Bloggers have been taking a bit of abuse lately, between Boehlert at Media Matters here and here , Lowry at National Review and the Wall St. Journal. As with media criticism, some of these complaints against bloggers are justified, some are ridiculous, and some completely miss the point. Perhaps the most enjoyable part of this whole debate is that, in their complaints about bloggers, the media keeps committing the very same sins of which they accuse us. The Anchoress has been quoted out of context and repeatedly called a warblogger – something that she obviously isn’t. But the person doing the criticizing doesn’t let the facts get in the way of his rhetoric. She administers a well-deserved smackdown here.
There are loons in the media and in blogging. Insignificant Microbes aside, we’ve got bloggers with readership in the thousands who regularly spew nonsensical bile. (Did other networks see fit to apologize for Dan Rather and Mary Mapes’ little fiasco? I don’t feel obliged to apologize for other bloggers, either.) And then we have bloggers who are thoughtful, good writers, who honestly state their bias so that the reader is not required to “decode” the way we are when we deal with the MSM. And it is because of those people that we read blogs. It is because of those people that we become bloggers.
I think the current pushback is because it’s sinking in that they really can’t afford to ignore the blogosphere any longer. The momentum is certainly on our side – we’re growing, and they’re not. The ironic thing is that the main reason the blogosphere is growing so quickly is that the media refuses to recognize and correct their faults. They don’t seem to understand the rebuke that they have been given – not in our posts necessarily, but in the tens of thousands of people who are rejecting them in favor of analysis that doesn’t pretend to be something it’s not. What we want from the media – what we’ve always wanted, and what they used to provide – is objective, factual, complete, reporting where the news is clearly separated from the opinion. That’s what we need. Very few bloggers will say that they want to complete eradicate traditional reporting. We know that we are for the most part the fleas on that mutt; we provide very little original reporting. We don’t want to eradicate traditional reporting. We want the MSM to return to it. It’s quite a difference.
Joseph Rago says that blogs are “Written by fools to be read by imbeciles.” Perhaps. But we’re honest. And the MSM is not. And that’s the real problem here, Mr. Rago. Deal with it, and the tide may turn your way again.
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