Go Read a Blook

July 02, 2009

Paul Mongerson is tired of wading through opinionated blogs. Unbiased, accurate and well-edited blogs could displace struggling newspapers, he says.

Paul Mongerson, 86, wants to shake up the blogosphere. Tired of reading opinions, the retired Fortune 500 chief executive just wants the facts.

If he has a strong opinion about something, Paul Mongerson probably won’t tell you what it is — even if you ask.

But the 86-year-old retired chief executive officer of auto parts maker Stanadyne Corp. has one strongly held view: He’s tired of reading everyone else’s opinionated blogs. A self-described political centrist who splits his vote evenly among Democrats and Republicans, Mongerson says he can’t trust much of what passes as news online.

Blogs are the worst offenders, Mongerson says. That’s because they pass themselves off as purveyors of facts when they’re really just opinion and they’re frequently inaccurate.

To fix that, the Naples resident has spent thousands of dollars and hired two full-time employees to launch a “blook,” described as a cross between a blog and a book (http://www.ourblook.com). It’s essentially a well-edited blog that he believes presents readers with balanced reporting of the facts on subjects ranging from the economy to alternative energy, social media and journalism.

Mongerson complains too much opinion has crept into reporting in the press today — much of it left leaning — and that has alienated centrists. “I am not an ideologue,” he says.

Mongerson argues that most Americans are centrists who believe that left- or right-wing ideology is too rigid for today’s complex issues. “These are very tough times loaded with gray areas, without rights and wrongs,” he says.

Mongerson’s blook strives to provide factual information to readers without opinion. And he’s careful not to state his own opinions, declining to answer questions about government’s intrusion into the private sector, for example. “I didn’t give you an answer on purpose,” Mongerson says. “My opinion is that I’m not able to judge it. To my viewpoint, there is no clear answer.”

That perspective comes in part from leading Stanadyne, which when he retired in 1985 as chief executive officer was a Fortune 500 company. “Running a company is instinct,” Mongerson says. “You can’t put it in a book.”

However, finding the answers to the current economic downturn requires accurate reporting, Mongerson says. He complains that the public is being misled by propaganda masquerading as news.

Accuracy is something Mongerson takes personally. In 1980, he was misdiagnosed with pancreatic cancer, a condition that few survive. He later created a nonprofit group dedicated to accuracy in medical diagnosis.

Mongerson says there is a business opportunity for blogs to displace struggling newspapers, but only if they can present the news accurately. “I would pay for it,” Mongerson says. “They could be the press of the future, but what’s missing is a news media we have confidence in.”

It’s not easy, Mongerson concedes.

“You can’t train people to want a balanced press,” he says. And he’s aware that most news Web sites lose money. “I don’t know how they’ll make money on the Web,” he says.

But you can bet they’ll be blooking about it.