Comments

1. Palaeologos

   Sunday 30 September 2007 at 18:18

   Why does the Observer hold to a much higher standard of journalism than the Guardian?

   Does it have something to do with keeping reprobates like Maddy Bunting and Shame-us Milne at arm’s length?

2. Jura Watchmaker

   Sunday 30 September 2007 at 19:41

   Bunting and Milne don’t do journalism; they do comment. Bunting is a “thinker”, after all. Tait’s article, on the other hand, is thoroughly researched reportage. There is plenty of good journalism in both the Guardian and Observer, but it is often ignored by those who read only the online versions of these publications.

3. Palaeologos

   Sunday 30 September 2007 at 20:30

   Thank you: the distinction is useful. And I agree that the standard of foreign reporting remains high, as demonstrated above. It seems though that both Bunting and Milne continue to style themselves as investigative journalists: in what sense is this accurate in recent years?

   Further, In what way does the online edition differ from the print edition - presumably much more wittering ‘comment’ pushed to the foreground, but are there investigative articles that are omitted in the online version? Guardian Unlimited claims a larger and more diverse readership than the print edition, so are there grounds for assuming that the paper pushes a different political agenda depending on the format?

4. Jura Watchmaker

   Sunday 30 September 2007 at 20:57

   They differ little in content, and not at all when it comes to the more substantial articles. It’s more about presentation on the part of Guardian Media Ltd, and the apparent bias of many online readers toward comment pieces on which they can publicly (and easily) express their opinions. It’s the interactive nature of the online medium that attracts many reader-participants who do not ‘take’ the paper.

   As for the political agenda, or agendas, I would be wary of attributing much political coherence to the editors of the Guardian and Observer. To me it seems that the business agendas are of more importance, and with Guardian Unlimited there appears to be a lot of experimentation going on at present.

   These are new avenues of exploration for the mainstream media, and it’s interesting to watch how it develops. Personally, I don’t like the way the comment section of the Guardian is developing, but I have a choice, and it is to increasingly ignore the op-ed pages (and Comment is Free). I lapse all too often.