Well, not really. But I bet the headline caught some attention. What I have for you today is:
NEWS OF THE DAY, SHAMELESSLY RIPPED FROM MICHAEL SAVAGE’S WEBSITE
The Only Thing in the Middle of the Road Is Roadkill
So Hillary’s now a moderate. How lovely. People have a tendency to get run over in the middle of the road.
Crap Monster Sighting, Beware of Smell
W. let me down yet again. He’s not going to fund 2,000 new border patrol agents? Dare I hope he won’t need them because of the giant freaking wall he’s going to build on our southern border?
I doubt it. I guess I should be happy he’s not disbanding the Border Patrol altogether.
This crap has got to stop.
ZEN AND THE ART OF BLOGGING
Well, this really has nothing to do with Zen. I have just enjoyed the whole blogging experience to no end. What’s made it really worthwhile has been the comments I’m getting. It’s nice to know somebody is taking the time to read this stuff I’m spewing over the Internet. I even appreciate the ones that disagree with me. Sort of.
Hugh Hewitt mentioned on his blogsite (as well as in BLOG, his new book) that the strength of blogging is in the instant feedback available. The mainstream journalists seem to whine and moan that there is no accountability in blogsites. Hewitt correctly points out that the accountability is far greater for the bloggers than in any other medium. It’s true. Basically, there is a whole world out there able to jump online and check facts.
As a trained journalist, I can tell you there is no mythical professional tribune waiting to swoop down and pounce on journalists who sometimes go astray with their stories. If that were the case, Dan Rather would have been torn apart like a gazelle at a lion buffet. Nobody has held reporters accountable until recently.
That idiot at the New York Times went for a few years, just making stories up. Nobody caught him. Dan Rather goes on the air with forged documents, trying to ruin the President. He should have been arrested for election racketeering. Instead, he gets to retire somewhat gracefully. If Powerline puts something on their site that’s wrong, I guarantee you one hundred people will let them know within five minutes of posting. Nobody’s ever held Dan Rather that accountable, until now. If it weren’t for them, Dan would still be spewing his distorted news stories until he croaked.
It would seem to me that bloggers have the same sort of legal liability that the press does. One can print just about anything, as long as its not defamatory. And even if it is defamatory, a plaintiff (at least a public figure) would have to prove actual malice in order to recover in a lawsuit. I don’t see any reason for the rules to be different for bloggers on that score.
It wasn’t until the bloggers broke the forgery story that we the people started to catch on to this powerful tool. The internet is a great source of information, but I don’t think anybody caught onto exactly how powerful it was until now.
Blogging is powerful for a number of reasons, but I think the most important reason is that it now actually allows a private citizen to get his or her message out in the open. This is truly a free press, unconstrained by corporate greed, pressure from employers, or anything which might serve as a prior restraint.
All one has to do to publish is to have a web host. It can be done for no cost, other than getting on the internet. Even if a person wanted to publish a printed leaflet, they would have more cost in ink, paper, and printing time than a blogger has. Want to rail about how your city sucks? OK. Want to talk about how your neighbor’s dog keeps using your yard as a restroom? Whatever. Nothing’s off limits. Everyone can read it.
It’s also great because we can completely shut out what we don’t want to read. Wonkette won’t get any traffic from me anymore. Neither will Kos. I don’t care what they have to say, so why bother reading them? They’ve got the freedom to publish, I’ve got the freedom to ignore them. It works great.
Blogging is putting power back into the hands of the people, which is where it belongs in the first place. This is truly a free press.
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5 comments:
Blogs can also be a double-edged sword...although I suppose no more so than any other media. Readers have to remember to view blogs with the same critical eye they apply to TV, newspaper, or radio. There is a danger in relying on a single source, or even a single *kind* of source, for all your information. It is great that we can choose which blogs (newspapers, magazines, whatever) to read. But if we only expose ourselves to news sources that we agree with, that tell us what we like to hear, then we end up with a very skewed perspective on the world.
"Fair and balanced" reporting may be a fairy tale, but the ideal is certainly something very worthwhile. Something that should be aspired to--not ridiculed as outdated. News outlets *should* be held as close to that standard as possible, even if it is impossible to achieve 100% of the time.
Once upon a time, news outlets were required to give equal access to both sides. Ever since that requirement was revoked, the ideas of journalistic integrity and balanced reporting have taken a downward death spiral. As free, voting citizens, we NEED balanced information to make informed decisions about how to run our country. Today we gleefully embrace partisan-filtered news, and in the process we allow others do to the thinking for us. How we vote is already a forgone conclusion--when you're only getting one side of the story, it must be the right side. Right?
-Paul
On the other hand, one can rightfully argue that the alternative media that has sprung up did so only because one party was in control of the mainstream media. Conservatives weren't getting any airplay until talk radio caught on.
I agree: journalism should be completely objective, with no bias either direction. Headlines should read, "Man Run Over By Car" Instead of "Man Run Over By SUV With Big Bumper". One's a straightforward report, the other's a report, but with an implied value judgment.
Either way though, it's great that citizens actually have a voice, and are getting their messages out there. It really is a free press now.
And as I noted, the only restraint anybody ever had on them in media was defamation lawsuits. We've still got that.
Paul, do you have a blog? If not, you should start one. You've got great things to say.
Here's an example of another media mess-up dealing with a touchy topic (and of course burying the conservative view): http://www.family.org/cforum/feature/a0035309.cfm
In a very smart move, there is a link at the end of the article that shows who has conveniently mixed up Dr. Dobson's words; from that link, the reader can send an email directly to each of the new "Dan Ratherites."
I've got a blog--flametoad.com--but it's more of a personal journal. Unless you know me, it's pretty boring stuff. I really don't follow politics religiously like Kyle does. I prefer my blood pressure to not read out like yesterday's winning lottery number. :) I mostly talk about my RPG game company, what I'm reading, and movies I've watched.
-Paul
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