Why are bloggers having to do job of mainstream investigative journalists?

[Hissyspit]

It's not just that this new media/forum for research and information has become available. MSM have abandoned their traditional role, citing credibility and integrity - and yet they seem to have neither anymore. Ideas? Anyone want to make a 10-item poll of this issue is welcome. I have to go teach class.

[Bunny]

1. Money.

They are bought and paid for. It's really that simple.

[Hissyspit]

4. But how is that different than in the past? n/t

[HughBeaumont]

2. Because the MSM are officially GOP comesponges.

Viacom does what's best for Viacom. GE parades the news around that's best for GE. Roger Ailes knows who butters his ass.

Hope the cash was worth it, sellouts.

[question everything]

3. It has to do with 24/7 and with corporate ownership of the media

One of the first blog, before the term even existed, was the eltoroinfo site http://www.eltoroairport.org

It started in 1996 to fight the conversion of the soon to be closed Marines Base at El Toro into a commercial airport. Was started by an activist and became a source for information that the local media just did not care enough to collect. The editor went out of his way to gather technical information about noise and pollution, about the adequacy of the existing runways, about fuel supply and about aviation demand in the region.

It would provide information about meetings of county board of supervisors and of city councils, would provide contact information for local media and of elected officials, and was the focal point for activists to gather signatures for ballot measures.

Traditional news media have long abandoned the mission of investigative journalism since they are owned by large corporations, are part of "multi media" conglomerates and are interested in smooth sailing as not to upset the owners.

If they do, it would usually be a topic that they find of interest, that, perhaps, may lead to a Pulitzer prize, though I wonder how many are even interested in this prize except, perhaps the three biggies: LAT, NYT, WP.

Thus, blogs started as covering very limited areas that are of interest to the blogger and had the freedom to add and to edit any time they feel like it. But most important, the blogs express the opinion of the blogger - and others, if the blog allows - that otherwise be limited to the whim of the editors of the letters page of the local paper.

[BlackVelvetElvis]

22. That's right.

Watch your local affiliates of the mainstream news on tv. We are treated to an update of American Idol, The Apprentice and so forth as if it were real news. What a bunch of crap. They don't show that stuff because they want to.
Notice how alot of stories that originate online are now getting picked up by the MSM. What a disgrace.

[hangemhigh]

5. MSM is bought and paid for. It's that simple.

And THAT is why it's not going to change.

[MissMarple]

6. If investigative journalism was mainstream, it wouldn't be edgy.

It would be ho hum...much like the propaganda we get now. Hmm... Maybe that's why we have all these he said, she said screamers on the MSM, they are trying to camouflage the reality that the facts are entirely beside any point of their broadcasts.

It's time for a new set of muckrakers, and maybe that's what the bloggers are a part of.

[Cleita]

7. I don't think there are that many real journalists left on

the MSM. I mean does Paula Zahn really have a journalism degree?

[MissMarple]

8. Good question, but she does have an expensive haircut, and good skin care

That does seem to be a qualifier these days.

[i miss america]

9. It looks as though bloggers & posters are the new Woodward & Bernstein

:bounce:

[cal04]

10. I guess it all comes down to if no one will do what's right

about what's going on with this media, the people will take it in their own hands and do the work.

[txaslftist]

11. Bloggers don't have to ask permission...

...not of their boss, their editor, their coprolite sponsor. They just go and get the info. A lot of what bloggers do is just sitting at the terminal and doing keyword searches, but some actually go out and do the "field work" of journalism, tracking things down.

Bloggers don't generally have to worry about being sued (they have no money), they don't have to worry about justifying the expense of printing a story (it costs virtually nothing beyond sunk costs) and they don't have to worry about offending anyone.

It IS the new media, because it is totally independent, more efficient, and more time responsive than traditional news outlets.

Welcome to the future!

[AnnInLa]

12. MSN is no longer about news

it is about entertainment....and, the fault lies with the American public, which demands to be entertained at all times, and has the attention span of a mosquito. I remember when the nightly news was 60 minutes long (ala Lehrer) instead of soundbites/Reader's Digest-like news. I don't think the public really wants to know the in's and out's of the news...just give them the headlines. Then, there are the internet news-hounds...us and freepers who constantly comb the internet for news and then comment on it. I don't know if ever the twain shall meet, and sometimes I wish I was just one of the uninformed masses who didn't know so much or care so much.

[Hissyspit]

13. So why have the American public become like this?

[BlackVelvetElvis]

23. Because we let them.

We should demand better. We should be raising a big stink about this.
Maybe people are too busy trying to escape their shitty lives to pay attention to what's real.

[JohnyCanuck]

14. I know the feeling

sometimes I wish I was just one of the uninformed masses who didn't know so much or care so much.

[ignatius 2]

15. Because they are bought and paid for. Comfortable,living high on the hog

paid to rollover..in essence media whores.

Freedoms just another word for nothing left to lose..money and possessions have made them slaves to the right.

[Clark2008]

21. You are talking about the Talking Heads and Big 3 newspapers, I hope.

Because Real Journalists are paid lower than teachers.
I got a job posting for $15,000 a year tonight.
Yeah, right.
That's real journalism.

Maybe the next reform is to demand that they be paid a living wage so they don't succumb to this bullshit.

That's only part of it, I know, but $15,000? In Nashville, TN.
Seriously.

[ignatius 2]

24. Of course I am, the Paula Zahn's,Blitzers,tweetybirds,O'reilly's of the

world..the recognizable,therefore sellable,faces of the "news."

[AuntiBush]

16. Gee. You mean there are mainstream investigative journalists?

Awww... I need that 10-item poll to help me sort this one out, as I'm already certain " mainstream investigative journalists" is non-existant. Now, out here, it's become first-class "real" journalism.

:dem:

[deacon]

17. just by them not covering the story shows their guilt n/t

[bling bling]

18. I have ideas.

The MSM has been slowly and carefuly infiltrated by the GOP who pull strings to get "their" people jobs.

Similarly, they take any conservative who has a relatively high profile and pull strings to get them either in the media as a "pundit" or in the government.

How many conservative celebreties are there? Not many. But anytime a celebrety voices that he/she is conservative, suddenly they're invited to either host a political talk-show, become a politician, or speak at a Republican function.

These very real tactics are a very real part of the GOP strategic formula.

No doubt there are also strings are being pulled by the GOP for "their" teachers, judges, and scientists to fill key positions where ever possible.

It seems simplistic, but I've found a very trustworthy method to figuring out what the GOP is up to. All you have to do is listen to them. Whatever they are whining and complaining about "liberals" doing, is EXACTLY what they themselves are guilty of - i.e. nation building, biased media, big government, deficits, government spending, etc. etc. etc..

[FreedomAngel82]

20. If you haven't try

watching the movie "OutFoxed." You can see it for free at http://www.informationclearinghouse.info I believe you need either real player or window's media player.

[FreedomAngel82]

19. You really have to ask?

The media is bought by BushCo except for Jon Stewart and Keith Olbermann obviously. Thank God for the bloggers who are out there for the truth.

[ultraist]

25. Yep! Corporate owned MSM and government are now one!

It's merely a propaganda machine.

It was a big corporate merger.