Thursday, March 08, 2007
Bloggers fact-checkers journalists
One of the things I used to write about a lot on this blog was journalism and Wikinews, to which I used to be an active contributor.
One of the main hopes I had for the site - still do, in fact - is that it can avoid the mistakes that media falls into so readily. A good example is the case of the Lebanese ambulance. At the time, all the media fell for what later turned out to be a hoax; Wikinews gives anyone the chance to present news without making mistakes like that.
As it is though it does look like a new phenomenon is beginning - bloggers fact-checking the media. Although it would probably help if they weren't so desperately wordy and drawn out as the Zombietime piece is, although taking 1,000 words when 100 would do seems to be a common failing for a lot of bloggers - the price of life without an editor, I guess.
One of the main hopes I had for the site - still do, in fact - is that it can avoid the mistakes that media falls into so readily. A good example is the case of the Lebanese ambulance. At the time, all the media fell for what later turned out to be a hoax; Wikinews gives anyone the chance to present news without making mistakes like that.
As it is though it does look like a new phenomenon is beginning - bloggers fact-checking the media. Although it would probably help if they weren't so desperately wordy and drawn out as the Zombietime piece is, although taking 1,000 words when 100 would do seems to be a common failing for a lot of bloggers - the price of life without an editor, I guess.
// posted by Dan @ 9:04 pm 
