My point is that if someone who aspires to be a citizen journalist concentrates on opinion only, then few will read it. It’s hard to differentiate oneself, at least as far as us conservatives.
But hard news is another matter. There’s an entire spectrum of news left uncovered.
Locally, its all the brother-in-law deals the county commission hands out. The local weekly won’t touch those stories, because it might upset the folks who dispense the legal advertising. And that legal advertising is the ONLY thing that keeps most weekly papers afloat.
Statewide, there’s the rot of the teacher’s union that metro newspapers won’t cover.
Once the citizen journalist builds himself some credibility by actually scooping the “real” media, then a little opinion is taken seriously by the readers.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not disagreeing with you per se. In fact, not at all. I just think that most people already trust a random net blog (and for good reason) more than the MSM. So bloggers being considered as hard newsies isn’t much of a stretch.
We’re going the same place, just down two different lines of thought.