In Walsh's view, bloggers who work for mainstream media outlets are trustworthy practitioners of the art of journalism, doing things "the way things should be done," while other bloggers are there for amusement value.
Of course, Walsh, being associated with Missourinet, is naturally one of those who does things "the right way." Even the title of his post, "The differences between 'us' and 'them" gives clear evidence of Walsh's superiority complex. Consider this passage:
Readers must be aware that while the MSM bloggers represent their media outlets and, therefore, must be truthful and accurate ... the vast majority of the political bloggers are unaccountable ... and sometimes fall short of telling "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth."
With everything that has happened with the "MSM" outlets during the past few years, it is hard to believe Walsh could write that paragraph with a straight face. Oftentimes the media has been wrong, has been slow to admit it, and has caused considerable damage. Even more troublesome has been the media's failure to cover many stories until they have been dealt with in the blogosphere.
Walsh generously concedes that the mainstream media makes mistakes:
This is not to say that the MSM won't make mistakes from time to time. We are well aware of the problems encountered by Dan Rather and CBS when the George Bush-National Guard story - based in large part on forged documents - was run. But this is the exception.
Had anyone in the Post-Dispatch, KC Star, Columbia Tribune, or Missourinet newsroom been given a "tip" of any kind ... that "tip" would have been thoroughly verified to ensure its accuracy. We are accountable and have reputations to uphold ... while most in the political blogosphere are accountable to no one. And that, folks, is the difference between "us" and "them."
Well, not quite. The biggest difference, as far as most bloggers are concerned, is we show far more respect for our readers than Walsh apparently has for his. Readers are smart enough to know when they are receiving solid information from a blog and they are sophisticated enough to detect bias.
Walsh tells us that Fired Up Missouri is a Democratic blog and The Source is a Republican blog. Thank God we have Walsh to clear up that point. Otherwise, readers might have gone for months thinking they are reading straight down the center commentary on those websites.
The mainstream media blogs that Walsh praises are worthy of the praise. For the most part, they provide solid information, and I appreciate the obvious hard work that people like Jason Rosenbaum at the Columbia Tribune and Dave Catanese at KY3 News, and others, put into their blogs, and one of the nice things about the blogosphere is that readers can gravitate to their blogs, as well as to The Turner Report, and hundreds of others. If the information they receive is not reliable, odds are, they won't be coming back. Missourians, no matter what Walsh thinks, are intelligent enough to determine what blogs, mainstream media or not, are worth reading.
The one thing Missourians don't need is a primer from Steve Walsh.
Why can't the farmer and the cowman be friends?
ReplyDeleteDon't get too self-righteous on this, Randy. As a former newspaperman you know darn well there is a difference between a professional reporter and someone who just writes what they see.
ReplyDeleteIf your point is that SOME bloggers can be responsible and journalistic in nature, you are right. And your point that the MSM has occasionally made some mistakes is well-taken, too.
But don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. Just because some professional journalists make bad decisions - or are bad - that doesn't mean bloggers as a whole are automatically on an equal plane with people who choose to make journalism their profession.
I see a real disconnect between the fact that you rail against GreatHouse cutting journalist jobs right and left, but at the same time argue that anyone can do this, and bloggers should be treated on the same level as professional journalists. Either it is a profession or it isn't.
The problem I have with so called "professional" bloggers is that they only say what you already have heard, talking heads. If I want MSN's view okay but if I want the view of a regular person, like myself, I read a non- professional blog, lots of original opinions here and there.
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