NOTE: I'll have to make this quick, as I'm on deadline at my real job.
Juan Williams on Hannity and Colmes is saying that what Markos Moulitsas does is not reporting.
Unlike Juan Williams, I am a working reporter. I make calls, I do interviews, I shoot photos, I edit copy, I lay out pages, I check facts, I write follow-ups, I request documents and I produce stories.
I do it from this desk where I sit typing right now -- and I say Kos is a reporter, as are most Kossacks.
With so many people out there pretending to be reporters, I don't take the above words lightly.
Kos does everything I do. His job is a little different from mine, in that he doesn't send his copy to a big room downtown where it is stamped onto plates and printed onto newsprint. He is Web-based, while I am (primarily) paper-based.
But Kos and most of the prominent Kossacks here are every bit as hard-working and accountable as your average working print reporter.
Sure, Kos gets to sound off on the issues of the day while I have to go that extra mile to keep myself out of the stories I write. I'm not allowed the luxury of having an opinion. At least not on the page.
Still, DKos delivers where it counts. This page vibrates with the same energy as a newsroom. Stories come in -- they're talked about. Raw information is sifted through by dozens of pairs of eyes. Stories are written, rewritten. Facts are challenged and either verified or thrown out. Follow-ups are published.
Perhaps this is why I'm so attracted to Daily Kos. The similarity between it and a newsroom is quite startling, for those of you who have never seen the inside of one.
Even the way that we use humor and sarcasm to keep one another sane as the stories go in and out -- this is exactly how it goes behind the scenes at a newspaper.
Perhaps Juan Williams hasn't seen Kos' resume. If Kos had chosen to, he could have been a print reporter. But he chose to do something different. Apart from that choice, he's no different from me or any other reporter I work with.
The primary drive of a reporter is to get the facts out there so people can know about them and talk about them. This is also what motivates a good blogger.
Sure, there are some bloggers who haven't had any formal training in reporting, but what is more important than having a diploma or a long resume is having that spirit -- that drive to get the news out there.
That can't be taught. You either have that drive in you, or you don't.
Some reporters might look down their noses at bloggers, but I don't. I can see clearly that we share the same interests.
UPDATE: I can't thank you all enough for all your input, and for finding my writing worthy of being recommended for the first time in my years on DKos. But I wasn't kidding about today's deadline. I'll check in later, but I have some work to do. I'll try to answer each of your questions in turn.