I was speaking with some friends – a married couple – that had just celebrated the birth of a new born child.

The couple were discussing the birth and the first two weeks of parenthood; and the father said, ” I am surprised at how easy all of this has been on us”.

The wife then stared at the husband and said ” Easy? Excuse me? I was the one that birthed the child; that is breast feeding the child; that isn’t sleeping at all; that suffered the contractions. Easy? Easy for you to say!”

I laughed. But there was real genius to the sentiment here.

Being an observer is easy; being the participant is hard. The participant really knows about the process; the observer thinks they know! They usually don’t.

This is one the things that makes me sometime throw my hands up in frustration about some media reports I read. And the conviction that comes along with it via pixel generation. And the throw away lines to a big audience like the “easy” line above; without real critical thought. And without any grounding in reality. Nor caring about who it offends or hurts or diminishes.

I struggle conceptually with how a business reporter can write with such conviction about the progress of a company or its supposed travails and that reporter has never started a business – worked in a business- hired a person – managed a team; made a payroll. Raised a dollar of venture capital; dealt with a board – took a company public. Launched a product. Run a marketing campaign. Sold a product or service. Laid off a person – turned a company around. And on and on.

I once did a big interview with a reporter of a national media chain when I worked at AOL; and deep into the conversation it was apparent that the reporter didn’t know the difference between a balance sheet and an income statement. Didn’t know what GAAP reporting was; didn’t understand cash flow and OIBDA. He was a journalist – an English Major – and I ended up doing a tutorial on how to read a financial statement with him. Yikes.

The other day I read a report about a company that had suspended an operation and was “redeploying the 15 people that were assigned to the project”; and this news activated a huge set of articles about whether this was a good sign or a negative sign about a market and a competitive situation against two companies that combined employ more than 12,000 people. Stunning; so 15 people being reassigned vs. two market leaders with 12,000 people was that news worthy? Does someone who runs a business of say 10,000 people at scale around the world really compete with a company that has a side line business with 15 people dedicated to it? Really?

Or when a new blogger or reporter comes on the scene – has never played the game of hockey; youth hockey or any other organized sport. Hasn’t attended Caps games yet – didn’t grow up in the area and now starts opining and telling our franchise what to do to improve the team; who we should fire and hire. What we have done right and wrong in the past – without paying any dues; doing the work. Asking to meet with us; meeting the players and staff; mingling with other long term reporters to get the lay of the land. What other business can you do that in? It is so easy to set up a blog – to get hired as a young reporter and just start firing away to build an audience. Boom! Fire this exec. Pow! I want you – no I demand you do this! I am because I blog.

This is the new media world we live in. It is pixel buyer beware out there. Trusting what you read at times is going to be harder and harder. Becoming critical as a reader and considering the source is one of the new talents we all must develop as participants in this new world.

Birthing and raising a baby isn’t easy.

Generating pixels is.