IDWID: It do what it do

In the wake of the Virginia Tech massacre, I’ve found myself wondering: What responsibilities should the media be taking in regard to its coverage of this particular kind of tragedy? I ask this as an outside observer as well as someone who works in the media, where we have posted on our own web site some of the very materials I will discuss here.

Obviously, the media must report the news. The public wants to know what happened, how, and why. I have no problems with the kind of coverage we got on the day of the shootings. (Granted, I only saw about an hour or so of television reports, but what I saw seemed to be generally solid. Wolf Blitzer and that absurd “Situation Room” need to go, but that’s a matter of personal taste for another blog.) Read the rest of this entry »

This is where I go public with a blog, one of those things that’s mandated by what the marketing gurus in the online industry call “Web 2.0.” Apparently, Jammer’s Reviews was so Web 1.0 until today.

First of all: What is IDWID? You could say it’s a way of life. Or an inside joke. Or a blog based on a whim. Or a license for rampant pointlessness. Or all of the above. Basically, it’s an acronym for “it do what it do,” a name that hopefully sets the tone for this blog — a tone that’s still being set. Read about what IDWID is and where it came from. Read the rest of this entry »