[Jim Robinson]

"Which raises a second way that blogs aren't so different from the MSM: Both choose what to cover and how. This power to set the agenda and frame the story is exactly what bothers most critics of the mainstream news, and many blogs' very reason-for-being is to critique these decisions. Precisely because they are not bound by any claims to objectivity, most bloggers spend their time zeroing in on a couple of stories or story angles they think the MSM are ignoring, suppressing or skewing. Consequently, the world-according-to-the-blogs is a very skewed place, indeed. This past week, for example, liberal blogs such as Daily Kos waited in breathless anticipation for an announcement of indictments of Bush administration officials in the Valerie Plame affair, while over on the conservative side of the blog aisle, barely a peep could be heard about that story."

Not a peep on FR about the Valerie Plame affair? I'm so ashamed.

Top blogs like FR are not fair and balanced.

Guess we ought to give up the "power to set the agenda and frame the story" to others.

What do you think?

[NormsRevenge]

I'm going to go to Washington and chain myself to the WH fence until folks quit referring to FR as a blog. :)

[gondramB]

" Not a peep on FR about the Valerie Plame affair? I'm so ashamed."

Gosh Jim... I guess you've been deleting those hundreds of threads about Plame/Miller/Rove/Libby/Wilson shortly after I read them so other people couldn't find them... Shame on you. :)

[tallhappy]

Peep.

Peep.

[vbmoneyspender]

Top blogs like FR are not fair and balanced.

I think the federal gov't needs to regulate the alphabet in order to balance the playing field for illiterates.

[Bahbah]

What do you think?

You already know what I think about that:) I do wish they could settle on what FR is.

[jwalsh07]

Another moonbat sniffing the brake fluid.

[Diver Dave]

Not a peep on FR about the Valerie Plame affair? I'm so ashamed.

Hmmmm. Guess the author has gone deaf and dumb in both eyes.

[DoughtyOne]

Yeah Jim, it's just a cryin' shame that the leftist don't control all media decisions... sniff, sniff.

With ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, and a major portion of the print media controlled by the leftists, it's really a major concern of mine that the right has developed an internet community where citizens can voice conservative views.

Talk radio and the internet are all that keeps conservatism alive these days. That really bothers some folks.

I'll be the Oragonian is perplexed to know that their readers can find out how biased their reporting is.

[NormsRevenge]

Keyword :)

Plamegate

[ovrtaxt]

Guess we ought to give up the "power to set the agenda and frame the story" to others. What do you think?

I think I know a secret. ;)

[Getsmart64]

FR is NOT a blog...more of a meeting of the minds...

[mtbopfuyn]

What, are we supposed to visit the site-that-should-not-be-named to become more rounded? Ugh, shivers.

[Paleo Conservative]

If you don't like the balance on Free Republic or blog sites, start your own damned blog site. Of course there's not guarantee that anyone will read it.

[TotusTuus]

Guess we ought to give up the "power to set the agenda and frame the story" to others.

I've heard from the MSM that there is a blogsite called "Buckhead.com".

FR is necessary if for no other reason than to document and correct the many mistakes and inaccuracies made elsewhere.

But really, I think - for better or for worse - there is a symbiotic relationship between the MSM and "blogs". The starting point for discussion here almost always starts with a posted article from the MSM.

[ARealMothersSonForever]

I think their server choked when they did a keyword search on "Plame" at FR. Since they could not cross-index all of the data, there was not a peep. Right? I mean, if they honestly made a mistake and searched under "Vallery Plaim", there is not a peep!

[coloradan]

it's easy to overlook the fact that in some ways political blogs are not so different from or even separate from the MSM they often love to hate.

Not so different? We have hundreds and sometimes thousands of minds on each story, and every point is debatable. But MSM news has one or two reporters, and it's a one-way conduit, from them to us. They are as different as night and day, and the author of the article, an MSM reporter, is whistling past his own graveyard.

[gaijin]

Wasn't it 4 months ago that they came out with some MSM editorial about how grassroots blogs were a threat to the affirmative action common to Lamestream publications? That because a disproportionate number of "bloggers" are whites, that minorities wouldn't BE ABLE TO COMPETE?

I mean, talk about demeaning minorities...!

[tiredoflaundry]

This past week, for example, liberal blogs such as Daily Kos waited in breathless anticipation for an announcement of indictments of Bush administration officials in the Valerie Plame affair, while over on the conservative side of the blog aisle, barely a peep could be heard about that story.

[Buck W.]

Of course blogs are biased. Unlike the MSM, they don't claim to be impartial. That's the difference: blogs offer informed choice, the MSM doesn't.

[DTogo]

most bloggers spend their time zeroing in on a couple of stories or story angles they think the MSM are ignoring, suppressing or skewing.

Like all the good and hard work our uniformed defenders are doing in Iraq and Afghanistan? Yeah, the MSM is certainly ignoring, suppressing and skewering those stories.