I was raised to respect my elders, and it pains me greatly to go against my proper upbringing; however, I cannot sit idly and show respect for Daniel Schorr and his commentary on Twitter and new social media when he clearly knows nothing about either.

Mr. Schorr (a sign of my proper upbringing) was introduced to Twitter http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=101265831&ps=cprs by Weekend Edition host Scott Simon and senior strategist for social media Andy Carvin.

I would caution Mr. Simon and Mr. Carvin to conduct future science experiments of this sort. Introducing a 91 year-old to Twitter on the air shows the holes in not only Mr. Schorr’s understanding of new social media, but also NPR’s and other traditional media outlet’s understanding. I am not certain what the point of the interview was, but I think it was an attempt to illustrate the virtues and challenges of using Twitter across the generations. For those of us who are happy the old world order is crumbling, it came across as a lame attempt at coaxing the aging and resistant into the new social media water.

Mr. Simon calls him “relentlessly contemporary”, but I could not disagree more vehemently.  He comes off as a dinosaur, an anachronism talking about the five miles he walked to and from school each day as he waxes poetically but erroneously about Twitter and its impact.

While excruciating I encourage you to listen to the roughly 15 minutes of pain as Mr. Schorr establishes a Twitter account with the help of his friends. The real agony began when Mr. Schorr began pontificating about what was missing in new media the presence of which would make a difference compared to what old media offered. Given his struggle signing up for Twitter I doubt he has much experience in this realm, and hence little business commenting at all.

What really infuriated me (and showed just how much he and NPR are out of touch with the young folks today) is when he talked about the loss of editing as an art form. According to Mr. Schorr with the ability for ANYONE to self-publish the editing function is lost allowing an erosion of the quality of news and information available.

This statement shows he is missing the very transformative quality of new media. He is right about the easy entrance to publishing, but the model works because it is publishing first and then filtering. The nature of an open community does not mean editing is gone—quite the contrary. If you open yourself to the never never land of the internet you are standing naked to your core. By hitting send you are saying yes to scrutiny far beyond the red pen of a brilliant managing editor at a Washington bureau.

While I am happy NPR and the other major media outlets are venturing into social media, I wish they would understand the aesthetics of the community better. You don’t have to show deference for those who have gone before us in all that you do. It would have been far more interesting to hear from a Millennial or my Net Gen godson about how they use Twitter. Their experience would have at least been authentic as they actually use the tool. Wouldn’t you rather hear from someone with experience than hearing what the tool does not do from someone who had yet to Tweet?