Giant killers

PE.Com ^ | 12/29/04 | Editorial

[Red Badger]

They're a cyberspace version of the 18th-century pamphleteers who defied the British crown and championed American independence - an online truth squad...

As I have said, Jim Robinson is the Patrick Henry and Thomas Paine of our times......

[SMARTY]

Forgot to mention, Bloggers do not have to sell toothpaste and Toyotas.

[Gaetano]

YEAH BABY YEAH !

[carumba]

"For the major news outlets to thrive in this new era, they should establish formal ties with bloggers, perhaps as regular commentators, or even as ombudsmen that keep the "legacy media" vital in the Information Age."

Come on in CBS. It'll do you good.

[Joe Brower]

"Ragtag". Yep, that's us.

[EQAndyBuzz]

I thought the title referred to the Dallas Cowboys.

[don'tbedenied]

"The reality is, big media won't disappear any time soon, because networks and newspapers and wire services can hire reporters to gather original information, whether at the city council meeting, the fire down the street or the tsunami a world away.

Bloggers can't rival the fact-finding capabilities of professional journalists."

The author kinda gets it, but this para is a big mistake. Blogs are a lot more than fact checkers, they gather information much faster and better than the MSM. Bloggers are on the scene in Iraq, Ukraine and Sri Lanka, delivering up to date news and viewpoints that the MSM can only dream about. The meteor is about to hit, the dinos will become extinct.

[mrsmith]

I still have my doubts about internet information 'gateways' like blogs.

[tkathy]

I like that. Big Media = BM.

[MortMan]

But bloggers have reputations. As the "Instapundit," University of Tennessee law professor Glenn Reynolds, said of Rathergate: "For journalists of (Rather's) generation, admitting an error means admitting that you've violated people's trust. For bloggers, admitting an error means you've missed something, and now you're going to set it straight."

Bloggers are prone to hubris, to call mainstream media outlets dinosaurs that can't (or won't) adapt to the Internet's immediacy. The reality is, big media won't disappear any time soon, because networks and newspapers and wire services can hire reporters to gather original information, whether at the city council meeting, the fire down the street or the tsunami a world away.

Bloggers can't rival the fact-finding capabilities of professional journalists. And the most popular blogs have thousands, not millions, of readers or viewers. But blogs can keep the mainstream media honest, by exposing stories driven by partisan agendas rather than the pursuit of truth.

Admitting an ERROR for Rather's ilk is not admitting a violation of trust - it is confessing fallability. The problem with the author's contention is fairly simple - the MSM has (consciously or unconsciously) applied a uniformly liberal bias to their reporting (first) and gathering (as of the last few years) of "raw data".

Once MSM dinosaurs like Ra^ther discovered the power that lies in "metering" (i.e.: controlling the flow) information, they quit acting in the public's interest and started promulgating their own. Dan's infamous memos were only the latest example - where ideology and an overfed ego made him (apparently) believe that squirrely papers from a suspect source that had been denounced by legitimate experts could ONLY be genuine.

Admitting an error is the least of his worries - admitting he has steadfastly refused to do his job to a reasonable standard of effort in presenting "just the facts" is much more troubling to the DANdy DINO. (Note that I only mention effort, and not RESULTS!)

Blogs probably will not replace the MSM - but they will augment the new electronically networked media that picks up facts from eyewitnesses the world over. Drudge is a forerunner of this new media, although he still relies too much on others' reporting through the big media.

[82Marine89]

Proof you made a difference.

[shellshocked]

"Bloggers can't rival the fact-finding capabilities of professional journalists."

Then how come we call them on false data all the time?

The fact is that bloggers, FReepers, are not the ones watching the news, we are at many time the people making the news.

[bvw]

FR the unmentionable.

Even this blog-tooting jake was AFRAID to name us.

You know the truth is that FR has ZERO "readers". FR has ZERO "audience".

Here at FR *everyone* is a participant. No passivity. We are are in conversation at the same table.

[bvw]

FYI

[Howlin]

"Ragtag". Yep, that's us.

I don't see "us" mentioned in here, do you?

The very "us" who first discovered these forgeries and EMAILED them to Powerline and LittleGreenFootballs in the middle of the night so they'd have the bright and early the next morning, so they could post them on their weblogs and NOT give us any credit.

Damnit, I'm tired of this.

FOR THE RECORD: CBS Memos Controversy on Free Republic

[Howlin]

GRRRRRRR....LOL!

[Howlin]

Want to know what I think about them, especially after this incident?

[bvw]

Amazing, ain't it? This fella names a whole bunch of blogs and bloggers -- that makes the ommission of your thread and TankerKC's and Buckhead's key posts a sort of screaming silence. While the essay appears to be faithful documnetary -- it is thus spin. Like the old Soviet records and photgraph's with key personas scrubbed out.

Are Little Green Footbals and Powerline neo-stalinists?

[Mo1]

They sure do have a problem mentioning FR by name don't they