White House Press Corp member and columnist for Hearst newspapers, Helen Thomas accuses bloggers for a deterioration of journalism before and during the Iraq War.
“What I really worry about is that I think the bloggers and everyone, everyone with a laptop thinks they’re journalists,” Thomas said. “And, they certainly don’t have our standards. They don’t have our ethics, and so forth. There’s a deterioration,” she continued. “Reporters laid down on the job in the run up to this [the
She further added “ Thomas latest remarks come as newspaper circulation numbers continue to drop as people are relying on alternative means – including bloggers’ Web sites, to find their news.” “In November, another icon of the old media, former “NBC Nightly News” anchor Tom Brokaw, predicted The Washington Post print paper would be “probably dead” in 10 years.”
This is good news and bad news for the blogosphere. On the one hand it indicates enormous potential and opportunity for bloggers. The blogosphere provides a level playing field on which everyone can compete. The chances for specialization, investigative journalism and syndication of news sites are immence. Wherever news happens there are bloggers who can secure – confirm – and provide the facts. The formal news media already recognizes this as was demonstrated during the Myanmar crisis.
On the other hand it places a very heavy responsibility on bloggers. If we earnestly strive towards a tranquil, fair and safe society to live in, we need to be responsible in what we write and how we write it. Accepting the right to use this medium to communicate, we need to accept social responsibility. Besides anything else it implies that we contribute to fight injustice and crime by bringing the facts to the public and to help make this a better world we live in.
J.C.Grobler.
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