Ironically, bloggers mostly feed off the work of professional journalists who do the legwork
No, not at all. We post breaking news sometimes before the "professional journalists" are aware of it. WE are the check and balance of the "professional journalists" and they don't like it. They aren't used to being questioned--or proven wrong! They aren't used to having their slant pointed out. They aren't used to being corrected by people who don't have to go to journalism school to learn to identify the difference between fact and opinion.
One word for 'em: SKEERED!(frightened or scared).
Very true too about FR reporting breaking news before the monolithic main-waste-stream media.
exactly, this reporter is a fool. Sites like FR are discussing the merits of what these Mediots are writing.
Most Mediots have short memories. How many anchors have been pushed aside to go on to editorial projects. Rather's still being around is just face saving BS.
Lets not forget this is not the first time Rather blundered.
What the author of this piece does not realze is what you clearly and quickly thought of. We may not break the story here on FR, but such is the wealth of talent and experience of the members that we can quickly place the story in correct content and context. We can ID the errors of fact, recognize the substitution of opinion for news and do it before the print edition hits the newsstands.
They really don't get it!
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!
They also aren't used to news being a two-way street, with commentary coming right back at them - they are too used to news being a one-way corridor for them to feed us their liberal pablum, and expect us to lap it up. Maybe, once in a while, one of them will allow a 100-word letter to the editor to be printed. Naturally, such constraints make it impossible to convey more than one or two related points, which is hardly ever enough to even lay out the scope of all the errors or biases in just one of their articles, let alone dissect them at length.
you got that right. amazing how often of late the MSM is just that- late
Obviously, distinguishing between fact and opinion isn't taught in journalism school.
We have yet another advantage. On any FreeRepublic thread, there is at least one genuine expert on the subject -- often more. A given FReeper will invariably know more about the subject at hand -- be it rocket science or plumbing, medicine or metaphysics -- than the journalist.
As such, we can spot his errors, counter his spin and correct his mistakes...and quickly discern the real meaning (if any).
There is no substitute for real knowledge, when set against a facile craft (often practiced with incredible sloppiness).
Amen, I still remember when me and a few others ran down the second confirmed Anthrax case in the US after the first scare. Making phone calls and networking with on the spot freepers will beat major media by a few hours.
The web bloggers cut right to the chase and don't have to go through miles and miles of BS to reach a sane conclusion. Bottom line, FR exposes the way they try to present the news in the way they want you to see it instead of how it actually is.
You're exactly right. Few reporters today have a CLUE what "legwork" really is........
Hear, Hear!!! You couldn't be more correct.