16 Sep David Carr on Michael Enright on Twitter

David Carr was on CBC Radio’s Sunday Edition this morning, talking to Michael Enright about his work as a journalism critic for the New York Times, and his past life as a crack addict. The contrast did not flatter the host. At one point, Carr explained why, despite all the turmoil and job losses, he thinks we are entering a Golden Age of Journalism:

DC: The column I’m working on this week about packaging quotes, I Twittered out what I was working on, I set up a separate Gmail called quoteapproval, I sent emails to 40 of the best reporters I know, and I’m going to be able to pit what people say against all known thought. I’ll probably make a video about it when I’m done. And then I’ll Twitter out my column. I don’t know. That seems sort of golden to me—right until I don’t have a job. Then that part’s bad.

ME: So how do you use Twitter in our your reporting. What do you do? “I’m in Palm Springs. I’m havving a Ben and Jerry’s. Isn’t that fantastic?”

DC: That’s what people like you always use to make fun of it. It’s…

ME: Well how do you use it? How do you use the information?

DC: This is not something that goes off on the surface of the Moon. Give it a look. I mean, today, the new Public Editor of the New York Times wrote about the photograph that the Times published of the dead ambassador, and right when she did it, I tweeted that out, and said, “she’s doing a report.” Turns out the Embassey, no not the embassey, the State Department, wanted them to take it down. She wrote about it, and if you had been following me, you would have known about it the minute it happened. It helps you to see over the hill.

ME: I’m thrilled at the phrase, “people like you,” but I’ll move on.

The whole interview is well worth a listen.