Tribune Article Claims Frey Scoop for MSM

Posted on January 21, 2006

Steve Johnson, the Chicago Tribune's Internet critic, writes that it is really the mainstream media that uncovered the scoop that James Frey made up parts of his nonfiction book called A Million Little Pieces. The book was an Oprah pick and a bestseller. The Tribune article claims that some people have been crediting the blogosphere for the discovery that Frey made up parts of the book.

The Tribune reports that the blog world has happily been giving the credit for digging up scoop on Frey to the The Smoking Gun. The Smoking Gun deserves the credit but it is actually part of the mainstream media. As the Tribune points out, the Smoking Gun is actually now owned by Court TV, which is owned by Time Warner.

But it just isn't true. The Smoking Gun may have started life plucky and independent. But those qualities -- to say nothing of the high readership caused by its willingness to track down and make available the likes of Nick Nolte's slovenly DUI mug shot -- earned it the attention of a big, mainstream media company.

Court TV, a basic-cable channel carried on the great majority of U.S. cable systems, bought the site in 2000. Court TV is itself owned by giants Time Warner and Liberty Media.

So when Smoking Gun attempted to track down some of the trail of mug shots Frey must have surely left behind and instead discovered a suspicious lack of criminal (or Criminal) records, it was, quite simply and heritage aside, another MSM reporter on the job.

Most people probably don't consider the Smoking Gun to a be a weblog. They shouldn't -- it is not structured like a blog. If people were crediting the blogosphere it may have just been an assumption that this was where the story originated. Even so, the Tribune article does show how confusing things are starting to get now that some previously independent websites and blogs are now owned by major media companies. It also shows that people are still getting blogs and websites confused.

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