Comments on: Bloggers and Journalists

By: Timothy Burke

Timothy Burke — Mon, 15 May 2006 16:04:07 +0000

I can’t say that I see Totten as an alternative to existing reporting: to a very large extent, he sees what he wants to see. I only read him in intermittent spurts, so if you have an example where he’s confronted the gaps and problems in his own worldview through going out into the world and seeing it in all its messiness, please point me to it.

Now this is true of a lot of reporters, mind you, but what I think bloggers are going to have to bring to reporting is something different: coverage of small local beats, stories and angles and issues that the MSM is simply too big or expensive to deal with. Or a kind of patient data-mining that the MSM can’t do, a la IF Stone.

By: Tom Scudder

Tom Scudder — Sat, 13 May 2006 11:50:24 +0000

Chris Albritton and Michael Totten do real journalism, and arabist.net has lately had a lot of first-person accounts from bad stuff happening in Egypt, as has Baheyya.

By: Timothy Burke

Timothy Burke — Fri, 12 May 2006 15:41:06 +0000

War News Radio is a great example! Thanks, Nelson.

TPM Muckraker, eh, yeah, some, but inconsistent. Americablog I haven’t read so much: will go take another look at it.

By: Doug

Doug — Fri, 12 May 2006 14:22:23 +0000

Also on reporting, TPM Muckraker and Americablog.

By: skyfaller

skyfaller — Fri, 12 May 2006 11:31:08 +0000

I’d like to point out that War News Radio is a podcast/blog 😉 Sure, we’re getting syndicated on FM radio now, but a blog is just a format, and there’s no reason why there couldn’t be more blogs/podcasts like ours which do serious investigative journalism. Personally, expanding our model to other schools etc. is something I hope to work on this summer while I’m interning there.

By: hestal

hestal — Fri, 12 May 2006 10:25:03 +0000

Bravo!