it's information that they are among the few or even the one who's privy to it. So the debate shouldn't be over who is the gatekeeper or whether 'gatekeeping' is dead. We all are gatekeepers depending on where the news thread starts. As long as there's news, there will be gatekeepers. Gatekeeping is just much more flat now. Anyone can join in if they have high-value information."

It's true, we have more ways to access information than ever before. Each point of access applies its own filter.

This means it's more important than ever to be conscious of filters, especially as applied to any type of "news." It's no longer safe or smart  to make wholesale assumptions about any class or genre of news filtering -- from professional news organizations, to citizen journalism, to PR, to peer-reviewed journals, to personal blogs. We all have holes in our nets.

Here's what I commented back to Steve...

My comment to Steve Rubel:

Interesting point, Steve.

It occurs to me that the "gatekeeper" concept has an inherent dual role: Providing access to some information, while filtering out (limiting access to) other types of information.

The internet gives easy access to the streams of information released through a variety of "gates." The keepers of each gate apply their own filters.

Personally, I think it's interesting to compare the results of different filters on the same information. That can be incredibly valuable context. In fact, it can end up telling you as much (or more) about the gatekeeper's motives or agenda than about the news itself.

It's kind of like medical imaging in that way: If you start getting consistently wacky results from one MRI machine, run the same scan on a different machine.

However, although we can easily calibrate imaging machines, it's impossible to fully "calibrate" a gatekeeper, because the standards of gatekeeping (even traditional journalism) are ultimately subjective. You can point out errors of fact, but that's about it.

...I think there's a larger point here that relates to citizen journalism: We need to pay attention to our own filters. When we make choices about what to cover, we also choose not to cover other topics, angles, or sources. Both choices need to be made consciously.

This, I think, is a key part of transparency: The ability and willingness to acknowledge how your unique abilities, limits, context, and biases affect the information you offer. It seems to me that the more citizen journalists rigorously practice transparency, the more we strengthen our credibility and reach.

In fact, this might become citizen journalists' best "edge" over traditional journalism and other news sources (especially PR). We have everything to gain by it, while a news organization or PR professional might think too much transparency is self-undermining. (While their ethics might prize transparency, their practice and business often says otherwise.)

If you produce any kind of news -- citizen journalism or otherwise -- what have you learned about your own filter? And how do you communicate that to your audience? Comment below.

Comments

[Lumpy]

WOW
I wish I would have read your feed before I posted my latest post. I was just thinking about how the Internet has changed how we deal with informations and wrote a post. It is an interesting topic that I felt I could never write enough on.

As far as how I filter, I try several searches on a topic and several engines. I also subscribe to MANY feeds and use blogbridge to search them. Another Internet asset I use is IRC. I can usually find some one in the know on any given topic and even find a room themed to such things.

[Maribel Hernandez]

Amy,

I enjoy reading your perspectives.

You raised excellent points about transparency/filters. I am wondering if on a subsequent post you could offer practical solutions on:

- Delinate the key parts of transparency in order to reduce biases.

- How does one get The ability to acknowledge how your abilities limit the context, and biases affect the information you offer.