Yea, you read that right. The myth.

For those of you who haven’t heard, Dave Weigel is human, with thoughts, emotions, and feelings, like most of the rest of us.

Let me explain. Until yesterday, Dave Weigel was the Washington Post blogger covering the conservative movement. One caveat: he’s not all that conservative. Does that make him a bad blogger? A poor journalist? No. Does it mean he might not have been the best person for the job? Maybe. But that’s missing the larger point here.

The point is that our media is fundamentally flawed. Journalism in the 21st century is facing overwhelming forces, and yesterday’s fiasco at the Washington Post only underscores the futility of trying to fight them. The idea of objective journalism is a myth, for three reasons:

1. News moves faster than people.
2. “Unbiased journalism” is no longer a unique selling point, nor one that consumers are willing to pay for.
3. Journalists have opinions, and hiding them only misleads the public, preventing them from properly interpreting the news they read, hear, and watch.

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Sounds like the beginning of a bad geek joke, doesn’t it?

Well actually, it was the setting of tonight’s Social Media Club DC event, titled “Leveraging Online Relationships,” and hosted at Microsoft’s Friendship Heights office here in Washington, D.C. Organized and hosted by the awesome Sarah Wurrey, the event blew our geeky little minds, as usual. The panel consisted of:

• Alan Rosenblatt – A digital strategist, liberal organizer, professor and blogger, Alan is also the Associate Director of Online Advocacy for the Center for American Progress. Lucky me, this has been my second time to meet him in the past five days (he can’t escape me, haha!) and I swear he teaches me so much every time, not to mention every day via Twitter/Facebook/etc.
• Rebecca Wales – Rebecca is the Director of Communications for Smart Girl Politics, a conservative action network. Now obviously I have my qualms with her cause, but she’s got some real talent and she’s an incredibly nice person. She’s a ton of fun to talk to and I learned a lot from her tonight. Plus, know thy enemy, right? (Just kidding, Rebecca!)
• Brian Dresher – He is the Marketing Manager for USA Today, and boy is he smart. Not only did he provide some excellent insight into social media, but he provided the unique viewpoint of someone who’s industry is changing rapidly and dramatically–journalism. He told us a little about what USA Today is doing to continue to connect with its audience, and even told us where you can get a little bit of a behind-the-scenes glimpse.

So, clearly, you missed out. Anyway, be sure to check the hashtag stream for more learnings from the evening. Also, see my photos from the event embedded below or here on my flickr.

So you may remember me writing a bit about how my first story as a reporter would be coming out in today’s edition of our university newspaper, The Eagle. Well that’s not happening.

Evidently–and I wish I’d known this before I spent several hours work into the article–columnists aren’t allowed to report for The Eagle too. It’s one or the other. Either/or. Pick one, not two, “you can’t have it both ways.” I had wondered, at first, because I knew that major publications often had similar restrictions. However, this being a little university newspaper–and the editor and staff not questioning my authority to write an article–I figured it must be alright, in this circumstance.

Not so. After researching, interviewing, writing and finally submitting my piece, I was called the next day to hear that my piece would not be run, since I’m a columnist, too. Honestly, I think it’s a stupid rule–the article was written perfectly objectively, in my humble opinion, and I’ve separated the views of my column clearly from the information conveyed in my article. But nonetheless, it’s not going to happen. Because it’s not going to happen, I’m going to publish my article here. It sure won’t get as many eyeballs here as it would have in a print edition of The Eagle, but it’s better than nothing. Read it, if you like, and let me know what you think in the comments. I always appreciate feedback. Check it out below the cut.

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