ArtsJournal debate

"I’ve often wondered what would happen if arts journalists were allowed to write with the same level of authority as sports writers."

-Ruth Lopez, getting it absolutely right, over at the ArtsJournal arts journalism/blogging debate.

As print media (and even NPR and PBS) continues to dumb it down, it seems the only safe spaces to talk knowledgably are where it's free and no one is thought to be reading. Lopez argues,

Blogs just might be the best thing that could happen to us. Anyone who has had
to explain to an editor why, say, Duchamp is not an obscure reference in an art
review, knows how limited traditional print journalism can be as an environment
that promotes critical (let alone historical) thought. We, in printdom, have
some advantages in terms of quality control but our filtering system is
flawed...Is possible that in a quest to chase down the mythical “everyreader”
with bite-size bits of info we’ve actually ended up alienating them?

Amen.

The forum concludes today, so catch up while you can.