September 19, 2004

BELLY LAUGH OF THE DAY. "[m]any leading newspaper editors and TV directors are generally disdainful of bloggers, who assume the mantle of the free press but operate outside of traditional journalistic rules that aspire to fairness, balance and rigorous editing and fact-checking." ROFL!! Read the full article here. Cass Sunstein, by favorite ridiculously out-to-lunch Carville-fair lefty academic makes an appearance. An Mike of Rathergate.com is exposed as card-carrying member of the VRWC. Another shocking ex·po·sé intentionally aimed at fueling "the suspicions of some Democrats that Republicans were behind a scheme to discredit CBS."

Meanwhile, partisan hack Arthur Sulzberger Jr. of the NY Times worries that bloggers might "contribute to the sense that we're in the midst of an opinion-ridden free-for-all." As opposed, I guess, to an opinion-ridden monologue from lefty Democrats as your local monopoly newspaper and the big three networks. More on "pinchy" here and here.

(Thanks to co-conspirator Mike for the email tip on the Tribue article). UPDATE: A Patterico must read:

.. there are quite often little tidbits about reporters that don't get reported. Take, for example, Bill Arkin, who until recently was an L.A. Times reporter on military issues -- and who famously misquoted Gen. Boykin. As I pointed out .. Arkin's e-mail address, listed in his byline, traces to igc.org, the home page for a radical leftist organization called the "Institute for Global Communications."

Or take L.A. Times reporter Ken Silverstein, who I took to task in this post for blatantly misrepresenting quotes in a Sunday talk show. Silverstein's bio describes him as follows:

"Freelance writer, Washington, D.C., contributing editor of Harper's magazine, Washington editor of Mother Jones, contributor to The Nation, Mother Jones, Salon.com, Slate, The American Prospect and Washington Monthly, 1993 -2003."

.. If the mainstream media insists on investigating the backgrounds of the bloggers, what makes reporters immune from such scrutiny?

Posted by Greg Ransom