Too Many Writers Spoil The Story

Blogger Jason Calcanis recently refused to be interviewed over the phone by Wired contributing editor Fred Vogelstein. Calcanis prefers e-mail.

As Calcanis explained in an e-mail to Vogelstein, "I'm an email guy like dave winer.. And I own my words as well, and often print them on my blog (after stories come out)."Calcanis's assertion of ownership poses a real problem for the sort of authorative writing practiced by publications like Wired, not to mention InformationWeek. The sources are seceding so they can speak for themselves. Everyone wants to direct.

The result is a conversation rather than a story. Imagine every film as Rashomon and you get an idea where this is headed.

This might be manageable if the narrators were better behaved. Then it really would be a conversation. Sadly, it's too often about ego.

Calcanis made that clear when, after telling Vogelstein he would need to adapt, he wrote, "Besides I have 10,000 people come to my blog every day--i don't need wired to talk to the tech industry."

Indeed, we can all speak for ourselves, on our own terms, in press releases. We can all behave like celebrities. Won't that be grand?