Upon Further Review
Jack Kelly has written another must-read column for Jewish World Review. Here’s a sampling:
“Mainstream media giants like the Washington Post repeatedly claim to have layers and layers of editors and fact checkers to make sure only verified facts get into the daily newspaper. This process is allegedly why (journalists) are superior to bloggers in getting it first and getting it right,” said Mark Tapscott, a former journalist who now works for the Heritage Foundation, a think tank in Washington, D.C. “Finer and Struck are experienced journos, but their reporting in this instance contained so many errors of basic fact that one wonders how on earth this example of their work made it into print,” Tapscott said. The answer, as Mr. Tapscott well knows, is that editors are less vigilant in fact-checking stories which advance their agenda.
That’s why I consider most of the ‘reporters’ for the Washington Post, NY Times and the AP to be the core of the Agenda Media. The reality is that these “layers of editors” are either asleep at the switch (unlikely) or they’re hell-bent on advancing their agenda, whether it costs their paper readership (and thereby advertising revenue) or whether it costs the reporters their reputations. The agenda is the only thing that’s important to them.
It’s also apparent for everyone to see that bloggers police their own ranks with extraordinary efficiency. They simply get things right the vast majority of times and most bloggers link to their source documents or reports. When I link to a politician’s speech, my readers can examine the transcript to see whether I took a key phrase out of context or if I’m merely highlighting a major point.
Since I pride myself on being accurate and on not taking statements out of context, I believe, as I’m certain most bloggers believe, that the more I’m scrutinized, the more favorably I compare to the Agenda Media. After all, those that get it right the first and second and third times are the ones who need’t worry about the scrutiny. It’s the Agenda Media, whose articles read more like propaganda than anything, who should be worried about the scrutiny.
Unless and until the Agenda Media wakes up to that fact, they’ll continue to be clueless as to why their profits are shrinking and their readership is less loyal.
Cross-posted at LetFreedomRing