[GOPJ]

You're right. In seconds we can have professionals looking at a story from hundreds of perspectives. It's a gift.

Now matter what the subject of a news story is, some the thousands of member of FreeRepublic are likely to have years of experience in a related field of expertise. That includes everything from landing an F-14 on a carrier, to medicine, to law, to journalism to typing with 1970's era typewriters, to whatever. That is why the research departments at so-called "professional" news agencies are rank amateurs when compared to FreeRepublic.

[Howlin]

but surprisingly enough, not very many of them view them as a news source they visit frequently.

But many of them do come here and snatch our stuff and post it on their own blogs just like it fell out of the sky.

The same can be said of some media outlets.