Watching the Watchers

Angelina Sciolla of mediabistro.com on The Blog Estate:

We know by now what blogs are: web logs filled with regularly updated musings and commentary, typically written with a personal voice and emanating from both unknowns and celebrities. More than 3 million blogs haunt the web, according to Wired magazine, and their influence is being examined by everyone from ranting letters-to-the-editor types to the officious Charles Krauthammer, who snipped on Fox News that "they serve their purpose but will never replace The New York Times."

Maybe not, but we'll see what we can do about making both the New York Times AND Fox News a little more accountable and honest (stop laughing).

…two recent trends make easily published independent media—in many ways, after all, a blog is no more than a high-tech interpretation of an old-school, photocopied 'zine—more important than ever before. First, the FCC's recent decision to relax media-ownership restrictions promises even more consolidation among the mass media, which makes voices that aren't Viacom's or the News Corporation's even more important. Second, the public's increasing mistrust of those same, recently scandalized, corporate media—a recent USA Today/CNN/Gallup poll found only 36 percent of Americans believe news organizations get the facts straight—underscores the need for, essentially, a shadow press corps that keeps big media honest the same way the press theoretically works to keep the government honest.

That's me, a card carrying member of the Shadow Press Corps.

Link courtesy of Virginia Postrel.

4 comments

  1. Quote: “Maybe not, but we’ll see what we can do about making both the New York Times AND Fox News a little more accountable and honest (stop laughing).”

    Im going to have to sue you for medical bills if i ever stop laughing. I think i swallowed my pencil.

  2. Mr. Landrith,

    I just came across your site today. I just looked through a couple of entries, and I really like what I see. (I followed the link here from one of your comment posts at an old entry at Patrick Ruffini’s site; I have been posting a lot of things there also.) It is so refreshing to find more pro-liberty, pro-military, anti-state, and anti-war bloggers. I have been posting a lot on the issues of war and current affairs in my past blog entries (some of them can be viewed by scrolling down my index page [ http://uis.blogspot.com ] to the entries for March, February, and January, or my looking through the archives). I will add a blogroll link to this site soon, and perhaps will also post an entry about this site. Thanks again for your writings and activities.

    Keep up the good work!

  3. Mr. Landrith,

    I came across your site during a search for others who linked to the Sciolla article. I like your thinking and I am going to peruse the rest of your blog. I think I am going to do a follow-up piece on Sciolla’s article after receiving some feedback from her personally, and I believe I will link to your post here, if you don’t mind terribly. My blog is at http://ideablogue.blogspot.com , if you are interested. Otherwise, merry blogging to you!

    7/2/2003 11:31:00

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