Will Richardson

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Weblogs: Facts Are in, Spin Is Out

March 26, 2003 By Will Richardson

(via JD) Title refers to a section on the third page of this NY Times story titled “Reporting Reflects Anxiety.” Quote:

But media experts say the rapid evolution of the form over the last week underscores a popular thirst for information that at least appears unfiltered by the anchors and editors of the traditional media. Bloggers are casting a wide net for information, drawing from radio, television, newspapers and even other bloggers from around the world.

I don’t think I’ve mentioned how absolutely cool it’s been to be able to introduce Web logs to my students as a quickly becoming legitimate tool of news gathering and reporting. It may sound corny, but I think Web logs may do a better job of serving the gatekeeper function that the First Amendment gives the press if for no other reason that there is something less “produced” about the content. I know opinions abound, and that contradicts good journalism. But in this age of the message being owned by huge media conglomerates, we’ve been seduced into accepting mainstream news coverage as fact, when in fact it’s all spun through the filter of corporate politics.

If you don’t believe it, witness the recent censoring of Kevin Sites by CNN, Josh Kucera by Time, and the news that Clear Channel has been behind the Pro-Bush/War rallies that have been cropping up lately. I’m more prone to believe the unfiltered, unpampered reporting that independent journalists are now able to accomplish. And the best part is that even though they may not have editors per se, there are hundreds of Web loggers cum editors out there just waiting to fact check and poke and burn their butts if they happen to be wrong. That’s what should be happening in “Real” journalism.
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Filed Under: General, Journalism

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