Driving home from work today, I heard Paul Pedro's news commentary on AM800 regarding the perils of reading blogs. The thrust of his argument was that readers of these independent web publications should be careful. He advised a "read the label" or "buyers beware" approach to evaluating the credibility of these writers. Fair enough. He lost me however, when he began to imply by contrast, we needn't apply that same sort of discretion to our consumption of mainstream media. He seemed to indicate that mainstream media should be trusted implicitly, while blogs should be considered guilty until proven innocent. Paul asserted that blogs can often be backed by groups that are trying to further their own agendas. That is likely true, but in the era of FOX News, isn't all media really pushing one agenda or another?
The important question we should be asking ourselves is why have blogs become so popular? What void is being filled by these writers?
Residents in Windsor do not have to look far to find stark examples of important news events that didn't receive their due coverage in local media. I can think of many facts that I consider highly relevant, that I have learned from blogs, and would not have learned had I relied solely on our local media outlets. We have a news industry in our city that no longer holds our elected officials to account. They simply stick a microphone in front of someone and report what is said. There is no investigation, no objective evaluation, not even a token "expert analysis". The side with the loudest voice and the biggest soapbox wins. Even where there is fertile ground for scepticism, the will to set the plough and turn the earth is lacking. This is the void that blogs have begun to fill.
The blogosphere is a vast and diverse community, impossible to paint with one brush. Yes, there are some crazies, conspiracy theorists, and self-serving loud mouths. But there are some bloggers that put their name on what they write, and make every effort to offer a legitimate alternative to today's corporate news structure. They aren't out there trying to reinvent the world in their own likeness. In many cases they are just new cowboys, settling an old frontier.
I think I just wrote my first blog. Giddy up!
