Want to Be Anointed a Journalist, See Robert Cox
Who is Robert Cox and why has the AP, PBS and the Federal courts allowed him to be the self appointed judge of good journalism? I have been quiet about this long enough, while Grayson Daughters has been signaling the alarm.
Yesterday Mark Glaser wrote about Cox, and I just had to add this comment, which I will share here:
I am quite troubled that Robert Cox has appointed himself the mediator of good taste, as you write here, he said:
“We sought to address [the AP's concerns] by saying we have a vetted membership of bloggers who’ve agreed to ascribe to certain ideals of what they’re trying to do. [The AP] has the kind of accountability that they want. I’m not going to control what the blogger writes, but if they get way out of line and embarrass the AP, they can be pulled from the feed.”
Of course, you are aware, as Grayson Daughters has been making clear, that Cox is the managing editor of the far-right Olbermann Watch.
He has an agenda. Why not take a careful look at it? Starting with this post’s comment.
Plus here is a direct quote from the Media Bloggers Association charter:
“The Media Bloggers Association believes in the independence and freedom of expression of our members. We recognize that our members are autonomous agents who take varied approaches to blogging. As a result, it’s not the place of the MBA to create a code of conduct for bloggers or to enforce such rules. When we blog, each of us is accountable for our own actions, and we own our own words.”
I think it is extremely dangerous when we start turning over who is and who is not a journalist to one person or one group of people.
This doesn’t bother you?:
“if they get way out of line and embarrass the AP, they can be pulled from the feed.’
Guess what? According to Cox’s creed, Olbermann would get pulled off the feed.
Here is another post by Cox in 2005 which I found after my post at Glaser’s Mediashift:
As a blogger I wear two hats, I wear my “bomb thrower” hat on my personal blog, The National Debate and my “non-partisan” hat as President of the Media Bloggers Association, a non-partisan organization dedicated to promoting, protecting and educating its members; advancing “blogging” or “citizen journalism” as a distinct form of media; and helping to extend the power of the press, with all the rights and responsibilities that it entails, to every citizen.
From the looks of things I am to be the resident wingnut here so I will do my best to keep up my side of the discussion but as MBA President I feel obligated to take a polite, less inflammatory approach…at least for now
…”at least for now”…what does that mean?
March 1st, 2007 at 9:41 pm
I agree about Cox, and feel that he is very dangerous….in fact, he may have a personal vendetta. His fellow Lance Dutson is a dishonest predatory blogger, and I’m writing a book about it.
This morning I googled at the top of page 2, but this afternoon I disappeared.
He certainly seems to have a lot of mice at his beck and call.
Http://coxstuff.blogspot.com