Talking Points Memo does have original reporting, but it's simply not true they broke the US attorney scandal story. In fact, their timeline claims no such credit - everything traces back to "old" media and it looks Senators Feinstein, Leahy and Mark Pryor are the ones who first exposed it.
Clearly I love blogs and they play an important roll making connections, provide context, spot errors, examine bias and emphasize details which mainstream media may not. Some blogs are now big enough to hire original reporters, but so far Talking Points Memo is the exception not the norm. Some of the best original blog reporting are by journalists who also blog.
"Hillary Clinton and Bosnia thing? I knew about it in the morning. Hell I helped spread the word on the youtube that was assembled drawing attention to the gaffe."
But again, making the connection relied on information originating with professional journalists. And again, I'd like to see the proof bloggers made the connection before professionals did. Because as far as I can tell the questions about it originated on campaign blogs kept by the traditional media. Hell, Sinbad was one of the first to question the story.
Even Media Matters relies upong the media for the source material it uses to check errors. While the connections are vital - it's not original reporting.
This is what bugs me when Rachel Maddow reads a story she got from a media service and says, "But no one in the media is covering this." While I'm glad she's keeping me informed with stories NPR rarely mentions, but the only reason she's discussing it is because someone covered it.
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Date: 2008-08-12 06:39 am (UTC)Clearly I love blogs and they play an important roll making connections, provide context, spot errors, examine bias and emphasize details which mainstream media may not. Some blogs are now big enough to hire original reporters, but so far Talking Points Memo is the exception not the norm. Some of the best original blog reporting are by journalists who also blog.
"Hillary Clinton and Bosnia thing? I knew about it in the morning. Hell I helped spread the word on the youtube that was assembled drawing attention to the gaffe."
But again, making the connection relied on information originating with professional journalists. And again, I'd like to see the proof bloggers made the connection before professionals did. Because as far as I can tell the questions about it originated on campaign blogs kept by the traditional media. Hell, Sinbad was one of the first to question the story.
Even Media Matters relies upong the media for the source material it uses to check errors. While the connections are vital - it's not original reporting.
This is what bugs me when Rachel Maddow reads a story she got from a media service and says, "But no one in the media is covering this." While I'm glad she's keeping me informed with stories NPR rarely mentions, but the only reason she's discussing it is because someone covered it.