Sunny Days in Heaven
Spiritual/Political/Philosophical Blog on the Nature of Truth and Falsehood and Heaven


Friday, September 10, 2004  

Power to the People

It's amazing that people, experts in their fields, in such numbers are able at a moment's notice to take down the major media in this country (or the world's).

It's a whole new kind of Minute Man who rides in with the knowldege of a lifetime or years at an occupation who can respond immediately to hoaxes and frauds wherever they arise.

Yet, this especially satisfying correction to CBS is remarkable as an illustration of a new media and power of ordinary people to "fact check their ass" as the saying goes.

Experience with newspaper reporters have led me and others to conclude that they rarely get anything right. Now, they are second guessed the moment their stories are printed. This is brilliant and good for the republic. Reporters have become incredibly lazy about checking facts themselves, and work entirely from desks with telephones. They haven't even shown the slightest ability to use the internet to check facts, history, or background. The biases are coming to the fore now that others can easily contradict them.

The new media may end up making reporters far more accountable for what they write, and improve journalism a great deal.

posted by Mark Butterworth | 1:12 AM |

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