The Big NY Dining "blogs"

[Pan]

Indeed, it is a well-understood psychological phenomenon that people rate things higher when they know that others have rated that thing higher. 

←

The old "emperor's new clothes" theory.

BTW, didn't everyone love Artichoke Pizza at one time? Haven't heard about it in months.

←

I've never loved it, but if you want to "hear about it," go to Chowhound. They still talk about it plenty over there.

[tb86]

Has anybody read Ozersky's Alice Waters vs. Per Se story? Funny how most all of the comments are negative and directed to him and his lil tabloid peice. Then he updates that maybe it wasnt even her,,, at least a tabloid would have gotten the identity right, or at the least done little fact checking before posting it up as truth.......

http://www.the-feedbag.com/elsewhere/alice...oxious-mischief

Edited April 28, 2009 by tb86 (log)

[oakapple]

Has anybody read Ozersky's Alice Waters vs. Per Se story? Funny how most all of the comments are negative and directed to him and his lil tabloid peice. Then he updates that maybe it wasnt even her,,, at least a tabloid would have gotten the identity right, or at the least done little fact checking before posting it up as truth.......  

←

What Ozersky actually did was to pick up a story that another blog had reported. He assumed the other blog's story was true and then commented upon it. The other blog later retracted...and so did Ozersky.

[docsconz]

Has anybody read Ozersky's Alice Waters vs. Per Se story? Funny how most all of the comments are negative and directed to him and his lil tabloid peice. Then he updates that maybe it wasnt even her,,, at least a tabloid would have gotten the identity right, or at the least done little fact checking before posting it up as truth.......  

←

What Ozersky actually did was to pick up a story that another blog had reported. He assumed the other blog's story was true and then commented upon it. The other blog later retracted...and so did Ozersky.

←

Still shoddy journalism. He was very quick to believe ill of someone and was salivating all over it.

[Fat Guy]

To expand upon that a bit: the story was originally reported, it now seems incorrectly, by the Black Book blog. As I understand it, some people who were eating at Per Se reported that they witnessed Alice Waters behaving badly at Per Se. Black Book printed it. Turns out, Per Se says it was actually someone else who just looked somewhat like Alice Waters (who was in Chicago). So Black Book printed a retraction.

Prior to the retraction, Eater picked up the story. All the other food bloggers, as far as I know, got it directly or indirectly from Eater. Serious Eats picked it up. Maybe others picked it up. The Feedbag picked it up from Eater.

Black Book shouldn't have printed the item without calling somebody to confirm or deny the report. Nobody else should have republished the item without evidence of such confirmation. But the Feedbag was hardly unique in its approach. So if it is shoddy journalism, it's the shoddy journalistic standard that is pervasive these days. It's nothing specific to the Feedbag. It's also not specific to critics of Alice Waters. These blogs will report anything of that nature, no matter who it's about. That's how they operate.

[oakapple]

Most media outlets rely, from time to time, on reporting done by others. For instance, the Times might say, "The Wall Street Journal reported that...."

But the Journal has a reputation that can be relied on. That doesn't mean they're always correct, but they're not just a blog written by a twenty-something in pajamas. In the modern blogging world, just about anything can be "blogged," and other bloggers will pick it up without running their own fact check.

[weinoo]

Still shoddy journalism. He was very quick to believe ill of someone and was salivating all over it.

←

And he may have been especially happy it was Alice Waters, for some strange reason.

[docsconz]

Still shoddy journalism. He was very quick to believe ill of someone and was salivating all over it.

←

And he may have been especially happy it was Alice Waters, for some strange reason.

←

That the person was purported to be Alice Waters was the whole story. The glee that Feedbag exhibited was above and beyond the other reports that I read, which I found particularly "annoying" especially since it wasn't true. Alice Waters did dine in Chicago and did dine at Alinea, an event that Chef Achatz anticipated with some concern on Twitter, saying that "We have cooked for Ferran, TK, DB and JG. But Alice comes tomorrow and has me the most uptight of all. I really want her to like it." To Ruth Reichl, he responded on Twitter, "not scared,but an odd "want to please your parents" by not being a doctor like them, type of feeling.Respect collides w/ defense." I asked him via email, how it went. His response, "It went very well." Waters may not be liked or respected by all, but she certainly was no monster at Alinea. I have met and conversed with her in the past and found her to be quite charming.

[taion]

Do we really need to hold food "gossip" up to the same standards of reporting? I would argue that, as this is pretty firmly a "gossip" piece, rather than something substantially informative, that lower standards of verification are not inappropriate.

[docsconz]

Do we really need to hold food "gossip" up to the same standards of reporting? I would argue that, as this is pretty firmly a "gossip" piece, rather than something substantially informative, that lower standards of verification are not inappropriate.

←

Why not? Gossip is fine if the information is valid, but people can be adversely and unfairly affected.

[taion]

Why not? Gossip is fine if the information is valid, but people can be adversely and unfairly affected.

←

To me, at least, it's just gossip. I don't pay serious attention to it, and would find it surprising if anybody did. Is Alice Waters's reported experience at Per Se really going to influence your decisions on going?

[docsconz]

Why not? Gossip is fine if the information is valid, but people can be adversely and unfairly affected.

←

To me, at least, it's just gossip. I don't pay serious attention to it, and would find it surprising if anybody did. Is Alice Waters's reported experience at Per Se really going to influence your decisions on going?

←

No, but it feeds people's perception of Ms. Waters unfairly and in this case incorrectly. I don't mind good, juicy gossip, but definitely prefer it to be accurate.

[slkinsey]

Isn't gossip by its very nature not going to be 100% accurate and reliable? As in "a rumor or report of an intimate nature"?

If you have a site that runs gossip, you're going to be wrong about things from time to time. The thing to do is own up to it to your public, admit you made a mistake and move on. Or get out of the gossip business.

Of course we all prefer the good, juicy gossip to be accurate. But it never will be completely so.

[tb86]

i can think of several cases where he has printed false information based upon rumors.

←

I can think of several instances where the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and 60 Minutes have done that. The Feedbag probably gets some stuff wrong, though no clear examples are coming to mind and none have been cited. But the Feedbag is certainly not a rumor mill. Most of the information is either fact or opinion.

←

I know this is bringing up ghosts of the past, but here one example to speak of. Not to say it was done intentional, he may have assumed it was true, but you know the old saying about assumptions .

[taion]

http://www.the-feedbag.com/profound-questions/ftc-blogger-regulation-what-does-it-mean-for-we-food-bloggers

Interesting to read Ozersky make the same points he made earlier here in more detail on The Dash Feedbag.

[Fat Guy]

Now that Ben Leventhal is doing NBC's Feast blog instead of Eater, I think Feast is probably on the short list:

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/feast/