Saturday, November 13, 2004

Conference studies blogs’ impact on news

Blogs have drawn attention to political stories that more established media outlets then report on, and exposed flawed journalism by those same newspapers and television news programs. But some at the gathering said they face a near-constant struggle to establish the credibility enjoyed by professionals.
"Enjoyed?" Ah, yes, the much-vaunted “credibility” of the mainstream press. If only I could achieve the lofty heights of integrity enjoyed by Howell Raines’ New York Times, Dan Rather’s CBS News, Newsweek’s Evan “The media wants Kerry to win” Thomas, and assorted other MSM outfits.

And a final criticism on the AP article: is Wonkette the only blogger available for comment? Or does her blog simply have the highest density of phallic references? Just wondering.

3 comments:

MaxedOutMama said...

I hate to break it to you, but
A) She's female. Sing it with me: "Anything you can do, she can do bettah!" Or perhaps "Sisters are doing it for themselves...."
They are promoting the cause of egalitarianism in blogging, in a desperate attempt to fend off the twin wolves of bigotry and racism foisted upon us by the dastardly Nazi Bush.
B) She writes in an amusing, gossipy and lighthearted way, thus reinforcing the idea that "we're serious, bloggers are not".
C) She's on the liberal side, not conservative or (gasp) libertarian. Someone has to be held up as an antidote to the Evil Rovian Machine Of Republican Destruction.
D) Just imagine the horror the news that there *is* a conservative in Massachusetts would wreak upon the unsuspecting readers!
It would be like one of those horror movies when they've always been retreating into the safe room or the house, and then all of sudden the protagonists turn around - and there's the monster, right there with them! Inside the house! Aiiieeeeiiiiie! There is no safety anywhere! The trauma of finding out that the left is not the majority has imposed enough burdens upon our public mental-health system, donchya think?

Eric said...

Maybe true, but if you read the AP article, Wonkette is the *only* blogger they refer or talk to. It seems rather narrow to focus so much attention on one blogger who is telegenic.

EdWonk said...

As much as I enjoy Wonkette, it is my belief that she is not a Blogger, but a pseudo-blogger. I say this because her's is a corporately-constructed and run entity, (there is a joke there) that is run by a team. Ana Marie Cox "aka Wonkette" is but one part of a production unit.

And she is cute, which doesn't hurt.