re: Blogs, newspapers, and the media future

MM — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 05:20:44 GMT

Ian Along those same lines, there was a great piece in the New Yorker last week about the future of newspapers and how blogs can (and cannot) fill them. Lots on the HuffPost. http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/03/31/080331fa_fact_alterman/?yrail

re: Blogs, newspapers, and the media future

Ian — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 17:33:14 GMT

You credit me too much, Forsanri, but thank you for your comments. Yes, the MSM did its job very badly in the runup to the war, and that's why the NYT and WP issued subsequent apologias.

re: Blogs, newspapers, and the media future

forsanri — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 05:19:48 GMT

I'll concede that there are great pieces of journalism from the print media--but they are not frequent enough. One of the tragic mistakes of this generation was overlooked by a complicit media in the run-up to the war in Iraq--the same media that willingly transcribed and amplified White House talking points as Gospel. And so it is fitting that Talking Points Memo has cast the new mold for journalism with a tenacious mindset to challenge the conventional assumptions. Josh Marshall has broken new ground in his work. Were our traditional media to adopt his mindset, perhaps we could be liberated from Britney, Paris, or the rest, and focused on what will make us great again. Blogs breed equality. What was once a one-way conversation to the uninformed masses has been transformed to a dialogue between the people and the media. And much to the MSM's surprise, we--the masses--are intelligent, enthusiastic, and tired of their ruse. This is not to say that the MSM should cease their work, but rather that we should approach their product with trepidation--knowing that they are fallible, corporate, and in many cases, elitists who compromise integrity in reporting for continued access to power-brokers. So there is a role for the Providence Journal, because Rhode Island's future depends on their vigilance. Thankfully, we have the Phoenix and your work to goad them into action. -Forsanri