WARNING: This is a high volume ping list
Posted on 06/21/2005 2:32:46 PM PDT by Alouette
At first, there was something refreshing and amusing about the talkback. It was part of the Internet revolution in the news media. The talkback, the readers' response format that Yedioth Ahronoth and then Maariv started operating, seemed to be a sort of virtual Hyde Park - a celebration of democracy and freedom of speech. For who said all wisdom is concentrated among a handful of journalists or "individuals of note" to whom a newspaper allocates space, whether on paper or in cyberspace?
However, when Haaretz also opened such a response format, albeit mainly for opinion pieces, and the other sites' talkback formats fell into a generally uniform pattern at the same time, the trend became deeply troubling. It also seems to be straying from its worthy causes. It is not by chance that this format has not been adopted by any respectable newspaper in the world.
While the talkback appears to be open to anyone with access to a computer and modem, a few groups seem to have taken over a large part of the virtual space with the intention of influencing public opinion, or creating the false impression that public opinion is leaning toward a certain direction.
(Excerpt) Read more at haaretz.com ...
WARNING: This is a high volume ping list
Yep - it allows readers to counter left-wing spin. And the lefties hate that, especially since they are new to this arena and tend to research and post much more slowly than we do.
I ride herd on a couple of MSM forums. I don't call in any other freepers - I figure the only way it could be a fair fight is if it's just me against all of them.
So far, it's barely been that.
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