Posted on 11/03/2004 8:00:51 PM PST by Dexter5
Caught this interesting post on a British Blog
Welcome to the new media world, Polly*.Up until now, an information elite has been able to misrepresent and manufacture fact with virtual impunity - sometimes accidentally, sometimes as a deliberate means of pushing a chosen agenda.
For example, if a newspaper polemicist wanted to contend that "Scandinavian countries are best of all" at overcoming obesity, it was unlikely that many would notice and connect the fact that: "Norway has the highest percentage of overweight men in Europe, according to a new report by the World Health Organization (WHO)."
Those who did notice such "anomalies" had no easy means of communicating them to others interested in issues of journalistic integrity.
As you see, that's changing now. What you (and many others) are in the process of learning is that, from now on, reportorial sloppiness and dishonesty will be noted, exposed, and punished - quickly and very, very publicly.
Journalists who are accurate and honest have little to fear - the facts will out. Their less capable (and less truthful) colleagues risk the humiliation of public ridicule.
Best of all, in this new media environment the once-wise maxim "never get in an argument with someone who buys ink by the barrel" no longer applies - we all have barrels now. Ardent proponents of equality would no doubt applaud this development, were they not the ones whose superior status was now under threat.
Very Truly Yours,
Scott Burgess
The Daily Ablution
London
http://dailyablution.blogs.com
*Polly Toynbee is a commentator for The Guardian (UK).
how long before the eurosheep figure out they have been manipulated...
It's true...the blogosphere has developed into a living, thinking database of historical records, minutiae, trivia and individual life experiences linked through the neural network of the web, with the ability to analize and cross-reference and fact-check almost instantaneously. The brain trust that populates this forum alone never ceases to amaze me.
Never....That's why your description of them as Eurosheep is so accurate.
The intelligent and humorous minds that are here is awe inspiring.
The Blogocalypse has added unexpected elements of competition for the "old media." They now are unable to control all of the spin all of the time. Now when Dan Rather says something crazy on the air, he can immediately be lampooned and ridiculed online by bloggers everywhere.
Thank God. The old broadcast media gave us Hitler, Castro, a war lost in Vietnam that could have and should have been won, the New Deal, Barbra Streisand...
Thank God they're over.
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