NPR is airing a show right now about independent journalists/blogs. There is a discussion taking place about validity, fact-checking, etc. And something occurred to me. It’s easy to read some blogs and, at the very least, not totally throw it away as a pack of lies when you’ve become so cynical regarding “real” journalists and the mainstream media. I almost gave up entirely on mainstream media outlets in September of 2001. If anything, some blogs are a refreshing alternative to what I’ve heard all of my life.
Anyway…
validity, fact-checking etc……..those are just the kicking and screaming from the mainstream media who are confused that the average american is tired of buying what they’re selling. i find it ironic that the same people who claim to be telling the truth, can’t figure out what the true reason for their loss of the market share. they blaim it on blogs, but they just don’t get the fact that blogs are the result, not the cause.
“but they just don’t get the fact that blogs are the result, not the cause.”
You said it so much more eloquently than I ever could. This is exactly what I wanted to say but failed. Thanks, Greg.
it just blows my mind that these….”professionals for searching and reporting truth,” can’t seem to find this obvious truth right in front of their faces….it makes me realize that they really don’t know what they’re talking about on most issues. that’s why gloom and doom seems to work so well, it’s profitable, who cares if it’s true, shock’em with a headline and correct it 5 days later on page 17! it’s annoying
Agreed. For some reason I got sucked in to CNN during the latest Hurricane Dennis coverage. It was, at best, laughable. Even the most trusted name in news turned out to be a laughable bunch of buffoons. Meanwhile, we’re at work with Iraq, Turd Blossom is lying, a journalist is thrown in jail for gathering information, the list goes on and on, instead, we get 24 hours worth of Hurricane coverage. It’s gone too far, imo.
Like I said, my cynical bone began to grow right after 9/11. A fuse blew. I have yet to get a new one.
my fuse blew back during “The Blizzard of ‘93” !!!!!!!!! i mean come on. essentially 24 hr news put the last nail in journalism’s coffin. people want it so the big guys “try” and give it to ‘em!
I think people believe that no one wants to hear the news that they “should” hear. Proof enough is the fact that The New York Post has an audience. But what I wonder is if you give people the news instead of tabloid-ridden bullshit, would they then crave actual news? It’s the chicken/egg thing. Are people ignorant and crave tabloidy news stories, or do they crave them because they read them. What if it’s like food and how eating certain foods makes you hungrier for said food. If we clean it up, maybe things will get better.
(I’m rambling. But man, if I could see something like the Post go down during my lifetime, I’d be a happy camper. I might even shut up forever.) :]
your food analogy is perfect…….like on the atkins diet, the body starts to crave the things it isn’t getting! so with news, we may crave the truth since we are starting to understand the probable lack of it.
the word ‘fact’ seems to be a subjective word these days….a cause of much trouble!