Jane Clifton muses on the emergence of blogging and it’s relationship with old fashioned journalism, complaining that “it’s hard to tell whether the information providers are accurate, biased or simply malicious.”
“The Blogerati” responds in good fashion, but what I like that blogging brings to the table is exactly what Clifton fears: uncertainty about who is telling the truth. One of conventional journalism’s biggest traps is that it purports to be the conduit of truth, when in fact — and certainly from my experiences of being reported on as part of a story — this claim couldn’t be further from the truth.
Journalism, especially in the form of for-profit media, should have never staked this claim, and it now has much to answer for.
Blogging and the internet encourages us all to treat everything we read with a critical eye; not simply to accept something because it’s written down. And that’s a good thing Jane.