[Jim Robinson]

"Since the Internet will only expand as a source of information, a key question facing democracy is this: How can the Web's enormous advantages be reconciled with a greater sense of accountability?"

Yes, Cokie, I see your point. We private citizens should just sit down and shut up and let the truth telling professionals of the left stream media decide what's fit to print.

By the way, Free Republic is not a newspaper. We did not write the story in question, nor did we "pick it up," or vouch for its accuracy. We are a noncommercial discussion forum open to the general public. Apparently, the story in question was a press release that a member of the general public posted to FR in 1994 for discussion purposes. And it languished in the backwater archives of FR until some dimwitted, but sharp-eyed left stream reporter "discovered" it via google. Doubt it had any influence on the raging Barak Hussein Obama was born a Muslim rumor whatsoever.

However, as it turns out, our young Barak Hussein really was born to a Muslim and raised in his early years as a Muslim. It's in all the papers. Must be true.

[wac3rd]

I do realize that Obama’s praise, mentorship and ogoing relationship with Bill Ayers would have been the top story on CBS news at 6.

I’m sure Reverend Jeremiah Wright sermons would have been Brian Williams’ lead story on NBC News.

ACORN would be another top story for Keith Olbermann.

I’m sure Rezko would be investigated on PBS, in fact Charlie Rose and Bill Moyers would tag team him on his involvment with the shady bank and even more shady property purchases for Obama.

I am also sure Chris Matthews would be knocking on doors, Dateline-style, to find out about Odinga and his fundraising and visit from Obama.

The Media is a front for the DNC, I am unsure why a GE-owned enterprise would allow the Leftist NBC(s) to run wild for Marxism, but that is something probably discussed at Bohemian Grove.

[Peacekeeper357]

I arrested a young man whose name was “Coke” I asked where he got his name and he said “It isn't from what my parents drink.” I wonder where “Cokie” got hers??

[piasa]

Hey, Cokie... maybe you can help me. I heard a rumor that your brother works at a firm that does PR work for Saudi Arabia. Can you clarify that?

[Paladin2]

"professional journalists"?

We'll be needing a detailed definition here Kookie. I'm still confused about the differences between a reporter and a jpurnalist. And why are all reports called "stories". When I was a kid, my dad told me not to tell stories except around the campfire.

[uglybiker]

By the way, Free Republic is not a newspaper.
We are a noncommercial discussion forum open to the general public.

And most importantly


It's NOT A BLOG!!

[singfreedom]

Ah, yes, I remember Danielle Allen! She's the Princeton prof (in the article I reference, she was a “PhD”. Rumor?)who did all the research necessary to “out” two fellow FReepers. Their names and addresses, via an interview with her, were published in the MSM.

I find it remarkable that Cokie was moved to directly attribute the “Obama is an Arab” rumor to us, but she could not find the courage to attribute the “the Gov is not Trig’s mother” rumor to the DailyKos, where, according to O’Reilly, a reporter meeting Cokie’s standards, it originated and was deliberately proliferated.

[lowbridge]

"It's an example of how the Internet has given power to sources we would have never taken seriously at another point in time."

Back around the mid-late 90s, I was watching one of those sunday morning programs. I think it was on CBS, and during their round table discussion, one of the so called journalists brought up a mention of people getting their news off of the internet. At which point they all broke down in derisive laughter.

I'll bet they arent laughing now.

[Erik Latranyi]

Jim:

I sent the Roberts an email specifically noting that the alternate media would not exist if the primary media would fill-in the gaps of its reporting.

I provided the example that the NY Times sent reporters to find Gov George W Bush’s drug dealer but has expended no such resources on Sen Obama’s self-professed drug habit.

I also asked rhetorically if the average citizen could clearly explain Sen Obama’s pedigree. Most explanations from the primary media contradict each other with regard to Sen Obama’s heritage.

I think more Freepers need to confront these reporters directly with the facts. It has been Freepers that find the gaps and contradictions in the media’s reporting on certain issues. It is not wrong for us to ask questions.

[kcvl]

The old model was a vertical one, where professional journalists delivered their reports

What BS!

[Prophet in the wilderness]

Jim Rob ? Can I encourage you to write a open letter to all those Freepers who are being dishearten, discouraged, lied to by the KGBDBMSM .... please ? encourage them to not lose heart, that is exactly what the commies want us to do ... to lose heart and give up......
Yes... I admit, my heart get's heavy at times when I hear the news... but, there is also something that takes over in me that drives me to go on in spite of what I hear..

[TomGuy]

But there's also a dark side to this horizontal system. Without "media mediation," without the persistent truth-telling, fact-checking efforts of well-trained professionals, falsehoods can flourish.

Oh, that's rich!

Jason Blair comes to mind immediately.

And Dan Rather and that mysterious fax machine somewhere in Texas.

And all those faux pics from the Palistinian side of the Pali-Israeli conflicts.

How many photos has the LA Times had to pull in this last dozen years, because they were photoshopped?

The media has eaten so much crow in the last couple of decades, it is a wonder that crows are not on the endangered species list.

The problem is that the current mainstream media -- broadcast and print -- are more interested in pushing an agenda than in pushing true journalistic endeavours.

==

"We allow the digital democracy to be the fact checkers," Jay Adelson, the founder of Digg, a popular Web site, told the Times. "There is definitely some risk to that."

Yeah. And that risk is that the media can no longer sit on stories they find distasteful (that is, stories that don't fit their agenda). Nor can the media sell their filtered news (that is, news they slant it to their agenda) as the only source of information.

With the Interent, the average person can circumvent the mainstream media and find raw, unfiltered, unslanted, non-agenda-ized information and (gasp!) make up their own minds without benefit of media filters, slants, and interpretation.

[Tublecane]

The MSM currently involves itself in enough rumor and innuendo to make the internet gossip mills irrelevant. How many “questions start with “Some say...” or, “The rumor is...” How many articles are based purely on speculation? Look in the mirror!

[ridesthemiles]

the term “professional journalist” in 2008 is a total oxymoron.

After telling all of us for years how they have “no bias” they completely blew their cover in the past 2 years fawning over a Muslim socialist.
Only the weatherman holds any integrity any more.

Oh well, they are all tree huggers, so perhaps dropping the use of newsprint and magazine paper for the internet is what they really want deep down inside??

[AdaGray]

Cokie who?

[humblegunner]

Ain't journalism grand?

The "he's an Arab" smear reached so widely that the New York Times devoted a front-page story to its origins.

Notice they fail to mention who is an "Arab"..

[NoControllingLegalAuthority]

The article reflects elitism and snobbery built upon a big lie.

It defends the concept of "professional journalists" as if they are not propaganda-spewing leftists.

One newspaper editor made a speech the other day and proclaimed it was his newspaper's duty to get Obama elected.

That's "professional journalism" in late 2008.

Thank God for the Internet and talk radio.

[Glenn]

Cokie was the one who said on ABC, “based on the tourists I see, there is a definite mirror shortage in America”. How dare average citizens dress comfortably to view Cokie’s town?

Blighted elite bitch.

[abb]

Pinging the Dinosaur Media DeathWatch™ list. Y’all need to see this one.

[SpookBrat]

...We the people...!!!!!!!

There is no dark side of "Freedom of Speech".

[60Gunner]

Cokie Roberts = Media Whore.

Just feed her whatever she wants to know. She'll do whatever you want in return.