Daily Kos

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  •  Blogarchy (3.50 / 2)

    I think what we are seeing here is the beginning of the end of objective journalism.  Kos rightful can do whatever he wants with his site--property is property.  The gentility of the old newspaper era has ended, along with their elitism and highbrow ethics.  What we see now is true democratization of the media.  There are no journalistic standards for bloggers, nor should there be.  Bloggers blog, because they're seeking both to escape the elites and to make them their own.  Its biased, its rough and tumble, and its completely lacking in any aspiration to objectivity--other than what the individual blogger's personal philosophy allows for.  

    That, in a certain sense, is beautiful.  Objective journalism is a relic of the enlightenment--a long since discredited idea, in this new age of emergance theory and relativity.  We've ended the rain of the gatekeepers, and they are at a loss to know what to do, and what really scares them is that they can't control what happens next.  

    Out of the night that covers me, Black as the Pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be For my unconquerable soul.

    by Descrates on Thu Jan 13, 2005 at 09:42:02 PM PDT

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    •  Bite me (3.75 / 4)

      That's not it. Not it at all. Bloggers do have ethical obligations, to transparency, for example, and Kos met that standard. When he took the gig, he announced it on the front page, and left a brief disclosure statement linking to that post throughout primary season.

      What has my dander up is Teachout's attempt to troll for hits by equating Kos and Jerome's deal with Dean to Armstrong Williams's shameful, illegal shilling. And this utter horseshit about how the campaign was attempting to buy their loyalty.

      by hamletta on Thu Jan 13, 2005 at 10:20:19 PM PDT

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    •  be careful what you wish for (4.00 / 2)

      This sort of "relativism" gives us stickers on science textbooks proclaiming that evolution is "just a theory" because a pitchfork wielding mob wants them there. Bashing objectivity is too easy--yes already, there isn't always already some organic narrative that sprouts from the bowels of the world-as-object to spread its hegemony. But for Christ's sake, what purpose does it serve to pretend that we are simply a lump of wax or whatever. There are observable phenomena and we have a duty to report what we observe--makes the gestalt processing apparatus to be self-calibrating don't you know.

      The object is not to obliterate the responsibility of the gatekeepers but to spread it around. The keymaster should not also be the gatekeeper--as with Brit Hume say or Armstrong Williams-- or too many shuvs and zools will know what it's like to be roasted in the depths of the Slor, I can tell you.

      by KevStar on Thu Jan 13, 2005 at 10:59:45 PM PDT

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    •  Screw the media (4.00 / 2)

      I am sick of those hypocrites.  They moan about the blogs being partisan, and turn around and fund their own blogs that are equally partisan and equally biased.

      Lets see how unbiased the WSJ is...this looks an awful lot like a blog entry, it isn't an editorial, it isn't a news story, it isn't journalism.  It is a blog by James Taranto of the WSJ on a Kristof NY Times editorial.

      How is that journalism?  It uses an investigative methodology of the kind used by both bloggers and journalists, but does not restrict itself to advocating facts which is a pre-requisite to good journalism.  He quotes blogger Edward Morrisey as a source to support his position and gives him equal weight to CNN and the CDC here.

      Here is his bio.
        He is a long time Republican activist, actively working to advance right wing causes, including a stint at the Heritage Foundation, which is a Republican institution.

      I don't know what the Progress and Freedom Foundation is, but they hosted a meeting called the Aspen Summit, he gave the closing speach, I wonder if he was paid for that?  That would be a conflict of interest according to the WSJ position if he was.  I am sure there are more engagements like this that he has done, engagements for which he was paid.  According to the WSJ, that should invalidate him as a blogger, even if he supports and is philosophically aligned with those organizations.  

      Hypocrites.  

      Journalists should stick to journalism, bloggers to loose opinion and conjecture where the only standard is an individuals opinion.  That is what they do.

      Pride goeth before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall. Proverbs 16:8

      by PJ 7 on Fri Jan 14, 2005 at 12:52:27 AM PDT

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