Comments on Advance Indiana™: Mainstream Reporters And Their Reporting On Their Blogger Counterparts

The credibility of blogs will vary substantially a...

2006-07-17T12:32:00.000-05:00

The credibility of blogs will vary substantially among bloggers just as it does among mainstream media. As to the gossip and innuendo, most of the MSM newspapers employ gossip columnist who survive on rumor and innuendo. The 24-hour news stations (FOX, CNN & MSNBC) are loaded daily with rumor and innuendo. I am constantly deleting messages from this site, which I believe contain defamatory or patently false information about other persons. Many MSM newspapers allow their readers to post comments on line--I've been shocked by some of the comments which were allowed to be posted to those publications sites.

Shame on the mainstream reporters for not creditin...

2006-07-17T12:06:00.000-05:00

Shame on the mainstream reporters for not crediting all the blogs they read as sources for some of their stories. It's not very credible.

It sounds as if your particular point, Mr. Welsh, is almost a direct lift from AI to the CJ. It's too bad...an attribution only takes a few keystrokes and completely eliminates the need for hard feelings.

That being said, a couple of observations on blogs:

1. It's interesting many of the blog owners place high credibility on the "return receipt" mechanism which allows you to see the logger's originating computer. I don't understand why it matters, in most cases, unless the Mainstreamers are blatantly lifting material and not correctly offering attribution, which Mr. Welsh states in this blog. (In less polite circles, it's called plagirism). It must matter, however.

2. Ms. Leslie's observations about rumors, gossip, etc. and the evidence behind them, contained in some blogs, is correct. There doesn't seem to be much of a standard to confirm/deny the rumors before they're posted on some blogs. Most mainstream journalists cannot get away with that inside their publications.
Ms. Leslie would have more credibility on this point if she didn't so blatantly lift Mr. Welsh's comments without attribution.

My blog education is new, and expanding. It's an interesting world which is now in my regular reading rotation. Your point about attribution is fair here, Mr. Welsh, but let's not pretend blogs have the same news credibility, overall, as mainstream media. Not yet, anyway.

I don't read blogs for the same reasons I read newspapers, or listen to TV/radio news. I view blogs and their tussle with some mainstream reporters as an evolving issue, which will surely be discussed for quite some time...aided greatly by credible blogs like AI. And unfortunately, that discussion is harmed by the many blog owners who don't have the same standards.

It's a newer medium, and getting its sea legs. It'll get better. With time. And with correct attribution both ways. Blog on.

Some of the national bloggers have caught big-name...

2006-07-16T13:17:00.000-05:00

Some of the national bloggers have caught big-name reporters red-handed using information from their posts without crediting the bloggers. And to think they get paid for their work and most bloggers do it for nothing.

Gary--I think that some may slight your site becau...

2006-07-16T12:40:00.000-05:00

Gary--I think that some may slight your site because of its GLBT orientation. Maybe it says something about the homophobia of these people. I read many local Indiana blogs daily, and your blog really stands out. I learn more about some issues from your blog than I ever learn from the newspaper or television reports. I don't know how the mainstream reporters could fail to notice this site.

The LIFEbeat concert was closed down to the effort...

2006-07-16T11:06:00.000-05:00

The LIFEbeat concert was closed down to the efforts that bloggers made to bring their policy to the forefront.

Bloggers are getting more 'street creds' because of what you guys report and more amd more people are reading these so of course the news paper people who went to school are upset.

But keep on writing. I'll read it. I know I wrote them an email and called the LIFEbeat people myself on this issue because of what I read in blogs.

My own life partner has the same attitude toward b...

2006-07-16T10:56:00.000-05:00

My own life partner has the same attitude toward bloggers. He believes in critial writing with the facts notated at the end for proof of researched authenticity. He doesn't lift blogger articles but he assumes it is inuendo and gossip, writing that has not fact checking etc. You guys need to strike back!

I'm guessing they would feel foolish acknowledging...

2006-07-16T10:52:00.000-05:00

I'm guessing they would feel foolish acknowledging their scoop came from you but you know most bloggers make direct links to the AP, Reuters, or whatever article they get their scoop from.

It seems to me the double standard is that if it's from a blog it is 'ineuendo, gossip, etc.,' and if the same story is scooped from the blog and reported without acknowledgement it is 'finding a story'.

Remember Katrina.. 'looting' versus 'finding food'. The white folks were 'finding food' while the black folks who were sharing the food to keep people alive were labled 'looters' to make them look criminal for taking food from a store which kept people from dying. It is labeling and denigration on purpose and you should not stand for it.

In fact... You should write a letter to the editor with your post 'dated' as to when you posted it versus their 'finding a noteworthy story' and their time of publication and dare them to deny what they do.