The Free Press Misunderestimates Bloggers
Sunday's editorial by Ron Dzwonkowski discusses the Free Press' opinion towards the blogosphere and casual journalism. Freep: When Blogs Meet Paper
As one dinosaur said to the other, "what's that big thing in the sky coming towards us?" Maybe things will not be that dramatic, but the major media outlets and large city newspapers are at their zenith. Too bad, there's only one way to go but down.
All kidding aside, he's got a few things wrong.
OCT 17 UPDATE: Michelle Malkin has a good (and lengthy) summary of recent bias against blogs:
OCT 17 UPDATE AGAIN: My letter to the Free Press Editors. As of the 18th, it's being "considered for publication."
OCT 21 UPDATE: Letter is published. Omits reference and comment about my blog site. Not surprising.
Read on for comments:
1) The bulk of the blogosphere is not made up of "anonymous rants of questionable foundation." Sure, there is junk, especially when evaluated by a highly trained ivory tower journalist. But there is also a lot of valuable and insightful material, much of which SHOULD be covered by the MSM but is not for editorial reasons. (oh, and the swipe at talk radio is petty!)
2) How often does the Free Press offer a "sheilded podium" to those who have an axe to grind with someone? What about the irresponsible reporting around Hurricane Katrina or the total ingnorance of good news coming from Iraq and Afghanisitan? And why do folks need a shielded podium anyway? Last I heard freedom of speech came before freedom of the press anyway. And the last thing we need is some "journalist guild" deciding who can and can not publish materials.
3) Blogs do have a primary area of influence...stories that the MSM won't cover, gets wrong or are just "too small" to consider. Take this blog, for instance....it covers local issues in Wyandotte that get maybe a paragraph in the Free Press every few weeks. Wyandotte has several active sites and message boards where a real community soap box exists, and prospers.
4) I run a blog, and I choose what to post, and what to allow on my site....just like the big media. Most people who post on my site sign their names, and the limited number of obscene posts or rants are deleted. Blog readers don't want to read or see garbage anymore than you do.
So....blogs are helping keep the MSM honest, broadening and deepening coverage of issues, and also pulling readers and "eye time" from traditional media outlets. Where the eyes go, so does advertising. I downgraded my 7 day subscription to the Detroit News to Sunday-only last year.
There is a real future for an "authenticated" network of blogger-reporters who have their stories aggregated by other consolidated blog site/operators. Just what the MSM needs...some real competition to keep them honest.
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