According to a recent Pew study, 15 percent of adults online use Twitter — 8 percent daily. I’m pretty sure most of that 8 percent are journalists. Journalists love Twitter, whether using it for writing, conversation, or fighting. And I love to watch–and judge–the sparring.
If you see a #JournoTweetFight that you think merits inclusion, please give me a heads up @saramorrison.
I didn’t expect to be back so soon after the last edition of Pass the #popcorn, but it seems that the holiday season/new year goodwill has finally worn off, replaced by cold weather crankiness.
Complex senior editor Foster Kamer took great exception on Thursday to a Buzzfeed article about him and his visits to firing ranges.
DECISION: I think we’ve all done a story to which a source objected. Sometimes that objection is fair, and sometimes it isn’t. I’ve made my opinions on some of Buzzfeed’s journalistic practices known, so I’m not inclined to give it the benefit of the doubt.
@antderosa tweeted to me that, his feelings about that particular piece aside, he thinks Buzzfeed “often does do very good work.” I think that’s fair. I’m giving him the win today. @weareyourfek is a close second — he lost points when his emails in that Huffington Post piece showed that he had an inkling that talking to Coppins was a bad idea but did it anyway. Next time, go with your gut.
@mckaycoppins loses for 1. writing a story that doesn’t hold up to scrutiny (as Atlantic Wire, Huffington Post, and The Wrap have shown), 2. dealing with his sources’ complaints by either plugging his story or ignoring them, and 3. that last tweet where he basically said he doesn’t care if his reporting is full of holes or not as long as it gets “attention.”
The ultimate winners, of course, are @carr2n and Coppins’s co-writer @cj_lotz — they’ve stayed Twitter-silent about the whole thing.
Sara Morrison is a former assistant editor at CJR. Follow her on Twitter @saramorrison.