Arizona Public Media | Cue Sheet, Monday July the 07, 2008

THE ENEMY WITHIN

From the desk of James Reel on Monday, July 7th 2008 at 7:15

Martin Bernheimer, in the Financial Times, assesses the peril to professional arts critics in American newspapers. Much of what he writes is spot-on, if not really news at this late date. But what’s stirring up dissent online is his contention that “A primary cause of our imminent extinction must be the Internet. ... On the Web, anyone can impersonate an expert. Anyone can blog. Credentials don’t count. All views are equal. Some sort of criticism may survive the American media revolution, but professional criticism may not.” This is just silly, as AC Douglas and Lisa Hirsch have already pointed out at their own intelligently written blogs. But what I’d like to point out is that American dailies are full of their own frauds, poor general-assignment reporters assigned to cover the arts despite having no background in the subject and no understanding of the professional standards of arts criticism. I’m not just referring to freelancers, either. As the pros are being bought out or fired, their places are being taken, if at all, by deeply unqualified hacks. It’s becoming far easier to find intelligent arts commentary online than in a daily paper.

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From the desk of James Reel on Monday, July 7th 2008 at 7:15

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