We Want Media

“It’s a weird, weird job,” said Brian Montopoli, editor of the CBS News blog Public Eye, where he works to bring transparency to the audience of the leading broadcast network's news operation.

Montopoli visited our class this week to shed some light on what it is like to be paid by a mainstream news organization to criticize it on a blog.

“You’re constantly worrying about who you’re offending and who you’re not offending,” said Montopoli, who claimed that TV people aren’t comfortable with much criticism. “You have to massage all the egos and figure out how far you can push certain people.”

The fact that he has to walk the halls with many of the people he criticizes has made him very aware of office politics. “You’re always trying to decide what’s worth writing versus the price you’re going to pay,” he said.

But he doesn’t want people to be scared of him. Instead, he hopes that his presence will get CBS journalists to go further and check their stories before reporting on anything that might be journalistically questionable.

As for the future of blogs and other digital media, Montopoli said: “This is a tough industry, and people need to do everything they can to engage an audience. Part of that should be the Internet. If you’re not doing that, you’re not going to be around much longer.”