Richard Edelman - 6 A.M.: CNN Interview on Wal-Mart and Bloggers.
A good followup to last week's story from The New York Times on how Wal-Mart has begun to focus on friendly bloggers to get its story out. Richard Edelman, head of the firm that's doing the outreach, and Jeff Jarvis, late of the MSM and now a champion of all things beyond MSM it seems, appeared with CNN's Howard Kurtz. Jarvis's strident anti-established-media rhetoric aside -- gee, Jeff, where would you be without the Chicago Tribune and People in your resume? -- he's right that the Times's piece was just a little too pious. But for my money, Edelman had the more penetrating analysis of the importance of blogs and other new distribution forms vis a vis the traditional media:
Jarvis: ... We're seeing the death of the gatekeepers. The gatekeepers used to be those in power, then it was those in the press, and then -- yes, now it's P.R., who are gatekeepers to the powerful and the rich and the famous.But now the people have the press. And I harp on this obnoxiously, I'll admit, but what it really means is that there's no scarcity anymore, and that we can push those in power to be transparent. And to not hold back information, which is what gatekeepers really do. So for reporters acting as a gatekeeper, they're doing the wrong thing.
Kurtz: If gatekeepers don't have this kind of influence anymore, Richard Edelman, does that benefit public relations companies like yours?
Edelman: We believe that there's incredible dispersion of authority in the world, and we think that in order to achieve belief today, you have to have a story communicated multiple times. It is very important that traditional media cover a story to get trust, but also, the echo chamber that is, in fact, the blogosphere is urgent for companies and government and others to recognize and participate in.
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