Posted on 02/10/2005 6:28:27 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
"I don't like O'Malley and I am no Dumbocrat / Caligulite. Still, methinks you should validate stuff like this before you post it."
So wrote "Sartorius" on Aug. 13, 2004. The participant in a discussion board on FreeRepublic.com was responding to an explosive posting that Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley was having an extramarital affair.
It turns out that even Web posters themselves question the publishing power the Internet grants anyone with a modem.
Sartorius's skepticism proved salient: Another person posting about the topic was revealed this week to be Joseph Steffen, a longtime political operative for O'Malley's political rival, Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.
That story, and Steffen's resignation, broke in the mainstream media. But it highlights how Web sites - with their freewheeling rumors and rants - increasingly are forcing more traditional news institutions to write articles that otherwise wouldn't see the light of day.
Rumors of O'Malley's alleged infidelity have long circulated in Baltimore but were not printed in such daily newspapers as The Sun or The Washington Post. It took postings on the Free Republic site, based in Fresno, Calif., to bring that gossip into the local papers of public record, as part of the story of a state official's resignation for helping to spread such chatter.
Free Republic, a conservative discussion site, was also among the Web sites that took the lead in casting aspersions on a now-discredited 60 Minutes report on President Bush's Vietnam-era National Guard service. Ultimately, CBS was forced to investigate its own story and fire key staff members for failing to adequately verify information before airing it.
(Excerpt) Read more at baltimoresun.com ...
^
Yes, stories such as CBS trying to pawn off forged documents in order to harm an incumbent president's re-election bid, or the MSM posting pictures of a G.I. Joe doll, claiming it is an American soldier being held captive by terroritsts. Another story that won't see the light of day in the MSM is the one about Mr. Steffen not being guilty as accused by the left-wing rags that are trying to use this to smear conservatives and FR.
So, did the Baltimore Sun ask for your permission before quoting your post? Or does the "copyright infringement" those newspapers claim only apply to them, and not to us?
Absolutely. I know of at least one organization that had paid people to periodically post stories promoting their pet issue (NRST/fair tax).
very good article.
Thus the call for the Viking Kittens to come out when someone with a very recent sign-up date posts something controversial. I put more weight behind someone with a
Aug 24, 2000 signup date than someone with a Feb 10, 2005 date.
MSM, like the WAPO and the Baltimore Sun are disappointed that they can no longer "filter" the news, or even bury it.
It was easier for them to refrain from reporting dalliances like those of former Gov. Glendenning and former Gov. Marvin Mandel, even when the dalliance of the later resulted in the death of a State Trooper who was "escorting" the governor to a tryst in Southern Maryland.
Now that bloggers are out there, it won't be so easy for MSM to manage the news.
You mean I can get paid for posting on FR? Where do I sign up?
Thanks for the LINKS backhoe.
Bump!
Open Source ping! , /humor >
Well, sort of. ;^) Still, enough sound bites on this thread to cause MS whiplash...
FreeRepublic has always been a place that has demanded "source" for things posted here.
So, on the next Freepathon, do we need to add in the costs of Body Guards for JimRob? Seems to me there could be a lot of people who want to see FR go away. (I'm not kidding.)
You're famous. Seen this?
Perhaps related, I was wondering why the Baltimore Sun included the information that FR is based in Fresno. It's not relevant to the story in any way.
You're right. There's no reason to mention FR's location.
Thank God I haven't had a 'Buckhead' moment.
As the Kerry rumor demonstrated, journalism experts said, bloggers and other Internet posters write by different standards than mainstream print reporters. Conventional rules of journalism dictate that information is verified before it is published; for better or worse, many Web sites don't follow the rules."There is an affirmative philosophy to the blogosphere that is very different from journalism - that philosophy is, in effect, publish first and verify later,"
They have it wrong. The difference between the internet and the MSM media is that the internet does it's processing in the open while the MSM does it behind closed doors in smoke-filled rooms with powerbrokers calling the shots.
A site like FR, with countless experts from every field one can imagine, has near immediate access both to bullsh__ detectors and truth detectors.
But the processing is out in the open where it should be if these folks actually believe in that so-called free press.
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