Elizabeth Barrette (ysabetwordsmith) wrote,
Elizabeth Barrette
ysabetwordsmith
  • Mood: busy

The Reliability of News Sources ... Or Not

The One About has an interesting post on the topic of reliable and unreliable news sources. Despite criticism of blogging as "not real journalism," I have found that some bloggers demonstrate exemplary standards ... sometimes beyond those of certain conventional media sources.

One thing that I personally like about blogging is the flexibility it offers, compared to traditional media. For example, most of the time I try to provide fair balance in my coverage of topics. That's an ideal from traditional journalism. In cases where I've already got a strong stance, however, I may decide to present it as such and include the opposition mainly so I can disprove their main argument(s). Other times, I like to share personal musings, ideas, and theories. As a blogger, I can switch back and forth among those different approaches. Traditional journalism tends to prefer sticking to one approach, or at least one per section (as in a newspaper where reporting is on a different page than the Opinions section). Also, traditional media often pretends to be more objective than it really is; that's a problem, customarily described as "slant" or "skew." Only a few media sources really come out and name their slant as an open trait. Because blogging highlights the voice and perspective of each blogger, however, it's much more open about such things. If you're reading my blog regularly, it won't take you long to figure out my favorite topics and views -- and that counterpoint references are welcome too. Finally, conventional media get slammed if they quote something that isn't solid. Blogging is different; you can quote things of any level of reliability, if you give an indication of how much (or little) faith you put in the material. There are whole blogs devoted to mocking bad grammar, poor copyediting, slopping reporting, stupid ideas, you name it. So here you'll see me quote things I agree with, but also things that are painfully, obviously flawed -- with suitable commentary.

I like having a venue in which I can sift through a whole planet's worth of news, then reference and comment on the bits I find most interesting, in the company of a thoughtful audience.
Tags: blogging, networking, news, reading, writing
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  • 2 comments

From The One About...'s author.

Anonymous

May 19 2009, 22:02:26 UTC 12 years ago

Thanks for the linkage. I definitely agree with your take on blogging. I do think though that blogging right now is a bit like the wild west and we will see things settle down a bit, which ultimately will be to the good. And of course not all blogs are equal. Some people just want to have fun and spout off, which is totally cool. And some will try to do something a little more serious. The important thing though is that once again the power is in the hands of more people than just the elites be they Liberal or Conservative.
ysabetwordsmith

Re: From The One About...'s author.

ysabetwordsmith

May 20 2009, 01:06:03 UTC 12 years ago

You're welcome. I like turning people on to interesting stuff; your blog has caught my eye more than once.

Yes, blogging is still young. It will take a while for things to develop and mature and settle into patterns that work consistently. Meanwhile, we get to break new ground, which is always exciting.

I've been intrigued by the different "fields" of blogging because they have different rules. I tend to run mine as professional with a broad stripe of personal. Things that work here would not necessarily work for purely personal blogs, and vice versa. Commercial blog parameters are different too. I like the diversity.