The bloggers:How to knock down a story
Posted Sunday, September 27, 2004 JOSHUA MACHT
Having caught the scent of a juicy story from the MSM (mainstream media) to bite into, the bloggers were waiting to pounce like a pack of hounds behind the butcher shop. On Sept. 7, the day before the CBS broadcast, left-leaning blog talkingpointsmemo.com announced that 60 Minutes was to air "documents that shed light on Bush's guard service or lack thereof." The following afternoon, bloggers at freerepublic.com, a conservative website, began anticipating the coverage with comments such as, "CBS should have to register as a Democrat [campaign organization]." Minutes into the broadcast, another Free Republic blogger (known as a freeper on the site) questioned the authenticity of the CBS documents. A few hours later, yet another offered plausible evidence of fakery: the CBS documents could not have been produced by typewriters available at the time. "These documents are forgeries," said the writer. "This should be pursued aggressively."
The comments were penned by someone known online as Buckhead. And they might have languished had it not been for powerlineblog.com, a well-trafficked right-wing website that linked to Buckhead's claims. The rumblings filtered up to Matt Drudge, who linked to Power Line, setting off a surge of publicity. Soon 500 other blogs had linked to Power Line. Among the assertions: 1970s-era typewriters couldn't have produced the superscript th that appears in the memos (this was later disproved). The next afternoon, both the Washington Post and ABC News carried stories about the postings. The mysterious Buckhead had become a folk hero among red-blogged Americans.
But the mystery didn't last long. As first reported in the Los Angeles Times, Buckhead is Harry MacDougald, 46, a conservative, big-firm lawyer from Atlanta with a history of pugnacious activism. As an advisory-board member for the Southeastern Legal Foundation, he helped write the group's petition to disbar Bill Clinton and worked with former Clinton prosecutor Kenneth Starr to challenge a federal campaign-finance law. As the online avenger Buckhead, he has described Clinton as the "Ozark Caligula." Now identified, MacDougald shuns media attention; as one of his postings claimed, perhaps disingenously: "It wasn't me, it was the swarm."
�??With reporting by Mark Coatney and Nathan Thornburgh/New York and Viveca Novak/Washington
A Blogger's Creed
Posted Sunday, September 27, 2004
"Bloggers have no checks and balances. [It's] a guy sitting in his living room in his pajamas."
�??JONATHAN KLEIN, former senior executive of 60 Minutes, on Fox News
Well, last week, the insurrectionary pajama people�??dubbed "pajamahadeen" by some Web nuts�??successfully scaled one more citadel of the mainstream media, CBS News. One of the biggest, baddest media stars, Dan Rather, is now clinging, white-knuckled, to his job. Not bad for a bunch of slackers in their nightclothes.
You have to ask: Is this a media revolution? In some respects, sure. The Web has done one revolutionary thing to journalism: it has made the price of entry into the media market minimal. In days gone by, you needed a small fortune to start up a simple magazine or newspaper. Now you need a laptop and a modem.
Ten years ago I edited a money-losing magazine, The New Republic, which had 100,000 subscribers. Two weeks ago on my four-year-old blog, AndrewSullivan.com, I had 100,000 readers in one day alone. After four years of blogging, I haven't lost a cent and have eked out a small salary. And I don't even have an editor! Technology did this. And it's a big deal most people have yet to understand.
The results, however, are in. Without blogs, there wouldn't have been a Drudge Report to help speed the impeachment of a sitting President. Trent Lott, hounded by bloggers for a racist remark originally ignored by the big media, would still be Senate majority leader. Blogs played a critical part in the downfall of Howell Raines, former executive editor of the New York Times, in the Jayson Blair scandal. Blogs created a forum where Times insiders could leak and vent, where critics could ridicule and where Raines' editorship could be rattled until it was scuttled by one wayward reporter. The same kind of Web scrutiny added to the forces that brought down the BBC's leadership in the aftermath of a disputed story alleging that Tony Blair's government had "sexed up" evidence of Iraqi WMD. I still wonder if Raines and Rather knew what hit them.
The critics of blogs cite their lack of professionalism. Piffle. The dirty little secret of journalism is that it isn't really a profession. It's a craft. All you need is a telephone and a conscience, and you're all set. You get better at it merely by doing it�??which is why fancy journalism schools are, to my mind, such a waste of time.
Blogs prove this. One of the best is a site started by a law professor in Tennessee, Instapundit.com. This "amateur" has earned the trust of his readers simply by his track record�??just as the New York Times did a century ago. And after a couple of years, his readership rivals and often eclipses those of the traditional political magazines. Does he screw up? Of course he does sometimes. I've done so many times myself. But the beauty of the blogosphere is that if you make a mistake, someone will soon let you know. And if you don't correct immediately, someone will let you know again. And again. Like Internet Jack Russell terriers, readers grab ahold of your pants and don't let go until you have made amends. Blogs that ignore critics will lose credibility and readers. It's the market at its purest. And readers may have more and better information at their fingertips than the best researcher in the world.
Take the CBS document story. The clues to the alleged forgery were not discovered by the bloggers themselves�??but by their readers. While CBS had a handful of experts look at the dubious memos (and failed to heed their concerns), the blogosphere enlisted hundreds within hours. Debates ensued, with different blogs challenging others over various abstruse points. Yes, some of this was fueled by raw partisanship and bias. The blogosphere is not morally pure. But the result was that the facts were flushed out more effectively and swiftly than the old media could ever have hoped. The collective mind also turns out to be a corrective one.
Does this mean the old media is dead? Not at all. Blogs depend on the journalistic resources of big media to do the bulk of reporting and analysis. What blogs do is provide the best scrutiny of big media imaginable�??ratcheting up the standards of the professionals, adding new voices, new perspectives and new facts every minute. The genius lies not so much in the bloggers themselves but in the transparent system they have created. In an era of polarized debate, the truth has never been more available. Thank the guys in the pajamas. And read them.
India Wary of China's Growing IT Clout
When China announced about three years back that it wanted to partner with India to gain a foothold in the global software services arena, it sent shock waves across the Indian software industry. Many said "India has nothing to gain from a partnership and China is out to take our business."
In any information technology center in the United States, the mere mention of India's prowess in that sector can often inflame an already heated debate about companies sending work abroad. Soon Indians may say the same about China, if the rapid strides that China is making in IT services is anything to go by.
China, which India viewed mainly as an general economic rival, is starting to make inroads into software development services and integrated circuit design, and many are not so sure anymore that, as widely believed until recently, the Middle Kingdom is still sometime away as a rival IT services outsourcing destination to India.
And the most important person from India to acknowledge this is N R Narayanmurthy, the chairman of Infosys, India's leading software company.
Infrastructure and Skills
"While stressing its need to boost its infrastructure and skills, China is closing in on India's lead in software services and outsourcing fast," said Narayanmurthy, whose company is listed on New York's Nasdaq market. He added that "China is doing a pretty good job in developing its software services industry and many tell me that instead of five years or so they could just take three years or even less to catch up with India."
Others agree. In a recent comment to an industry publication Outsourcing Essential, president and CEO of New York-based U.S. China Partners Inc., said that although India has been attractive, China is becoming more attractive.
Indeed, from the fear of losing out to a sort of sigh-of-relief to acknowledgement of the fact that China's software services too can match India's, the country's perception of the Middle Kingdom's IT services capabilities has undergone many changes over the years.
Global Software Services
When China announced about three years back that it wanted to partner with India to gain a foothold in the global software services arena, it sent shock waves across the Indian software industry. Many said "India has nothing to gain from a partnership and China is out to take our business."
Subsequently the anxiety over China taking a big bite out of India's software lunch subsided a bit when India realized that China's progress in software services wasn't really enough to pose a threat to India.
But now, again, India is wary. "China has realized that the cream is in software services, which is why they are definitely putting their resources to develop and create a vibrant software services industry," said Sujay Chohan, vice president and research director at Gartner , India. "There are already some companies that are offering IT services globally, and China is making rapid strides there."
Fair enough. But how is it that China, historically known as the place of choice for outsourcing primarily manufacturing activities, appears so ready to burst onto the scene as an IT venue?
Domestic Software Growth
First, unlike India, China's has always been emphasizing on domestic software growth. That ultimately, say experts, would result in a robust software industry, which in turn would make it simpler to boost export volumes too. ConnectITChina, a Shanghai consultancy, estimates China's software outsourcing revenue will more than double, to $5 billion, by 2005. Gartner Inc. predicts that by 2007 China will pull in $27 billion for IT services, including call centers and back-office work, matching India.
Second, when China talks of IT, it encompasses software, hardware and the rest of the IT and telecommunication infrastructure. In contrast, when India talks about its IT prowess, it is still largely points to software exports alone.
Also, as says Naryanmurthy, "China is improving much better on infrastructure and that they have gone out of the way to invite software companies from across the globe, including India".
Finally, there's the issue of costs; China's low-cost talent is another edge. Many find that India, despite being a powerhouse in high-end IT services, is getting to be expensive for latecomers. For instance, last year Sweetheart Cup Co., a maker of plastic utensils for customers such as McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) and Wendy's International, hired consultancy E5 Systems of Waltham, Mass., to develop a system to track production processes at its 14 North American factories. E5 did the job in Shenzhen, where it has a joint venture. Sweetheart figured that it saved 40 percent by sourcing in China rather than India.
Of course E5 discovered another advantage of moving to China. The Chinese government has started offering various economic incentives as well. For instance, according to E5, it has received tax abatements, free rent and financial assistance for worker certifications, enabling the company to pass on its cheaper costs to its American outsourcing clients. India used to provide such inducements, too, but no longer does.
Services Companies
These are some of the reasons why Dion Wiggins, the Hong Kong-based head of research for Gartner, feels that, like many American companies, Indian companies must get into China as well -- and quickly.
Wiggins added that these days, one of the top questions being asked of Indian software companies is: What's your China strategy? Companies need to offer China support. If they don't, customers will move to one that does, he says.
Like Wiggins Narayanmurthy too thinks that all Indian software services companies, especially the large ones like Infosys, can no longer afford to ignore China and exclude the nation from their global plans. But his reasons are different.
"Both from the market point of view because there are so many multinationals operating in China, and due to its huge domestic IT market, corporations like Infosys must have China on their radar screen," he says. "Furthermore, I think China is also a market for talent because as a talent source China is pretty good except the English part, but they are improving very rapidly."
Meanwhile, several big Indian IT-services companies are already determined to tap China for their own advantage. India's top IT company, Tata Consultancy Services, for instance, has a 100-person software center in Hangzhou, near Shanghai. Satyam Computer Services Ltd, India's fourth-biggest supplier, has also set up a 27-person development center there, with plans to expand.
Mid-size Indian players like iGATE Global Solutions and MphasiS Group have moved in too, and Gartner predicts that eventually, Indian firms will control 40 percent of China's IT services exports.
