2/25 - Eric Danton Summary, Amy Lockmiller (Christine Gratton)

2/25/09

Speaker: Eric Danton
Amy Lockmiller
Discussion Leader: Christine Gratton

Christine started the discussion by noting that Danton made a few references to print being a dying medium and that the critic’s job was moving onto video appearances and blogging.

Pat thinks that this is exactly where the future of journalism is headed, but said that Danton should’ve been paid more for his extra appearances.

Eli responded by saying that getting paid less for doing more is a trend that will probably continue into the future.

Christine then talked about how being “a personality” is a new concept for print journalists, who in the past have been known mostly by a name and few would be recognized in public. She asked if the class thought this made the profession more intriguing or if it was a turnoff.

Alyssa brought up that she thought that being a face and not just a name could hold journalists even more accountable for their work and says that they also will end up having to be more diverse.

Joe thinks that this strengthens a person as a journalist because critics like Danton will have to know more about just music critiquing.

Erin said the idea of print journalists being personalities would scare her. She brought up again that a person like Danton does so much more work and is getting paid less than those in broadcast.

Professor Dufresne corrected Erin by saying that entry level salaries on tv are actually worse than those in print. This is why most television people are younger—there’s not as much longetivity in the job.

Christine moved on to the fact that it is interesting that the different mediums Danton used have different styles. For example, his blog allows him to be more candid than his pieces for the newspaper.

A student thought that the opinion he was able to express is a good thing because it allows for more transparency. They believed that this was especially good for a critic because it allows you to know if they have the kind of musical taste that you identify with so that you can decide whether or not their critiques are applicable to you.

Another student noted that outlets like blogs also allow them to write to a different audience. The Hartford Courant has a different target audience than his blog.

Eli said that the fact that Danton is a critic allows him to give his opinion and that his title is a disclaimer in itself.

Christine then wanted to talk about Danton’s views on freebies. He does not re-sell the music, but may choose to keep them for his own collection. Is this ethical?

Emily said that she sees where he is coming from. At the Daily Campus where she works, they see receiving music from local artists as necessary. They wouldn’t have been able to find the music otherwise.

Christine asked if keeping the CD’s is blurring the ethical boundaries.

Professor Dufresne said that as a critic, you’re supposed to be an expert. Keeping the music is just customary because you’re building your body of reference work.

Take Away Cards

Scott Powell- Eric’s last point on getting up to speed on current information regarding music was an interesting point. He mentioned that as a music writer, you don’t need to know everything because it’s impossible. Pick one or two styles and perfect them and find their roots, it makes for a more in-depth article.

Emily Abbate- Danton was pretty relatable. I really think that he legitimizes a job like this. You always hear stories or see movies/shows on being a music beat reporter. It seems like he really enjoys what he does. It’s refreshing.

Stephen Ortiz- It’s okay if you take the freebies, as long as you know boundaries.

Erin O’Toole- Eric Danton was interesting and very different because he has so much multimedia involved in his print job. I enjoyed his talk and thought having his job would be exciting.

Eli Pearlstein- Obviously his presentation wasn’t as controversial as the previous two, but I thought it was just as insightful. The ethics of concert tickets is certainly an interesting topic to explore.

Alyssa Carrol- This was our most honest and interesting speaker to me. His combination of reporting and journalistic background with insight and humor was great.

B. Cox- It was interesting to hear that Eric approaches criticism with a good sense of balances and fairness. I was always under the impression that criticism could be as haphazardly subjective as it wanted.