The Web Gets a Scoop (Congratulations, Free Republic!)

Wall Street Journal ^ | Feb. 2, 2003 | James Taranto

[conservativegirl]

Free Republic mentioned in Best of the Web. Way to go Freepers! (Sorry if this is already posted - didn't see it).

[Tall_Texan]

Geez, what happened to DU around January 10th in the graphic you posted? Did their gerbils die?

[Kay Soze]

I have news for you.

Rush claims his show to be news prep for the networks.

But guess where Rush gets al lot of hs stuff?

He will never admit it but he and his staff read free republic DAILY.

[Grampa Dave]

Rush, Sean, Michael Savage and probably every local conservative and semi conservative talk show host get their material from Free Republic.

[George W. Bush]

The WSJ writer was directly quoting the thread itself. He probably should have put in a [sic] after the misspelling. While I agree that it's unfortunate there was the typo, I don't think it significantly detracts from the thread.

Point taken.

But maybe the writer was pointing indirectly that ordinary middle class Americans don't have to spell as well as a news service copy writer in order to scoop the Associated Press with a compelling live news account.

The misspelling gives the account a flavor of authenticity, of just ordinary people typing in their comments informally, people who like aerospace and watched it via the net together and then realizing something had gone horribly wrong.

I don't think a misspelling detracts from our report thread on bit. It represents FR very nicely just as it is.

[AnnaZ]

He didn't just acknowledge it. Note the phrase "Other Freepers joined in..."

Mr. Taranto (a) knows to call us "Freepers," and (b) doesn't feel he needs to explain the term to his readers.

Those were my thoughts exactly.

;^)

[spodefly]

... we assume control.

Like the priests of the temple at Cyrinx?

[Freedom2specul8]

Thanks for posting the excerpt!

[Freedom2specul8]

Thank you for posting the info!

[Happy2BMe]

"Free Republic scooped the AP by at least 11 minutes--which is an eternity in the competitive world of wire-service reporting."

Now, why does that not surprise me!

[Spirited]

FR is consistently on the leading edge of breaking news if it remains judiciously unfettered.

The media in the past has breathed a great deal of blab and "prop-agenda" at important times while Freepers local to the matter at hand can report from local radio and eye witness experience what is really going down.

I agree with "George W. Bush" poster that misspelling is not significant especially at times of heightened duress. I hope that we support the freedom of those who would like to but do not spell or write that well to post here.

We don't need to manifest an elitist attitude even if FreeRepublic is an elite corps. Elitist attitudes belong on that other website where the word only applies to their attitude and not to their substance.

[oceanperch]

For fun someone should post a picture of our FR Devil suit guy. That would really tweek her out.

[sweetliberty]

"I think FR beats the press on a gazillion other issues and stories as well"

I can think of several! Like when the thing with the snipers was coming to a head, there were at least 3 major threads going and it soon became obvious that we were feeding stuff to Fox news. And then there was the up close and personal FR version of the tropical storm, Alison, in the Houston area a year and a half ago, and the Alice Donovan case from South Carolina....it was FReepers putting info together and getting it out, even to law enforcement, and of course, 9/11. That's just to name a few. Some things we see not only minutes and hours ahead of other sources, but sometimes days! I am very proud to be a part of Free Republic and I am glad we are gaining wider and well deserved acclaim!

Way to go FReepers!!

[sweetliberty]

"Mr. Taranto (a) knows to call us "Freepers," and (b) doesn't feel he needs to explain the term to his readers."

I noticed that too.

[sweetliberty]

"This is really BIG in the world of wire-service reporting AND a link back to FR!"

I wonder of we got a significant number of hits as a result.

[sweetliberty]

I can just imagine Hillary waking up nights in a cold sweat shouting, "FReepers! I see FReepers! My God, they're everywhere!" ROTFL!

[sweetliberty]

"Notice how FreeRepublic has now entered the top 1000 web sites on the www. Now at 813 I believe, and climbing fast. That is over a 300% gain this week alone."

WOW! That IS fast.

[A CA Guy]

Jim Robinson is also a modern day hero for America in his forum here.
What is so special for America is that there is a solid place for conservative views at FR. We even have grass roots efforts of families going out to meet the leftist hippies on the protest lines. ( An act no liberal ever thought would be challenged)

Jim has brought together a huge amount of people who want to know the real news and not have it re-invented or spun to us by the press or political hacks.
Using the internet, Jim's forum has become a home for the truth in news and getting our news at the earliest time possible.

This FREE REPUBLIC is the best inoculation against false information and spin this country could have ever hoped for.

I will go so far to say Jim Robinson is a total blessing not only to us, but absolutely to this country and my admiration and respect for him is as high as any of our military or any American hero that ever lived.

I think he is very humble for one who has accomplished so much.

May God bless Free Republic, Jim Robinson, Jim's family and all the Freepers here.

[sweetliberty]

"Of course FR scooped the rest of the world; that's why I ran to the 'puter and dialed up FR when I saw that something was amiss"

I had just gotten up and was fixing some oatmeal. I had turned on Fox news. It was just before 8 (CST). As soon as they said that NASA had lost contact with the shuttle, I got on FR.

[L.N. Smithee]

I have always thought that Taranto had to be an FR lurker, if not a full-fledged secret Freeper. Unfortunately, people who have to protect their professional reputations are most likely loathe to admit Freepership because of the the few who can't control their language and/or behavior.

I have mixed feelings about threads like this. A scoop is a scoop, and it's nice to see FR get some positive attention. But when we all start back-slapping about a tragedy, it's really kind of morbid.

I believe that I was the first to post on the Internet (after the word came from a local S.F. newscast) that Peanuts creator Charles Schulz had passed away February 12, 2000, a hour before the Sunday morning the final Peanuts strip was set to run. Matt Drudge will never admit this, but he was lurking, and minutes later posted the same headline as the thread I authored ("Charles Schultz [sic] Dies On Eve of Final Strip") on his home page. Both occurrences preceded the official AP story 12 minutes after my thread.

I didn't feel all that good about that one, because I was a fan of Peanuts. I am more proud of being the only one who has published -- print or otherwise -- that President Clinton committed perjury in written responses to House Judiciary Committee chairman Henry Hyde's questions about the issues regarding his deposition in the Paula Jones trial, and my exclusive discovery in the HTML code of an MSN entertainment site's story about the Dr. Laura TV show how biased they were against her.

[sweetliberty]

Amen to what you said.